forEvernote perpetual portfolios
Here is my elevator pitch describing forEvernote (please click beside the yellow arrows for audio!) and my forEvernote venture pitch.
forEvernote is a new vision for and extension of the popular Evernote program to allow teachers to create portfolios that follow students though their education from kindergarten to grade 12.
I hope that you enjoy!
John
Posted in: Venture Forum
jenbarker 8:20 pm on November 25, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
John ~ Not sure if you saw my fictional venture but it is very similar. Maybe this speaks to the market need, eh?
cunnian 8:55 pm on November 25, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jen,
I just saw yours and, yes, I do think that the market is speaking! There are a few others who are also pitching portfolio-related ventures as well. Funny how that happened!
John
jenbarker 11:14 am on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi John,
I liked your Elevator Pitch. I felt it caught my attention and I was interested to hear more. I might suggest taking out the statement “Who cares?’ and instead write something more positive like “the key to best assessment”. You Venture pitch covered most of the crucial tenets of a pitch. I felt you could have expanded on the credibility and championship of the CEO and team. In terms of Marketing I don’t think you would need “buy-in” from every teacher. I think each teacher, school or district could choose to use the program and then their thoughts would spread whether or not it was worthy to use. I was unsure of your plan. What were you specifically asking of the investors? Money or ? I liked how you said why they should invest but what would they get in return. Overall, a great venture concept. Thanks for sharing, Jen
avninder 2:36 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
cunnian,
Your elevator pitch did a great job of suggesting that we leverage existing technology for an educationally sound reason. I think there is a lot of potential in your proposal.
joeltremblay 4:06 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I really like the presentation that you used in Prezi. In fact, some of my students use it for their portfolio’s because of the unique way the visuals are presented.
joeltremblay 4:08 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
The venture was complete and informative as well. It felt well thought out. Good work.
Jonathan 9:05 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
John –
Love the idea of extending an existing idea and turning it into something more. You hit the nail on the head in your “Why Invest In Us” section by mentioning that Evernote already has a large user base and could benefit from this idea moving forward. Great venture concept — and well presented in both your Prezi and your webpage. You should bring this one forward. I’m starting to like the idea of portfolios more and more…
— Jonathan
tomwhyte1 9:25 am on November 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
To facilitate and objectively review the venture pitch you have put forward, I will be utilizing the guidelines provided within our course, Section 2.7 – Deconstructing a Pitch.
CEO & Team:
After having gone through the elevator pitch, including the formal venture pitch used to introduce forEvernote, I am confident of the CEO, based upon his ability to effectively and efficiently convey the overall and specific ideas of this venture. As for the rest of the management team, there is not specific information regarding individuals or positions tied to this venture. Without this information, it is hard to determine, beyond the CEO, if this product will be successfully launched, or if key elements/positions have been overlooked, dooming this interesting product to failure.
Venture Concept:
The overall concept of forEvernote is not an original idea, but a natural extension of educational theories and Internet applications, a product that attempts to positively merge each to create a meaningful assessment tool for todays modern classroom. Furthermore, it is clear that the CEO for this venture, clearly researched and understands the need of this product. Especially considering the fact that this tool, like all other tools, are only as effective as the person who wields it. As evidenced in recent research focusing on ePortfolios:
If students do not accept the e-portfolio as a holistic means with which to document their learning in different contexts and more importantly, agree or wish to use the e-portfolio as an integral part of their educational experience, then the potential impact the e-portfolio will have on learning will not be realised. (http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/97)
An issue that forEvernote overcomes with the recognition that professional development is necessary for this tool to become successful. Overall, I find this venture interesting and would pursue further research into this area.
Marketability:
The actual marketability of this venture was not provided, leaving potential investors wondering about this ventures true market size, potential share, and overall need within the K-12 educational system. Secondly, from the information provided, forEvernote will be applying an innovative approach to the market, which if found successful, they will have a momentary lead on their competitors, however over the long run, these innovations will be easily duplicated, reducing their market share and revenue. Especially considering the fact that Evernote themselves are exploring this reality themselves, as evidenced here: http://evernotefolios.wordpress.com/
Venture Plan:
At this time, no specific market readiness timeline has been provided, creating concerns about their ability to enter the market before or after other competitors, which will influence greatly their overall market share. Secondly, it is important to note that Evernote follows a freemium model to generate revenue to keep the company running, however, at this time, forEvernote has not provided any information regarding their companies economic model, a key piece of information that would need to be looked into at a later date.
Overall though, this venture shows promise, and should be further reviewed.
visramn 12:23 pm on November 28, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hello,
Great idea. There is definitely a Market for this product. I think you made good use of the means you used for presenting your ideas. They were both visually and aesthetic. I also really like the titles you used in your Prezi. this product is to be used with kids. Hence, the terminology you used was reflective of your market.. Good strategy.
I have used Evernote and am a fan. I felt that your extension to this product was portrayed well and that it is a good idea. I thought you could have expanded a but on the actual market and how you envision this product being introduced into the marker. Other than that, you did well.
Thank you for sharing.
Nureen
sophiabb 11:37 am on November 29, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi John,
Great idea to expand on a current product. Your problem and solution were clearly outlined. I would have liked to see more/some information on marketing, the specific ask in monetary terms and investor returns. Overall a good presentation of your idea.
Sophia
Pat A Son 4:55 pm on November 29, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Your pitches were quite an eye opener for me. I wish I had an extended portfolio of my years at school from k-12 to the tertiary level.
Great idea.
Patason
kstackhouse 10:06 pm on November 29, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Interesting idea. I feel that there is a market for this in some format. I have found that the e-portfolios that many MET courses have been much more meaningful for me than the boring hard version I have on my shelf. I am interested to know how teachers would respond to this format. I know that at the high school level we groan when the middle school portfolios make their way to our school. As you mentioned, this is not necessarily the best method to monitor growth and view the collection of work a student has accomplished.
Your prezis was well laid out. You moved the viewer along nicely. The audio was a little low, but was a good addition over the basic text. The website, was informative and easy to navigate. I might not be ready to invest, but know Evernote and the need for a portfolio solution I would want to sit and have another meeting with you.
melissaayers 2:14 pm on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi John,
Overall I think it’s a great idea, professional presentation and I love evernote as a tool. I agree and echo like many others in the courses that student portfolio’s can easily add authenticity to education for students.
However as an EVA I am not sure I would invest in this venture for the following reasons. I do not get an idea of how this is different to other products on the market (if they exist?). Nor do I understand who or how this solution is going to be implemented/created. And finally as an investor I am not sure what you are not asking for nor what returns I might expect to receive for it.
Thanks
Melissa
frank 12:18 am on December 1, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi John,
I liked your Prezi, ominous clouds notwithstanding 😉
I think where as Jen’s presentation focused on Evernote’s competitive needs, yours did a good job at showing how a portfolio would be a good and natural need of students in today and in the future. Good paper link by TomWhyte1 about the perception and network externality dimensions of this venture idea. I think you have a good target market with students and if they become too difficult to reach (school /provincial resistance etc), you can market it to other groups still and be successful. I think you have something good here, merge with Jen et al. and more importantly, go for it!
Scott 1:35 pm on December 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
John your pitch is fine work. As I reviewed your website, which is among the preferred mediums I find for venture pitches, each of the questions I had in mind, such as the all important issue of privacy, were all answered. I even found myself filling in other concerns you noted, for example in many cases the camera phones most students have in their pocket would lessen the need for in school scanners.
Your choice of Prezi for the elevator was sound in my opinion, though from a purely design point of view, I found some of the colored type challenging to read and I felt the background did not serve the topic well – in the end these are minor tweaks which could be accomplished in minutes.
As we move to ever technology infused classrooms and schools with BYOD programs, I think you have a very valid concept here which is certainly worth perusing.