C. Ranson
I have created a venture pitch as an fictitious initiative for developing mobile apps for oral health care screening and prevention, the idea was to investigate a topic that would be meaningful to my profession and identifying an area that is under developed. Venture pitch and presentation 2 f nov 2012 from cranson16 Reflection Creating […]
Continue reading Elevator Pitch & Persausive Presentation for Mobile Apps Posted in: Venture Forum I spent some time creating my avatar and was not successful in creating what I intended to create. This is who I am for now and will re-visit in the future now that I am a Second City resident. Interesting virtual site, does take some time to figure out how to navigate to different regions. […]
Continue reading I spent some time creating my avatar and… Posted in: Week 12: Eli Luberoff was also selected by Bloomberg Businessweek as one of the top 25 entrepreneurs under 25 in 2011. Eli Luberoff, CEO Eli, like most elementary students were exposed to the TI-83 graphing calculator. Eli began working on software that would become Desmos.com during a year long hiatus from Yale University, returning to graduate summa […]
Continue reading Eli Luberoff was also selected by Bloomb… Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
This company has an interesting story and guiding principles 🙂 It seems the product they develop is free – if this is the case how are they able to fund it? Thanks
Hi Melissa,
The company is very new and their startup funding came from Learn Capital and Kindler Capital, recently adding Google Ventures to their investor portfolio. The company reports they are generating revenue from partnerships with publishers, who have been integrating the calculator into digital textbooks. This will be a company to watch as it continues to grow and solidify its planning and business model.
Jose Ferreira Founder and CEO Jose Ferreira is the founder and CEO of Knewton, the world’s leading adaptive learning company. Knewton personalizes any publisher or school’s online learning courses. In October 2011, Knewton announced a partnership with Pearson to power their complete line of MyLab and Mastering products, currently used by nearly 10 million students. […]
Continue reading Twitter: @Knewton_Jose Jose Ferreira Fou… Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
I just realized that Knewton has already been posted a few days ago. I will search for another interesting venture and update soon.
Hello Everyone, My name is Catherine Ranson from Toronto, Ontario. I have been teaching Dental Hygiene for the past 22 years in the college system in Ontario. My background is science, oral health, access to healthcare and I have a undergraduate degree in Health Administration. I am currently a full-time faculty member at George Brown […]
Continue reading Hello Everyone, My name is Catherine Ran… Posted in: Week 01: Introductions
Hi Catherine,
Nice to see a familiar name here. Yes, we were together in ETEC 510 and we almost had a chance to work together in a design project before we decided to split the group into the smaller ones. Looking forward to learning alongside with you.
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lullings 10:39 am on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Catherine,
Nice idea and you definitely have a strong team to lead the idea. I did wonder when you said that there are many apps out there already, but then you went ahead and explained the unique selling point of your app so that was excellent.
I was not exactly clear how the app revenue would be structured – would it be a paid for app or a free download and pay for some of the content? and what price point would it come in at?
Marketing through the Primary Health Care Providers is a great idea and if successful would be a powerful advertising medium, but thought that the social media strategy was very vague.
Your video was great to see and as a result it added validity to your delivery. The sound quality was not great and there were edit jumps but the information being delivered was excellent.
It was a great idea to use slide share as it could bring in some different media types. There was some clipping of content on the slides and one was blocked by the picture but the overall experience was positive.
I would not invest in this app as I believe I would not download it and dont think that enough people would for it to be successful. I would however invest in you and your team as it was a genuine and positive delivery.
Stuart
C. Ranson 5:05 pm on November 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Stuart,
Thank you for the kind and gentle review. I had some technical difficulty with Slideshare and importing my presentation. In the past it has been a great tool and very user friendly. I have re-posted my presentation and hopefully addressed some of your feedback.
Generating revenue, yes very important for a new venture. I was thinking that a partnership with an existing company that develops and sells apps might be interested in our oral health and health promotion ideas (an area of the market that had not been developed) – the apps would actually promote health and address a societal needs, not just track what I eat or track how often I go to the gym, something more meaningful. The apps would cost money to download, private healthcare industry could buy at a discounted rate as an educational tool they give to clients, or a way for private healthcare to attract and keep customers. There would be some creative selling and billing involved. The idea behind the apps are to promote self screening, early detection of disease and improved prognosis. Oral cancer and oral disease, skin cancer, breast cancer can all be self detected. The apps could educate the person on how to, detect possible abnormal tissue, in turn prompting a visit to a healthcare specialists for a diagnosis.
In terms of social media marketing I was thinking sending it viral, tweeting about the product, Facebook groups.
Catherine
rebeccaharrison 12:53 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I, also, am impressed by the team, but would not invest in this particular venture. I don’t think that there is enough of a market for this, as I think most people who would be concerned enough with oral health to purchase an app would be getting regular dental/doctor check-ups and may not see the need for this particular service. I also wasn’t sure if the new app quarterly was meant to be an oral health app or just a health and wellness app. I would certainly be interested in hearing more about the other services/apps that your company may provide.
C. Ranson 5:17 pm on November 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Rebecca, you would be surprised how many Canadians have no or limited access to dental care. Dentistry is private industry and the consumer has to pay for this service, unlike our publicly funded healthcare. The idea is to develop and create apps that will actually help people and promote health and oral health. Every family has some member that has been touched by some type of cancer, they all have a story and in many cases the prognosis would be better if early detection occurred. There are so many health conditions that can be detected by the individual and be prevented if society was aware and educated, such as skin cancer, breast cancer, oral cancer, periodontal disease & HBP. Mobile apps could screen for the symptoms and identify risk factors for these conditions.
Thanks
Catherine
Colin 10:49 pm on November 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Catherine, I think you might scare some people into downloading the app but I am not sure how many would be willing to put their Iphone in their mouth to scan for this. I don’t assume that it can take an accurate reading of all the areas from outside. I can also see inexperience on the part of the consumer on how to use the app properly which could mean that certain cancers are not detected. I would hate to think of the lawsuit that would happen if someone using it has oral cancer and the app didn’t pick it up. You would need a very tight terms and conditions to avoid litigation. I believe you would be making money on this app by selling a subscription. If this was the case I don’t see many people signing up unless they really don’t have any access to dental services in which case they would have real problems with their teeth. Overall I see this as a worthwhile cause trying to create awareness about the issue and I have learned more about it from your presentation but as a venture I don’t believe it would provide much of a return.
C. Ranson 10:02 am on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Colin,
The idea is not to put your iPhone in your mouth, it is just to open your mouth or stick out your tongue, the scanner will then scan your oral tissues. The apps is not intended to detect or diagnose cancer, this can only be achieved by a surgical biopsy, There are current tools on the market to scan the oral environment for the presence of abnormal tissue, used in a clinical setting, these are screening tools to alert the person to seek medical attention for early detection. The app would provide the user with instructions on use and an educational component. The best diagnostic testing is not full proof, there are thousand of women who have had mammograms and ultrasounds and their breast cancer was not detected. This is only a preventive screening tool for possible early detection to perhaps save lives. An additional option to generate revenue could be to sell the app to Health Canada and the Cancer Society. I think you will see such apps in the future, not created by me of course but I do think we will see it, think of the innovative glucose measuring devices that are used by individuals with diabetes. Thanks for your feedback.
Catherine 🙂
jkotler 7:41 am on November 28, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Catherine,
Unfortunately I had a hard time loading and playing the YouTube videos embedded in Slideshare. From what I was able to see though, I think that you are very knowledgeable on the subject and have a strong team, which gave a lot of confidence in the individuals behind the app. As for the app itself, I too am unsure that I would invest in such a venture because I don’t know how well people would respond to its use and how widespread the interest in downloading it would be.
With that said, like others have mentioned i do appreciate and support the cause you are trying to promote.
Julie
C. Ranson 2:01 pm on December 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Julie,
Sorry you could not open my links. Thank you for the feedback and confidence in what you did review. I agree the venture idea needs some further work, but I think that was the focus of this learning activity. I do think there is a market out there for healthcare apps. 🙂
Catherine
Kent Jamieson 11:28 am on November 28, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank you Catherine for reminding me to book my next dental appointment.
Your information and expertise were quite apparent, yet your delivery seemed a little choppy and somewhat vague in parts. As a potential investor my focus is on the idea – which seems quite original and in most cases needed by the populous – but also how the idea is presented, which didn’t really hit the mark for me.
I, like some others who have commented, was wondering what the new apps coming out every quarter would look like? What would they do? I must admit I found myself wondering what the original app would do as well. Your information seemed to mainly focus on oral cancer, and not on how your product would actually detect it. Your explanation of the apps features were helpful, but I couldn’t understand your ‘scanning’ technology embedded into the video camera. Perhaps explaining how the ‘science’ behind the app would work could have helped solidify my investment.
Your team seems quite knowledgeable and poised to achieve success, but my recommendation is to demonstrate more clearly the science behind your app, and perhaps provide a few examples/videos/pictures of your service in action.
Kent
C. Ranson 2:12 pm on December 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Kent,
LOL – glad you will schedule your dental appointment. Thanks for the feedback, explaining the science behind the scanner would be a good idea. The additional apps would also focus on health prevention and have a screening tool component for conditions such as gum disease, bleeding rates, recession detection and monitoring of the condition, self-screening of skin conditions, a very diverse app capturing health risk factors to alert individuals and then education to reduce those who have risk factors, creating a healthier being. There is a large population that is very much into health and disease prevention. Think about the thousands of consumers that visit health food stores, shop on line for health products, use the internet to self diagnose, these apps would provide more reliable health information. Just the beginning of an idea. 🙂
Catherine
manny 6:08 pm on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Catherine,
I like the fact that you took a different route in your presentation and applied your venture not to a learning technology, but rather the medical sciences. I feel that this sector has a lot of growth potential and similar to education, apps have yet to unleash their full potential. You did an excellent job of displaying other health science apps and relaying their success. Although this venture is undertaking an important issue, I would not invest in it for the following reasons.
1) Very specialized – This is a highly specialized app for oral health care. Most citizens understand that they need to brush their teeth, floss, and mouthwash to promote good oral hygiene. These are preventative methods that people fail to always comply to and I doubt they would add another application to what most already feel takes time out of their day.
2) Lack of awareness – There is simply not enough awareness about this type of cancer and as such, its number of downloads and usage will be limited. In order to get the word out there, you would have to invest a substantial amount in marketing which is difficult as other cancers (breast/lung, etc.) are usually at the forefront of this campaign.
3) Frequency of cases – I have not done my research on this but I would think that the number of deaths related to oral cancer worldwide would be higher in developing nations. The citizens of these countries usually do not or have limited access to mobile devices and the Internet and therefore this product would be of no use where it is needed the most.
I do still like the idea and I think if the technology was available to change it into a breast cancer screening device, it would not only reap amazing revenues, but further our fight with cancer.
Manny
C. Ranson 2:21 pm on December 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Manny,
Thanks for the feedback, sorry you won’t invest :(.
Oral cancer is raising in prevalence in developed countries and the prognosis is less than that of breast cancer. There is just less awareness but with gaining rates people will begin to see/hear about this type of cancer.
Catherine
Peggy Lawson 6:46 pm on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Catherine –
It was nice to see a very different use of technology than the other pitches. I think there is a real need for such self-diagnostic tools, and I loved how your idea was very distinct than anything else I’ve ever heard of. I can actually see, with the proper promotion, how this could be a big opportunity. If major dental organizations were to get on board and give a recommendation, I think your product could do very well. Your credibility as a CEO is high – you clearly believe in your product. Technical and production issues aside, one suggestion I’d offer regarding the pitch itself would be to offer your solution much earlier in the pitch – you didn’t really do that, I felt, until very close to the 1 minute mark, near the very end of the pitch. Like you, I didn’t provide enough information about market readiness and marketing, or money aspects – lessons we would have to learn. So thanks for an interesting venture idea. I can’t say as I’d be ready to jump into investing in it, but it did have me intrigued about its possibilities.
C. Ranson 2:26 pm on December 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Peggy,
Thanks for reviewing my pitch. Yes, I agree it is a unique idea that maybe someone will develop in the future. It needs work I do agree but I think there is a market for as you said self-screening tools, just have to capture it. 🙂
Catherine
adi 11:57 pm on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Catherine,
Sorry for the late post. I have had sleepless nights completing other assignments. I do apologize and mean no disrespect.
Your venture certainly addresses a real problem and need, but I wonder how many people would buy it. I do, however, feel health authorities would and should be interested, as this is preventive medicine. I would wish your average person were interested and took an APP like this seriously; it’s a shame they don’t. Oral cancer is indeed a problem and a very aggressive form of cancer.
I felt your pitch was somewhat fragmented, but feel you do have a strong team and thorough knowledge of what’s needed. I would probably invest if you could polish this up a bit and consider defining your buyer more, e.g. the health services.
It was interesting to watch and informative.
Adriana
C. Ranson 7:59 pm on December 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Adriana,
Thank you for reviewing my pitch. I agree it needs some work, especially after reviewing many others but have some good ideas. I am pleased you understand the need and market for preventive awareness and health. I was also thinking that Health Canada and the Cancer Society would be prospective buyers of this venture. 🙂
Catherine
jhodi 12:50 am on December 1, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi,
I think that you have an interesting idea here. You have done a very good job with your pitches and have included several important details. One of your strongest points is the strong team that you have created to help form and run the app. You appear very professional in your video and come across as very passionate and confident.
However, I do not think that I would invest in this venture simply because I am not convinced that there is a moarket for it. I feel as though anyone that is concerned enough about oral hygiene to purchase this app already sees a dentist regularly and would rather have the opinion and advice of a professional than an app.
Jhodi