My goal is to develop a professional ePortfolio application by the end of 2013 that can suitably address the competency assessment and professional development needs of medical schools. Please review my elevator pitch and venture pitch and I look forward to your feedback.
Continue reading ePortfolios for Health Professions Posted in: Venture Forum
My fictional venture is ExamScan, a security system for online assessment that incorporates Iris Scanning technology. In some ways I feel that this type of venture is ahead of its time, however as biometric security systems become more commonplace, it could have a significant use for education provided proper security assurances for students […]
Continue reading ExamScan Posted in: Venture Forum
My fictitious venture is for an integrated system to easily capture & manage portfolio evidence for early learning classrooms and generate portfolios of student development. As I’ve described in my relections section, I’d love to see this actual product. The elevator pitch is below, and you can find both it and my website venture […]
Continue reading Early Learning Portfolios Posted in: General, Venture Forum
Hi Peggy ~ I have a genuine interest in this area as well – as evidenced by my venture pitches. Your elevator pitch was great and has me hooked. I am going to follow the link now to your venture pitch. Best, Jen
Peggy, I really liked the elevator pitch and supplemental information on your website. Like Jen, I would be interested in knowing more about this initiative if this were to be pursued seriously. Fictitiously, I would be interested to invest although I wonder how much investment is required… Did you come up with any investment figures and how could investors re-coup their investment?
Thanks Ranvir. I am definitely not a money person, and was very happy when David posted his comment that we could forgo concerns about the $$ aspect. Completely mandatory for a real venture pitch I know, but for me I simply would not have have the tme, or knowledge, to do anything better than make up numbers. But for the sake of making this more of a real simulation, I can see how even pretend numbers would have been a good addition. Thanks for the suggestion!
I am going to base my feedback on what we saw in week 3 regarding the content of a venture pitch(Perfecting Your Pitch).
1. Pain Point: the market gap or problem the venture is addressing.
I think the problem your venture solves gets a bit lost. It’s a valid and real problem, which if emphasized, I’m sure would capture investors attention.
2. Solution: the new product or service that resolves the pain. Excellent and well presented
3. Differentiation: the reason someone will buy or use this new product or service, versus the alternatives.
It is very clear why people would buy it, but not so much how it is different from what is out there; probably because there isn’t anything else out there like this, but then this is worth mentioning.
4. Marketing: where and how buyers/users will be reached.
This is not as clear. An important thing to keep in mind here is that the person who perhaps needs this product the most and will be the end user, the teacher, won’t be the buyer; the buyers are the school boards and its they who have to be convinced that there’s a need for this product.
5. Championship: the competency of the venture’s leaders and advisors.
Excellent
6. Competition: an overview of competitors and partners;
Not mentioned
7. The Ask: how much money, etc, is required to take the next step
Not asked
8. The Return: how much and how soon will an investor be recompensed.
Not mentioned
9. The Message – clear and to the point
Overall a very well presented venture and one I feel could interest investors. Excellent work. Well done Peggy.
Thanks for the feedback adelpaso. You’re right about the missing points. Some of these I touched on in my reflections of strengths and weaknesses, found by following the link to the subpage found at the bottom of the website home page. I think the absense of marketing is a real weakness here. I had some marketing plans in my head, but didn’t get them down into the plan.
I appreciate the time you took to go through the venture. I found it a tough project – a way of thinking quite different from what I’m used to!
CEO & Team:
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.
After viewing the Elevator Pitch, and reading through the venture pitch for EL Portfolios, it is clear that the CEO is not only confident in their product, understands the market and the role this product will play within it, but appears to be high capable and passionate to take this project from start-up to essential classroom resource. As a potential investor, I would want more information focussing on the overall team, to ensure my money was going to be properly used. Regardless of this slight concern, I believe this CEO would only surround themselves with the best.
Venture Concept:
Even though the idea of portfolios, and even electronic portfolios is not a new idea, that is beyond the point, as EL Portfolio’s has not only taken an existing idea and made it feasible for today’s classrooms and technology, but has made an easy to use assessment tool, that enhances learning for students, teachers and even parents. This venture is further strengthened by the solid research that has been completed to not only understand the market, but capitalize on the areas of weakness currently recognized within the educational system. Overall, this venture pitch not only does a good job of telling a story, but does a great job of wanting this product to exist… now!
Marketability:
The actual marketability of this venture was not provided at this time, leaving potential investors wondering about this ventures true market size, potential share, and overall need within the current educational system, making this venture a more than moderate risk. As for innovative advantages, EL Portfolio’s does a great job of maximizing the current capabilities of technology to provide video/picture/audio artifacts for a students assessment, which is combined with rubrics to utilize and potentially linked to specific learner outcomes. While no information is provided about intellectual property rights or copyrights, this would need to explored to ensure that market share this company gathers would not be eroded by copycat competitors.
Venture Plan:
At this time, no specific information has been provided about potential timelines, or product readiness, information that is essential to ensure that this market can be capitalized on quickly and efficiently. Furthermore, EL Portfolios, have done a more than professional job at examining and understanding the potential legal issues with this approach, and have created solutions for each, a situation that allows investors to focus on the product, not the potential lawsuits.
Thanks for the thorough analysis Tom. You’re right about those missing pieces. Were I to move forward, those would definitely have to get put into place. As a new experience – preparing pitches – there really is a learning curve. Even when you know in advance what all should be present, it seemed all to easy for me to miss assembling everything together. I appreciate your well-written analysis and suggestions.
I think your idea is absolutely sound. There are a lot of similar products out there for purely social media purposes but I haven’t seen anything quite like this. As someone who is pretty familiar with the technologies involved, I can easily imagine how it would work and what would be required to get it off the ground. I’m afraid though that I may be filling in a lot of the blanks on my own. The way that I am imagining it is something like a Facebook or Instagram or even Delicious app. You take a picture or record a bit of video or audio, then as you tag it, it gets added to that student’s blog automatically. Allowing us to see what the portfolio (probably like a timeline) would look like would have been a powerful addition.
But as an early childhood educator, I would want to know more about this product and if what I am picturing in my head is right, I would be very likely buy into it if the price was right.
I want to add that doing this as a website was a good match for the product. For every potential buyer or investor, there may be just as many different reasons to be attracted to the product or the company. It’s good that we can come back to it and work through the material as we like.
Hi,
I think you did a great job on both your pitch an analysis. I found it a little hard to hear what your were saying in the pitch because the music was slightly distracting. I would suggest reducing the volume of the music slightly. I found that your enthusiasm, knowledge about the product and belief in the product was an asset to your project. I was drawn in just by watching the pitch and was interest in going on to read more about it. I think you could have addressed the market a little bit more but other than that this is a very sound venture.
Thanks for all your hard work and work sharing you idea. There is definitely a need for this is the in market.
Nureen
Hi Peggy:
I loved your elevator pitch with your enthusiasm, facts and background music. This got me excited and interested in the product as a buyer, however maybe not so interested as an investor…. But it did catch my interest to look further.
The venture pitch concept is brilliant; structured like an e-portfolio, the product of interest. I like the tabs set up relating to the product and investment. I wonder with this structure if it could be reorganized by the four areas that EVA’s care about: CEO and Team, Venture Concept, Marketability and venture plan.
As you mentioned the $ side is hard to create without a background in this area. If you had created some numbers and used them without meaning then this might generate questions that you really could not answer.
As an investor, I am interested as e-portfolios are an interest of mine and I see great potential here. So if we were going to take this further then I would say – lets talk!
Doug.
Hi Peggy,
Your elevator pitch has a good hook.
Here is my analysis on your venture pitch using the guidelines found in section 2.7 of our course blog – Deconstructing a pitch:
Early Learning Portfolios: The Content
Pain Point:
Good research information here. I would suggest including Piaget’s Cognitive Development theory in this section to explain why the “early” aspect of your product is important, and use this information to differentiate your product from its competitors.
Solution:
Questions: What would the implementation of the product look like? What is the role of the teacher? Would the teacher be spending most of her time documenting student progress with a mobile device while students do their work as opposed to providing support to help students overcome their challenges? Can the product allow students to document their own progress using their own devices as opposed to the teacher being the one doing the documentation? Where would the documented information be stored? How would student privacy be addressed? How will you be partnering with NAEYC to provide you with the rubric for your product?
The addition of learning analytics technology such as Knewton’s Adaptive Learning Platform would enhance your product’s applicability in education.
Differentiation: I was unable to locate information on your website about how your product differs from its competitors such as WordPress, Moodle, etc.
Marketing: I was unable to find the information which identifies the target market. Will your customers be the teachers or school districts? What will you do so that your product reaches the customers? The inclusion of these information would redirect your pitch to the investors as opposed to the customers.
Championship: The “About us” page is well-written. The provision of positions that need to be filled to satisfactorily put your product on the market would enhance the viability of your pitch.
Competition: I was unable to locate information about the competition and the necessary partners (other than NAEYC) on your website.
The Ask & Return: These are not identified in the pitch.
Thanks for a well-presented pitch!
James
Hi Peggy,
Well done on both the elevator and venture pitch. Funny that we both were thinking portfolios for this assignment! Your pitch was engaging and I could envision how I would use your product in the classroom, which as a potential investor I feel is important. You did well to speak to the need of having a system which is easy for teachers to use and portfolios can be fairly burdensome. Content tagging and automatic cataloging are great features to build in! You also did a good job of explaining your background and credibility.
As others have mentioned, you have not fully addressed who your market is (neither did I ;)), which investors would want to know about. Aside from this, it appears to me to be a very solid venture and I would be interested in investing.
Hi Peggy,
I love you elevator pitch! It is great, totally engaging and identifies a pain point and solution and made me curious to go learn some more about your venture via the venture pitch. In fact to be honest I think I was even sold on the product without having to go to the second pitch (website).
I think I too (like Ben mentions above) understand a bit how this could be created and have skipped ahead and filled in some of the missing gaps other have already pointed out you have for marketing and investments etc.
You are a credible, knowledgeable and passionate founder and president who seems to have a great grasp of the product you want to create and have done the research to back it up. I believe you present a very marketable product (especially going by class feedback on the idea of ePortfolios in general over the course of ETEC522). As an EVA investor I would want to do some basic market research and competitor analysis before making an investment decision. However, I am sure this is on the right track and that this venture would be a great potential investment opportunity.
Thanks
Melissa
Hi Peggy,
You have a great elevator pitch and a professional looking website. Some more information on the marketing would have made this complete.
Cheers
Patason
Hi Peggy,
Great elevator pitch. Your presentation came across as professional and you came across as a passionate champion that identified your product, problem and solution. Your website was very clean. I found that it appealed to me more as a user – teacher – than as an investor. I found that:
Pain Point and Solution: These was real, clearly stated and one with which many educators relate.
Differentiation/Competition: The venture proposition was weakened by a lack of information on the market in terms of competition, positioning, barriers/ease of entry.
Market/marketing: The target was clearly identified but there was an absence of a marketing plan/strategies.
Ask and Return: These were not clearly stated.
The Team: Investors are interested in the skill set and abilities of the CEO and team to drive a start-up business to success. The information on the CEO revealed a very qualified visionary and champion. I would have loved to see information on other members of the team.
Overall a good presentation.
Sophia
Thank you all for your excellent suggestions. I’ve gone back to drawing board and made some changes to the venture pitch, based on your suggestions, most importantly adding information on my marketing strategy and a smaller section on “The Ask” (on the “Why Invest” page). I believe I did read in some course instructions somewhere that we were encouraged to take your suggestions into consideration for our final version?
Skoolbo is an interactive game that is targeted at K-7 students to improve their core literacy and mathematical skills. Skoolbo has been built for student use with its easy to navigate menus and enjoyable plot. With the use of exciting mini games, Skoolbo is sure to be a hit in a classroom, at home or […]
Continue reading Skoolbo is an interactive game that is t… Posted in: General, Venture Forum
Hi Jonathan,
Your elevator pitch video is still private and also I can’t open your longer version neither. Looking forward to view them 🙂
Same here. I’m quite looking forward to learning about Skoolbo!
I was dying to hear more about the enjoyable plot of this venture Jonathan.
I am having the same problems as Paula and Peggy.
Skool booo to it not working as I enjoy a good interactive game!!!!
Oh no. My apologies. I will make sure it is opened up. I think I have been pretty confused with all of the settings. It should be up now. Sorry it took so long!
Elevator pitch looks great Jonathan – you had me looking forward to the venture pitch, but I’m afraid the link to that isn’t working.
Hi Jonathan,
The idea of video gaming in education is an exciting phenomenon that I am sure will spark some interesting debates as its implementation progresses. I was unable to open your venture pitch but your elevator pitch was really well done and provided a great overview. My only concern is that you offer 20 free hours of game play to new members as a way to entice them into signing up. I thought that this may have been too much time and would turn an investor off as revenues would take a hit with that model.
Hi Manny —
Upon further thought, I think I would have to agree with you. Skoolbo itself is already in existence and I have a feeling that their current model of providing the game for free is probably the way to go. I was looking for an active way to interest investors (but I may have done the opposite).
If I were to revise the project, I may keep the game free and look to the value added projects (ie. digital books, teacher resources) for more revenue.
Thanks for the feedback Manny.
My apologies for not having the extended version working (I’ve been playing with the links endlessly..)
Hi Jonathan,
I really like your idea. I think the gamification of education is a great tool to leverage to increase engagement. I’ve only viewed your elevator pitch and am not able to access your venture pitch.
Hi Jonathan,
I also agree with many of the others in terms of the excitement generated by using games to teach. The concept is interesting but I wasn’t quite sure that giving 20 hours was quite right. I know quite a few games that I barely make to 20 so you’re pretty giving users all the usage they want out of it and then they may just opt to put it aside feeling as though they barely have anything left to gain out of it. I’d likely say that 5-10 hours is more than sufficient to determine the viability of a product and whether it deserves my hard earned dollars. Anything more is just a bonus in my end. As such, I likely would shy away from investing but would likely follow the venture to see where it leads.
Thanks for your feedback Patrick.
I was trying to figure out how I could increase revenue, but as I think about it more — developing the core product is really important. As I was mentioning to Manny, I think the way to go is to leave the game free. I hear what you say about 5-10 hours and shortening the game — but with the 20 hours I wanted to give enough opportunity for both teachers and students to try it out. Either way, upon some reflection, I feel that a hard cut off would be a turn off to educators and students. As I mentioned in a response to Manny — I think building upon the core product would be important to ensure that students continue to return.
Thank you for your feedback!
I’ve had a lot of difficulties posting up both my Youtube and my documents. I hope it works now, although I’m thinking that it is too late. Thank you all for trying to view my submission.
Hi,
I think that you have done a great job creating an elevator pitch that is simple and provides key points of interest for me to want to further explore your venture. I, like others, was a little surprised by the 20 hours of free gaming to start as I feel like that is a lot and students may lose interest after that or if a school uses it, 20 hours may be enough time to use it without actually paying for it. I would probably shorten it to 5 so that they can get a feeling for it, but not get to use it for the completion of a task.
Jhodi
20 hours is quite generous amount. The creators of Skoolbo actually have allowed this game to go for free. To me it isn’t clear how they are funded currently, but I do believe the way to go with content now is to provide a solid experience and monetize on products afterwards.
Build a product people can’t live without and then they will be happy to pay for it. Try before you buy, I feel is extremely important.
Thanks for your feedback!
Hi Jonathan –
Glad the tech issues were worked out with posting. I didn’t mind the wait and was happy to see your final product. I liked the quality and general content of the elevator pitch, but with so much competition in the educational gaming market today I didn’t really get enough in the brief pitch to sell me I’m afraid. I caught the pain point, but felt the solution could have been expanded upon. I’d like to know more, right up front, about what you mean by intricate story lines – some quick examples perhaps, that are intended to keep the students engaged. So I would have some concerns regarding how you would stand apart from the competition. As a potential EVA, I would be interested in seeing what you’ve got for me once you’ve got some samples to show me.
Hi Peggy !
It’s interesting that you say you didn’t get a good sense of what the product was about. I remember right at the beginning of the course we were tasked with watching a lot of pitches and thinking the exact same thing.
As we headed into doing our own project, I remembered trying to balance out how much about the game I should talk about and how much about the general direction of the venture. It feels like a fine balance because we were definitely suppose to keep it towards the investors. But one could argue that the investors need to have a good idea of what is going on in the product. I have quite a few ideas about how to redo the pitch and I think it would have to include some gameplay. I may be crossing over into copyright issues though if I do this as it is a real product.
Thanks for your feedback, Peggy!
The one size fits all approach of online videos is redundant and stagnating the growth of this powerful medium for communication and education.
Continue reading Micro One – Engage with your passion Posted in: Venture Forum
Stuart, just a wonderful job here. I was waiting for someone to show me both a great idea and production value. You obviously are quite skilled at presenting information, and the points you make – along with your easy pace and volume of voice – make for an informational and entertaining pitch.
In terms of content creation, would I need to create 3 copies of a video? Or would I need to create a ‘Ground’ copy and then the program itself sifts through the content to create lesser detailed overviews?
I love this idea, and would be interested in installing this type of service onto other aspects of educational media. Ebooks is one off the top of my head that would greatly benefit from this technology. Instead of overviews to ground level, you could have Grade level books, and the student could choose a harder level. ESL students could benefit, struggling readers, etc.
You have a solid, polished pitch and I would be interested in hearing more.
Thank you,
Kent
Thanks for the kind words Kent.
On the question of the delivery of videos there would be three options as I see it. First of all there would be just the ‘ground’ version and the software would extrapolate the other versions from that. The video and subject would have to be suitable which it would be able to decide automatically.
The second option would be to deliver 3 copies and the software would match the timings itself.
The final option would be to deliver the ‘Ground’ level and we would extrapolate it manually. This would be particularly useful for things like you mention – grade books, ebooks, and tutorials.
Naturally each would come in at a different price point – with the second option (3 copies delivered) being free to upload and then charging the end user to view OR the provider paying to use the delivery mechanism and it being free to the end user.
Stuart
Hey Stuart:
Great presentations and product. I like the way you demonstrated the Mirco One concept with the elevator and venture pitches – you are a pro.
I really can’t see anything wrong with what you have done perhaps because both presentations peaked my interest. That is the idea of pitches, if you catch an investors interest, then any flaws are not important. If we were to take this further, then as an investor I would say – lets talk.
Doug.
Hi Stuart, your presentation is a great example of how a quality presentation can really sell a product. I really like your presentation everything from the background music, sound quality and animations were all professionally done. You obviously have some experience in these areas. As for your product it does sound interesting but as you mentioned you would need to decide whether you have 3 videos or if you have the software able to manage the timings. I thought the presentation was excellent and well thought out and for that reason as an investor I would listen and view a demo to really evaluate if I would invest.
Hi Stuart,
Your elevator pitch is well-presented. From the perspective of an EVA, I think the pitch would improve with the support of a description of the pain point in an actual learning setting. Also, information on what the proprietary technology is, how the technology fosters learning and growth of the user base, and who the content contributors will be (i.e., who will be making & uploading the videos?) would also bring marketability to your product.
Thanks,
James
Stuart, I was very impressed with the overall presentation of both the elevator and the venture pitch. It was a very natural move to use you pitches to demonstrate how your product essentially works. As a potential investor, this gave me a much better understanding of the product and the problem that it addresses. Your credentials and experience speak to your credibility and the clear nature of your pitches speak to your ability in content production.
As I watched, I started to wonder how you would go about separating out content into the three levels that you propose. Is that determined on a client-by-client basis? As this is the crux of what your product is about, I think that it’s an important question to address in more depth. Apart from that, I was very impressed and as an investor would be interested in supporting this product.
Sorry for the late post. I have had sleepless nights completing other assignments. I do apologize and mean no disrespect.
I am going to base my feedback on what we saw in week 3 regarding the content of a venture pitch(Perfecting Your Pitch).
1. Pain Point: the market gap or problem the venture is addressing
Having to view whole videos when perhaps one could go direct to the part needed, is a time consuming problem.
2. Solution: the new product or service that resolves the pain
If it works, it would be great. Using key word searches is a great idea. My only question is who decided the key words?
3.Differentiation: the reason someone will buy or use this new product or service, versus the alternatives
– There does not appear to be anything similar out there
4. Marketing: where and how buyers/users will be reached
– I only watched it once, and cannot remember seeing this.
5. Championship: the competency of the venture’s leaders and advisors
– He knows what he’s doing.
6. Competition: an overview of competitors and partners
-Could have gone into more detail
7. The Ask: how much money, etc, is required to take the next step
– I can’t remember seeing this
8. The Return: how much and how soon will an investor be recompensed.
Can’t remember seeing this
9. The Message
Excellent work. Very professionally made and presented. Your message is concise and to the point, and you make excellent use of graphics. You also use a clear tone of voice and good stress and intonation to carry your message. Though I have some doubts as to how your product would work, you have me hooked on wanting to know more about it, and convinced there is a need for it. Well done!
This product addresses a gap in the market, as it changes the way that video education is accessed. I like the idea of streamlining content based on the level of knowledge that individuals need. It makes sense to have it all in one place. Who exactly would your market be? Would you start in one specific market and then expand?
I think that the idea is fabulous as online education through videos is a big market. As far as marketing goes: how do you aim to get your product out? This could be a stumbling block as there are many video sites out there already, as you indicate. How can you let people know about your service and how it is different? I think your video and eloquence make it clear that you are confident and competent in your product. This is a slick, clear presentation without a lot of extras which goes far in enticing me as an investor. It is clear what you are using your money for, and that was a major factor in my choice to invest, but the return isn’t as clear, nor is your timeline, which might be something to include to interest investors. Overall, a great presentation!
My elevator and venture pitches outline an innovative device that help ESL speakers all over the world reduce their accents without years of practice and training. Although the pitches make it out to be a real enterprise, it is fictional. Before watching my elevator pitch, I would like to make it clear that I’m not […]
Continue reading REDUCTO (Instant accent reduction device) Posted in: Venture Forum
Hi Paula –
I thought you did an excellent job with both the elevator and venture pitch. I thought your production values were very good for both, very professional and polished which are important for making that subliminal message of competence. The venture pitch did a very good job I felt of laying out all key points – pain points and the solution, competition, market, future direction, and you did a good job of focusing on the high points (pain point & solution) with your elevator pitch. I can see how, in todays increasingly global market, that there were be plenty of buyers for such a simple solution, but was interested in your growth plans as well. I’d have to say that as an EVA, I would invest!
Peggy
HI Paula,
I have to say I really enjoyed watching your elevator pitch because it not only addressed a real problem (one that I have encountered myself on the phone with others) but it was clear, professional and entertaining.
As for the venture pitch, I felt that you did a great job in illustrating the problem and demonstrating how it will help provide a solution. I think that the market and usability for such a product is high and I would definitely invest in it.
Julie
I laughed out loud. It’s a hilarious idea but it does in fact address a need. It seems to me though that the target is the companies that employ people with strong accents and not the people themselves. The pitch could have been a bit clearer with its intent. But it was a slick and well-produced little piece. Well done.
I can’t add too much to Ben’s comments, as I share his opinions. Targeting companies like telemarketers or any phone based public relations business would really be beneficial in terms of revenue. Granted, your software (as Colin States) would need to be flawless and, like any voice application, would need to work out mis-pronouncing vital words and phrases.
A wonderful idea, and a really professional polished pitch. I’m in, but would need assurances of the software.
Well done!
Kent
I really liked the humor that you put into the elevator pitch and I think a product like this would be very marketable. I am not sure how the software would work as there are so many different kinds of accents and some of them are so strong. Overall though I liked your pitch and product idea and I think it would be worthwhile to invest in as long as the software worked really well.
Very professional looking elevator pitch! You clearly demonstrate how your product works and the advantages that it affords. The humorous clip that you use to introduce the pain point was creative and hooks in potential investors.
You have written a solid venture pitch and make a strong case for this product, which is strengthened by the research that you include. I was impressed by the screenshots of how the program works – very creative! You also clearly articulate your own credibility in this area. One question that I had was whether your target market would want to purchase this product being that they would have to invest in a headset and the software for each operator. This represents a huge overhead and may, at least in part, negate the ‘advantage’ that you refer to of using call centres in India. Some market research would need to be done in order to determine if the call centers would bear the cost of this product in order to refine the language skills of their employees.
On the whole, very well done. It was a pleasure evaluating your venture proposal!
You have done an excellent job with both the elevator pitch and the venture pitch. I found myself highly engaged by the elevator pitch and wanting to learn more about the product. I thought that your elevator pitch was very professional, included enough of the key information, but did not overwhelm me with too much information so I was able to retain and process what I needed to.
Your venture pitch hit all of the key points. This addresses a legitimate issue for many ESL speakers. This device is clearly differentiated from others on the market and provides an appropriate solution to the problem. You have clearly indicated why your company provides a solid backing for the technology and how you intend to move forward as an innovative technology. As an ‘investor’ I appreciated that you specified how much you would like to have invested, what you were going to do with my investment, and how I would get a return on my investment. Overall, I think that your venture plan and marketability is great! Your product could be launched immediately with high demand and great success. Therefore, I would invest in your venture!
Hi Paula,
Sorry for the late post. I have had sleepless nights completing other assignments. I do apologize and mean no disrespect.
I really enjoyed watching your elevator pitch and feel it was very well made and presented, as was your PDF document. You have a clear idea of your market and were clear with investors. I also feel the interested buyers would invest in something like this because they are losing sales by not doing so.
Great job!
Adriana
Paula,
Your presentation is great, although I think that less time could have been spent on the reasons behind your product, as I feel that these are fairly clear. One area that I would be interested in knowing more about would be how will you advertise your product and get it out to the large market that is available. The ask, reasons for the money and return are all clearly laid out which investors would appreciate and I think that you are correct, that there would be a huge market for this. With the money that companies save with outsourcing they could easily purchase this product, particularly as it addresses one of the major complaints that customers using phone services identify. You have clearly done your research and are competent and passionate about the product. This is a great product and I would be willing to invest in it.
Doorpodz is a venture proposition for an online community connecting people looking at changing career paths (known as career movers) to industry advisors using online profiles, instant messaging and live chat. I am really excited about my venture proposition and would like to take the opportunity to share it with you. Only have a minute? […]
Continue reading Doorpodz Posted in: Venture Forum
I liked how your elevator pitch was geared towards investors and not necessarily end users of the product. You seemed very engaged in the pitch as well.
Hi Jenny,
Your elevator pitch is professionally done. The video is of good quality with the logo and perfect lighting. Your tone, pitch and excitement in your voice make it all very interesting to watch! Your elevator pitch is clear in which you started with the pain point and then you moved on to the solution.
The idea of Doorpods is innovative and I feel excited to listen to you. You are also very clear on how Doorpodz will make the money. However, I think since there are already some free social networking sites out there that provide similar concepts: people can blog, post questions, chats , and many times they can get advice online for free, so I don’t think most people would want to pay to use Doorpodz, unless they are very serious or desperate, then they may sign up and pay for chat and advice from the professional.
Overall both of your pitches are very engaging. Even though you didn’t have much visual in your venture pitch, your passion, your excitement, and the words you chose kept me engaged the whole 7:17 minutes. Well done!
Hey Jenny, great job on your pitches. I thought the most intriguing part of how doorpodz would make money was the idea that industry advisors could have the option of answering to create their own supply and demand within your site. A good advisor could charge more based on his or her chats (after they are rated)…if you want 5 star quality, maybe they choose to charge more per minute. It could create a space for people looking to move career paths a new outlook.
One of the drawbacks of the idea is that I don’t think the numbers of people out there looking to change career paths are that high, so it is a relatively small market, but if you did corner that niche, with the right marketing perhaps it could be profitable.
thanks
MIKE
Thanks everyone. I would agree that I am a bit concerned as to if people would pay to chat or not but there are some models out there that are working. Mike, I wondered about the need as well, how often do people fully change careers? I did mean to find some stats about this, but time ran out, I just knew it was something I was going through and have a few friends going through as well. I thought that it could also be a starting point for people to have some inside info on a company they are interested in so maybe not a total career shift but inside scoop on a different position. Thanks for the feedback.
Jenny —
Really interesting idea! I like it. I enjoyed both the short and the longer versions of your presentations. As an EVA, I would probably like the shift to change to more of a marketing site for jobs (I think..). Like Mike, I am worried bout the market for people wanting to change jobs and how you would be able to maintain users. I see it as a great recruiting tool, but then the question for the industry leaders or managers with jobs is how could they sift through the piles of applicants. It seems like a good extension to something like Linked In possibly?
I am interested in the pay to chat to an executive feature though for sure. Thanks for the pitch!
— Jonathan
I totally agree Jonathan,
It would be perfect to pitch as an extension to LinkedIn. Not sure if anyone else has thought about it yet.
Hi Jenny,
After watching your videos and reading your disclaimers it seems as though you have thought of just about everything. Both the elevator pitch and the venture pitch were easy to view and your message was clear. You did a nice job in the elevator pitch piquing the viewer’s interest to watch the second video. In the venture pitch you progressed your ideas nicely and moved a good pace. Your confidence and enthusiasm for the venture showed through out. Nicely done. I think the venture idea is a good one. I think there are a lot of people that do actually change jobs/career paths now compared to just one generation back. I can tell you that 3 people in my immediate family have done this. I don’t know if they would have tried a service like this or not. I think with how comfortable people have become with social networks that it is a real possibility. Great job.
Ken
Hi Jenny!
First off, KUDOS for getting through a whole venture pitch in one go! (You didn’t even edit, did you?!) Outstanding.
I worked in the software field for a company called Cluen that created contact database management systems for executive recruiters. Doorpods would have been an extremely natural add-on to our program! I am intrigued by the concept of being able to chat with Industry Advisors, and do believe that there are good people out there that would be more than willing to take part.
While watching both the elevator pitch and the longer venture pitch, I did have some questions arise… but as soon as I was writing them down, you answered them! I think that is definitely a sign of a good pitch. Get the audience thinking and engaging just enough to ask questions which you end up answering before the pitch is over. Excellent work there.
I am not sure if I would invest in Doorpods only for the fact that I’m not sure there is currently a market of users willing to pay for such a service. The idea is stellar, but unfortunately, the economy is still not. That said, you provided a sound presentation of a good idea. Well done.
Thanks Jennifer. I took a lot of takes (at least ten – it was a long Friday night) and was reading off the computer screen using a PowerPoint presentation and clicking through as I went. I did mess up three words so I did very slight editing. I am glad to see that there might be interest for the product, but yes I think how to make the product make money needs to be re-evaluated.
Hi Jenny,
I enjoyed watching your elevator pitch and thought long and hard in terms of its feasibility. I think this is the point that I struggle with most as I’m not sure if a need exists for this service or whether it would be viable. If anything, I could see this type of service tied in with LinkedIn rather than a standalone product. With the established user base of LinkedIn, there would likely be a greater incentive for recruiters to pursue this type of recruiting approach. Still, you propose an interesting venture and although I wouldn’t invest in it personally, there might be some hope for it if your market research showed promise.
Nice work.
I’m on a similar page as Patrick on this.
Certainly, there is a need for services that cater to people who are going through a career transition. Whether Doorpodz has identified the specific painpoint most people are willing to pay for to overcome, I’m not sure.
There is already ample information about various careers online and if you’re interested, it’s not that difficult to get an information interview with people in areas you’re interested in exploring. Networking is not that hard in the age of social media.
As far as helping employers/recruiters, most people hire people whom they know, because we make people decisions based on how we feel about them, not data on page. I say this having been one of the few who got a job in the government, without having had a connection. I was the exception.
The rule was and still is that someone has to know you and vouch for you, and this is truer the higher up the proverbial ladder you go.
Perhaps something to think about going forward with your venture. GL!
Jenny, I found both your pitches well constructed and executed, resulting in a high likely hood that I might invest in your venture. Your relaxed and sincere delivery backed by in depth knowledge of your venture concept, make you a natural choice for CEO of DoorPodz. As noted by several of my colleagues, the venture concept has a great deal of strength and I particularly appreciate the details you were able to provide concerning the marketability and multiple revenue structures you outlined.
I small part of me is left wondering however, the degree to which your concept aligns specifically the with education market? This is an entirely irrelevant concern for your idea general, however considering we were to have our “EVA hats on” during this evaluation process, were I true to this criteria, I feel that your concept might fit better in the context of an employment business venture.
A second minor critique, relates to your ability to connect to the viewer, with respect to eye contact. I’m being nit-picky here, but since your pitches are already at such a high level and improving upon them is challenging, it’s worth mentioning that any future versions of your video pitches would benefit from the addition of an improved form of tele-prompting to aid in maintaining eye contact with the camera lens. Nearly everyone in our course faced this same challenge when recording their video pictures and your approach of reading from PowerPoint slides was was likely the most common solution. Simply finding a way to move your computer screen even closer to the camera lens, might help to solve this issue.
In the end, I am left feeling most impressed with your venture concept and your ability to communicate your ideas.
Welcome to KidConnect, an online learning program for young hospitalized patients in Canada. The goal of this venture is to bring learning, communication and entertainment to those in need. For a better look at what KidConnect offers, watch the elevator pitch below. As well, please keep in mind that although the pitch is delivered as […]
Continue reading KidConnect Posted in: General, Venture Forum
Nicely done Julie!
Rather than being a Venture Capitalist, I need you to imagine being a member of Deans’ Council of a Post-secondary institute. The two are really much the same as Dean’s, along with Vice Presidents are accountable for spending Tax Payers’ dollars wisely. The friend with $1 million to invest in this scenario therefore is Deans’ […]
Continue reading Hey There Business Pro Posted in: Venture Forum
Hi Doug. I tried to watch your Venture Pitch video but the youtube video is private. You will need to adjust the privacy settings.
Ken
Thanks Ken. Should be go to go now.
Doug.
I enjoyed watching your elevator pitch. If I were an executive I would support this proposal as the more an administrative assistant can do the better. It seems like this program will ensure the development of skills that are necessary to keep up with the ever changing work environment and be attractive to recruiters in the industry. Coming from a union environment though, I am curious if higher level tasks may affect the job descriptions of the employees. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Doug,
I found both your elevator and venture pitch caught my attention. I think you have proven a pain point and solution for the market. Overall I felt your Venture Pitch was well research and thoughtful. You passion for the venture was evident. My only suggestion might be to further detail the background of the CEO (which I assume is you) and your executive team so that we can feel confident that you have what it takes to make this program successful. Overall, excellent pitches. Thanks for sharing!
Best, Jen
Hi Doug,
I enjoyed your elevator pitch as well and share the concerns of above with regards to outsourcing existing jobs by allowing the admin assistants to multitask. Good work.
Hey Doug —
That was an exciting pitch to watch. You have clearly highlighted an area of concern that is unique to the market (at least you convinced me of that!). This looks like a very sound proposal that you are submitting. I’d definitely be interested in the idea if I were part of the Dean Council.
Thanks for this one!
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 watched the elevator pitch and read the venture proposal, I feel the CEO of this venture does appear credible, in that he is able to confidently discuss the issue and the approach in which they will take to solve the concern. As for the team provided to accomplish this task, I am less clear, as the proposal states the School of Business will be responsible for the development of the required elements to make this venture a success. I assume, that members of this faculty are credible, but would want to view credentials before moving forward.
Venture Concept:
Based upon the information provided, this venture does appear to be innovating while other similar institutions are cutting back, which may either mean this is a highly innovative approach, or else in the long run there are limiting factors which will reduce the effectiveness or viability of this venture, that at this time we are unaware of. Regardless, the “story” was very effective, which left me wanting to know more about the company and their approach.
Marketability:
The actual marketability of this venture was not provided, yet it was eluded to that enrollment for initial years would be lower, as requirements would be higher, but over time, more qualified graduates would emerge, leveling out this implementation dip. Regardless, not knowing this ventures true market size, potential share, and revenue makes this a risky proposition, therefore more specific research into this area is required. Secondly, from the information provided, the venture will be applying an innovative approach, if this is 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.
Venture Plan:
From the information provided, this venture feels that they would be operational within 2-3 years, which after that time, a full 2 year degree program (with practicum) would be made available for potential clients. As with any new program, there most likely will be tinkering after those three years to deal with unexpected issues, or advances in methodology or technology to enhance the delivery of the venture.
Overall though, this venture plane knows what success looks like, and what overall steps need to be completed. As well, before investing, specific information on the type of venture, not-for-profit, for-profit, or social enterprise would need to be provided to ensure the right type of investor is exploring this venture.
Great comments and points from everyone so far, thank you. The fact that interest was generated and more information is needed indicates several Deans would be interested in moving forward with this proposal. As this would be presented live at Deans’ Council then the questions could be answered on the spot.
There is one assumption that I forgot to mention around the credibility of the CEO and the team. As this is a small to medium post-secondary institution, and everyone knows each other on a first name basis, I felt there was no need to expand on introducing myself in the video and the Dean of Business in the preamble. However point well taken as it would have been easy to quickly provide some info on the team for credibility sake.
Doug.
Hi Doug,
I really enjoyed your elevator pitch. You came across as passionate and credible. Your pain point is very real – I would love to have an Administrative Assistant who could “to drive the work and provide solutions to your business problems.” I agree with the other post that more information on the CEO and team would improve the credibility factor. As an investor I would want to learn more
Sophia
Excellent work. Your passion is evident and makes this a strong pitch. I was definitely drawn to this product and would be very interested as a venture. As others have highlighted, more information on the CEO would strengthen your venture.
Thank you for sharing. You did an excellent job.
Nureen
As a former clinic business manager who was not trained in basic administrative skills but luckily got by on ingenuity, I would have loved to have attended such a program! I feel that all too often, administrative assistants are expected to have general office knowledge but are not pushed to do more. In many cases, those who work in the field may have ideas of their own to bring to the table (without training) but feel it is out of the scope of their position to present such ideas to those in higher ranking positions. Navigating those waters would be a great integral piece to your proposed program.
I like that you have taken what seems to be an ordinary position and developed it further, redefining positions and titles. I do feel that people function much better in their profession when given respect, authority and drive to do more and to BE more. I think it is definitely a worthwhile venture and as a Dean (in any one of the departments you listed above), would surely give my stamp of approval.
What do we have here.. a private Joker 😉
Doug, I liked how you played with this, and yet, brought it back to something you have much exposure with from an academic and professional setting.
Certainly, I think most business leaders would want to have assistants with better critical thinking and business technology skills – we don’t have to pay them more do we? No? Okay, great!
My main recommendation is that you not entirely focus this program on the established needs of big organizations and corporations. If I am right – economists are NOT usually right – then the world of the future will be more bottom up driven, with smaller units that connect together in networks that allow them to remain innovative and nimble, instead of the safety and stability centered leviathan institutions of the past.
These units will need their business solutions technologists to be exactly that; to provide real support to business and technology issues of the future, and I’m guessing here, but those challenges may not center primarily of another aging dinosaur platform, that of of Microsoft Office.
Just a thought.
Good luck with the Deans!
Hi Doug,
You have a great elevator pitch and I think I got spoiled to it so I had a hard time switching from it to read the venture pitch. I never would have thought of an academic program as venture and this makes your venture special for me. Ideas like this would certainly keep education up to date with the times.
Cheers
Patason
Kudos to you Doug, for taking such a creative interpretation of the assignment to best fit the challenges and opportunities present in your field of work. Though I have no background in business training or post secondary educational programming, in general the premise of your concept makes good sense to me, thanks to your clear pitch and presentation of the idea.
For my A3 project I created a company called V-Projects. The V stands for Virtual 3-D Worlds and the projects refers to its emphasis on project based learning with our course material. I have both pitches as a video with my self reflection included at the end of the venture pitch. Elevator Pitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCq06ncMi70 Venture […]
Continue reading V-Project Posted in: Venture Forum
Hi Colin,
I really enjoyed your pitches. Which program did you use? I use iMovie and would love to know how to impose graphics alongside my image. Your elevator pitch was great and included enough key information to catch my attention. Your Venture Pitch demonstrated the pain point, solution, and differentiation of your idea. You provided examples of your competition and reasons why your product is better. Your ask and return were clear too. I liked how you mixed graphics with the video of you speaking. You conveyed enthusiasm and knowledge of your topic. The only weakness I saw was similar to what you pointed out, I am not sure that the CEO’s background experience is enough to champion this venture. Here I might have added some fictional information to your CEO and additional executive team member to garner more credibility. Overall, I thought you venture was great. Thanks for sharing, Jen
Thank-you Jen, the elevator pitch was my experiment with PowerPoint and the venture pitch was all done Adobe Premiere Pro. I agree that I could have made a fictional executive team to make it more believable as my experience wouldn’t be enough to make it successful.
Hey Colin,
Great presentation values. The talking heads feel suitably hi tech and I thought that the elevator and concepts were really well thought out. Good job.
Colin —
Awesome. Adobe Premiere Pro? Were the background images already given as samples or did you need to recreate them? Did you have to green screen it to make it work? With respect to your virtual world idea — i’d say that the way you did the video matched it very well.
So back to the video! — 🙂 Experiment with powerpoint? How was it done?
My favourite part of it was the connection with your virtual world to an LMS — that to me makes this an important feature that we (as teachers don’t currently have). I’m curious as to how these assignments will tie into the LMS though. Other than that — I’d say you have my money!
Hi Jonathan, no I used free video backgrounds and then just removed the blue screen and replaced it with this video. The Elevator pitch was done in PowerPoint where I had only one slide with animations all timed out. Then exported to video in PowerPoint. It worked okay but I do like Adobe Premiere Pro better.
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:
The CEO of V-Project appears credible, convey’s confidence in this venture, and has experienced the development and implementation of this project into a traditional classroom environment, and witnessed the potential of this approach in other educational settings. Unfortunately, no information was provided regarding the rest of V-Projects team, therefore a firm assessment of their ability to manage a start-up to a successful venture cannot be provided at this time.
Venture Concept:
Even though the concept of virtual worlds is now commonplace within the world of educational technology, thanks to such ventures as Second Life, the specific focus of this venture for distance learning, when combined with the ability for institutions or individuals to rent spaces, provide historical recreations, purchase individual courses, and even offer online tutoring services, sets this venture apart. From the information provided, it appears that this company has done the pre-requisite research to determine its potential viability, however before investing a review of this literature would need to occur. Overall though, V-Projects is an interesting concept, that deserves further review.
Marketability:
V-Projects discusses the potential of going global with this service, however specific information regarding potential customer base is lacking, making guesses on market size, share and potential revenue difficult to complete at this. Further information is needed in this area to determine if there is enough need for this market to ensure its success. As for this companies competitive edge, they have provided intriguing features that most schools and teachers would like, such as the ability to control elements such as language and clothing, as well as bullying safety features, all of which are necessary in an online learning environment. A potential concern for investors is the use of the Open Source software as the foundation for this online learning environment. While, this company has made enhancements and additions, further research into the legal requirements of sharing these (due to the open source movement), puts into question the innovative advantages they currently possess.
Venture Plan:
V-Projects is currently in Beta Testing, and feels with a small investment will be able to enter the market, and within 5 years return this investment. This will be accomplished through what appears to be a freemium model, with additions of course purchasing, space rental, and tutoring services, each of which provides good revenue sources to make this venture a success. Overall, before investing I would like to experience proof of concept, and investigate the infrastructure V-Projects has set-up to ensure a consistent and effective online presence.
Hi Colin
You are certainly a confident and credible CEO and your venture has a certain appeal to me. However you did not provide any information about your team but I am willing to overlook this omission and rate this venture on the impression you have made via your pitches.
As for your venture it is certainly viable and you have assembled a credible set of tools that makes for a believable platform for learning in a 3D environment. However I have are some major concerns about your venture.
The first is I believe that the open source license requires that all modified source code be made available in the spirit of openness to facilitate further development of the software. Yet you speak of a proprietary design for your product. The second is that I do not see virtual worlds as a replacement for current LMS but extension to them. I make this claim against the theory of multiple intelligences from which we can predict that all students would not prefer virtual worlds. As for control I believe that simply recording all activities and letting this be agreed to upon signup will be a more efficient way of managing deviant behavior.
On the issue of competition I would have liked to get more detail on what gives your product the competitive edge over other similar products.
Education has been slow in adopting IT technology and I am not sure that it will readily accept something as sophisticated as 3d technology at the moment.
You have a very good venture that needs to be tweaked as I have suggested but I am afraid that it is ahead of its time and as such I would not invest in it right now. Nevertheless you did a great job and I am truly impressed.
Cheers
Patason
Hi Collin,
I think this is a great idea but I think most educational systems are still too far behind in term of their current technological use to be able to take on such a brilliant learning approach. I do however feel that a tool like this would definitely be very successful in the future. Your pitch and venture analysis were extremely engaging. I was drawn in and wanted to learn more. You did a phenomenal job with the technical components of this assignment. You were very confident as the CEO of the company and your mannerisms, tone of voice and body language were a plus point. This confidence made me have belief in your product. You used the term ‘we’ throughout your presentation. Hence, you were referring to your team but your team was not mentioned. Other than that, I thought you did a great job.
Thanks for sharing this excellent work. It is inspiring to see how a project such as this can be made engaging through aesthetics. .Your effort is evident. You are a talented guy.
Nureen
Hi Colin,
I enjoyed watching your elevator pitch. You provided information on most of the important points in an elevator pitch, and if your pain point was followed by the product differentiation my interests would be stirred even more. The 100% return on investment in 5 years sounds good if there are figures in the venture pitch to back it up.
Thanks for a solid presentation.
James
Colin, the careful preparation and professional delivery of your pitch make it quite credible and convincing.
Many of my colleagues have already touched on the strengths and weaknesses of the pitch in terms of the criteria presented in this course. As Tom also mentioned, I particularly appreciated your attention to the subject of accountability for students actions in the virtual environment you outlined – the concern for cyberbullying would be foremost in the minds of my schools administrators with such a product. I also concur, that further details regarding your management team would add to the strength of the pitch.
In my naïve knowledge of virtual environments, the concept as presented seems sound, though I remain somewhat perplexed by the benefit of its open source SIM foundation which is then combined with other propriety features. In the end, is it open source?
While the exact size of the market remains a bit vague, in general I can foresee a potential market for this venture in the future. With the venture plan proposed and the financial details provided, the success of the venture appears fairly high. In the end however, due to my own lack of understanding of the technology in general, I would not invest in the venture.
As a final comment and one which could apply easily to other pitches and how the assignment instructions in general are being interpreted – I’m not certain an 8min video pitch is the best ‘medium for this message’. The production value was high in this video and the lower 3rd graphics helped, but in the end, I feel lengthy video pitches of this nature, are at risk of becoming too densely packed with information – I might prefer reading and lingering over the details of this and others pitches instead.
Hi Colin,
Great pitches and use of video! I am impressed you were able to do this with the tools you listed you used.
In your elevator pitch you clearly identify a pain point (high costs and not appealing alternatives) and what the proposed product you pitch will do to minimize this. The product/service you want to provide is succinctly describe and you ask clearly for an investment and identify how it will be used and when it will be paid back. Based on the elevator pitch, its content and professional feel I definitely was drawn to go learn more and review the venture pitch.
Despite the fact I think you have a great idea and concept as an EVA I am not sure I would invest in this venture. This is purely for the reason that I think currently the cost of developing this venture’s product/services (with current development technologies) will be quite high and I am not sure investors would be able to get a decent return on investment.
Thanks,
Melissa
Hi Colin,
Great use of PowePoint and Adobe Premiere. I found your elevator pitch very credible. It addressed your product, problem, solution, target market and ask.
I concur with another colleague that an 8 min video is not necessarily the best medium for the venture pitch, but you did an excellent job with it.
Your presentation of your product demonstrated your research into how to leverage the affordances of virtual worlds for project=based learning, attention to potential risks such as cyber bullying and plans to mitigate.
Your ask and return were clearly stated. Your market was identified but I could have liked more information on the size of the market to be better able to ascertain financial feasibility. However, your marketing/revenue plans were of different revenue options to investors are attractive and are options that I would be open to learning more about.
While you came across as a confident and credible CEO I would need more information on your team’s relevant skill sets and abilities to design, plan and implement a business of this nature to inform my decision to invest or not.
Overall, an intriguing venture proposition. One that I would invite a submission of a business plan.
Sophia
Here is the A3 Elevator and Venture pitch: My venture focuses on a new kind of software that attempts to blend the lines between educational and entertainment software in an attempt to make the new hybrid genre more marketable to the regular gaming community. It’s focus is contextual relevance and it’s explained more in the […]
Continue reading A3 Elevator and Venture Posted in: General, Venture Forum
Hey Joel:
Both of these links take me to your school district access portal, what is the log in and password?
Doug.
Hi Joel,
The same thing happened to me when I tried.
Jen 🙂
Weird. Ok fixed now. Apologies
Joel, fair play it works now for me anyway.
Well done – Sound argument, well presented with a good idea.
I would definitely want to chat to you more about the background you and your team have and what other projects you have done to make sure that you have the ability to develop the ‘Context’ project. Also I would be interesting in learning about the revenue model for the product, would you be pitching it at an educational market or take on the games industry in the ‘real’ world?
It is an engaging and fascinating product you are pitching. I would be interested in being involved early once the development and revenue questions were as good as the concept.
Well done
Stuart
Thank you for the kind words Stu. It’s going to be pitched to both the gaming and educational industries actually because of the nature of software. Remember that what we are trying to accomplish hasn’t actually been done before and recently the gaming industry, like the movie business has become a little shy about producing anything that’s a possible risk. This is one reason that we have been recently inundated with sequels and horrible reboots in both genre’s. One of the inspirations for this software was Lumosity but after working with it I believed that the idea could be expanded and marketed in a different direction. Once I started looking into it, I realized that the product pitch had grown beyond the constraints of Lumosity and that we could really revolutionize the concept and subsequent genres.
As far as the revenue model is concerned, Kickstarter is a model that allows for small donations, usually enough to cover one instance of the software and if the company reaches a certain goal, they can then continue with production based on the promise of customer delivery once the software is finished. It has revolutionized multiple industries because it allows startups to engage the public with products that are deemed too risky for regular production.
Hi Joel,
I see tremendous potential in your venture in terms of education but I’m not 100% sure on the viability of producing an endless continuum of content without a strong user base. If you are tempted to pursue this venture, I might look at crowdsourcing content to establish a larger content repository for use with your platform. Ideally, you would want to create the tools and provide them to others to generate the content for you. I think something like Minecraft comes to mind. Still, I see a great idea, the right person to lead it with passion and drive and those are elements that would encourage me to ask additional questions to determine the viability of the venture. Good work!
Hi,
I think that you have an interesting concept here. I think that if you are able to do it, you could have a very high demand product. However, developing the content for such a project seems like a very large undertaking. I think that you seem like a very confident leader and have made very persuasive pitches.
Jhodi
@ Patrick,
I think that to garner interest in the product/project, we have to showcase the capability of the software first. In order to do that we need to create the three modules first and then approach the crowd sourcing with a later release after we have enough funding to develop user friendly development tools for user created content and modules.
For my A3 project, I created a not-for-profit professional organization called ‘Edutech/HK’ to support collaboration and sharing between technology educators in Hong Kong. The elevator pitch is a video embedded into the larger venture presentation that I created using Prezi. I hope you enjoy it: http://prezi.com/ctydqmqhlmvw/edutechhk/ As always, any suggestions or feedback are appreciated. If you […]
Continue reading Edutech/HK Posted in: Venture Forum
Hi Ben! I tried to take a look at your prezi, but when I click on the link above, it returns with a window stating “Something seems to be broken here, and tells us IO_ERROR. prezi.com/support might help.” (I know that last time I tried to access your prezi (A1), I seemed to be the only one getting an error message then, so maybe it’s just me or the prezi servers again, but I thought I’d let you know just in case.)
I look forward to viewing your presentation! -Jen
Nevermind… it seems to be working now. *sigh* 🙂
I agree that fundamental trade skills are being pushed into the background of education in this digital age. I have also had many parents and caregivers express the same complaint when praising our engineering programs for children. “Who will be the carpenters, plumbers, and electricians of tomorrow?” It may sound like a silly question until you really start thinking about it. We will always need hands on skillful workers and engineers in order to successfully live within our created “creature comforts.” Students best learn those type of skills through hands on experience.
One thing that really stuck out to me in the pitch was the active database of willing professionals. We can learn so much from those who have gone before us. Having professionals with experience at the ready to offer workshops, talks, or conferences is an extremely valuable tool.
I also enjoyed learning of the professional affiliations of the group. It always paints such a broader picture than just learning where someone has gotten their degree from or where they have worked.
Excellent pitch.
Hi Ben, Great venture and pitch, thanks for sharing!
Catherine
Ben ~ Great job. I am curious how long is your elevator pitch? You were able to pack a ton of information in. I had a difficult time keeping mine to under a minute. Also, I think you are missing a word under the section where you talk about where you drew your inspirations from. Currently it reads “We drawing our”. Is this a real or fictional idea? It appears like it a great venture. Best, Jen
Thanks for the correction, Jen. It’s fixed now:)
The is not entirely fictional. The website is fake, sort of. I built it but it isn’t online.. The people are real. Alan Yuen is a friend and is the tech coordinator at another school and we have, in fact, been planning to put together a series of workshops aimed at more ‘expert’ tech educators. William Liang is a prof at Hong Kong Polytechnic and is a friend. We do some stuff together through the lcoal Hackerspace. He runs workshops from time to time about Arduinos and other electronics stuff. Some of the video clips from the various workshops are from workshops that we did organize or participate in. Some of you may have caught a clip of Sugata Mitra in there. This is from a conference in Hong Kong last year where he was the final keynote. I had nothing to do with organizing that conference though. I just attended. There is also a shot of a Canadian guy named Carl Callenwaert that ran a workshop for us about 3D game development with Unity and integrating it into your classroom. Very cool.
I am currently looking for a new job for next year and if I end up in Hong Kong, I think we will probably go ahead and try to organize something like this. It has been a bit of a frustration, the lack of any teaching and sharing opportunities for the people doing more advanced stuff. The conferences that exist already seem to exist for the sole purpose of getting bigger and bigger. So they tend to attract a lot of people who are just getting started with integrating technology in their programs. Edtech leaders tend to use these as a leadership opportunity and a chance to pad their CV’s. Aside from that, there is little for us to learn at these events. It’s all blogging 101 and getting started with games in the classroom. That’s great, but there is clearly a missed opportunity for those people who are designing and creating their own virtual worlds to share what they are doing with people who can understand what they are talking about. And the focus always seems to be on communication tools. Twitter in the classroom and so on. Sharing sharing sharing. Just because my kids can talk to kids at a school on the other side of the world doesn’t always mean that we have a good reason to do so. Sharing their ignorance about something may not get them any further along and just obscures the point of the unit. I want to see kids making stuff. But the educational technology community, at least over here, seems to have been appropriated/commandeered by humanities people who don’t seem to see the point of learning anything technical and who want their technology to ‘just work’ every time–people who will never bother to open the hood of their car to see what that knocking sound is and have no real curiosity about how things work. But for me, that’s the joy of technology and why I see integration as possibly a dangerous course.
Sorry, I started ranting a bit there, but in a room full of ‘elite’ educational technologists, I often find that not a single one could set up a server or create a macro for a spreadsheet. There are a lot of missed opportunities when we stop being interested in looking under the hood once in a while.
These are valid points that you bring up 😉 I don’t mind the venting at all. It makes me think that conferences like Educon (http://educon24.org) are valuable. I’m also thinking of the conferences that centre themselves around discussions as opposed to presentations. This is where the neat ideas get started because people are involved in great discussions.
Fortunately they are out there — unfortunately they get lost in the type of conferences that you speak of here. These do serve a purpose to some extent because many teachers don’t know how to use these tools, but there should be more like you said.
I’ll throw in my response to your proposal as well here!
First I wanted to say — Yeah way to give me a reason to head back to Hong Kong. I’ve always thought it would be interesting to teach there, learn a bit more about my culture (since I grew up in Canada) and reconnect with my roots! Let me know if something interesting pops up!.
Really great proposal and interesting. You have my thumbs up all the way. I wasn’t able to get the video working right away. I ended up taking myself out of the Prezi, scrolling around and manually clicking on it to work. It might (probably) is on my end, but I thought i’d throw it in there just in case.
Your short video was well presented and the longer Prezi had plenty of information to make me feel confident as an investor.
Great work!
Thanks for the feedback. My job is about to be posted by the way, if you are interested in getting overseas.
Thank you for providing such an interesting, and relevant venture. I agree that it is essential for the world of education to more effectively share what we know, and how we do it, so educators around the world can benefit from pockets of expertise and experiences. Furthermore, like you, I believe it is essential to incorporate and build off of real world practices and applications, for I fear as a society we have simply become consumers not producers.
Furthermore, I found the inclusion of the database of experts willing to offer the various services a strong part of this venture, for it shows the dedication the professionals and the venture has for improving the current look of education.
Lastly, I appreciated seeing the strength and skills the team brings to the plate to help this venture succeed.
Thanks for sharing.
Tom
Hi Ben,
People like you amaze me. I am still in the beginning stages of learning about educational technology but I can see how it would be frustrating to feel that there is no arena for you and your colleagues to further your skills. Therefore I feel that your Venture does indeed provide a solution for a pain point. I agree that your venture is different than others out there and your pitch confirmed this. I liked that you have chosen a specific market to start in (“Hong Kong”) but could see this growing and expanding to other markets. You provide adequate information to demonstrate that you as CEO and your team could champion this venture. My only suggestion would be to provide more clarity about what those who may volunteer to ask your venture would get in return. I know it wouldn’t be money but a simple statement such as “Your assistance will benefit….” might encourage more donations. You conveyed a great deal of passion and knowledge in the area and I liked how you spoke loudly and at a good pace. I agree with you that it would appear that many educational contexts are leaning more towards consumption over creation. At my school, they are aiming to purchase more and more iPads. When I suggested they may instead wish to think about purchase laptops, they looked at me like I had three heads. If we continue down this route, I hope I will be able to find more app that are creative in nature and less skill and drill. Anyway, thanks for sharing! Best, Jen
Great elevator and venture pitch Ben! Very impressive!
I really liked how seamless and professional it felt. Couldn’t find any faults in it.
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 watched the elevator pitch and read the not-for profit venture proposal, I feel the CEO of this venture not only appears credible, but through all aspects of the Edutech/HK presentation, it was apparent that they were not only knowledgeable but passionate as well, a good start for any venture. Furthermore, the team assembled for Edutech/HK has knowledgeable, and educated members not only in various disciplines, but also in the geographical area they are focussing on, again a good start for any venture.
Venture Concept:
Overall, Edutech/HK is mashing together various strategies that have been implemented in both online and offline environments over the years. However, to this ventures credit, even though the elements are similar, they appear streamlined, allowing for the company to provide quality support and resources, instead of trying to be a jack of all trades. To determine the feasibility of this venture would be to understand the needs and market in Hong Kong, an area this venture might have provided more specific information on. Overall though, the issues presented within this pitch, is relevant not only to Hong Kong, but the global education community as well, therefore, I would further investigate the information presented within this venture.
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 Hong Kong educational system, making this not-for profit venture a more than moderate risk. Secondly, the only significant market edge provided by Edutech, is their ability to provide guest speakers and potential internships from field experts. However, this edge is mostly founded on the ability to form and maintain relationships with this individuals/groups over long periods of time. Furthermore, if this venture is successful, competitors will enter the market, and actively work to erode and take over these relationships for their own companies success. All of which, reduce Edutech’s market share.
Venture Plan:
At this time, no specific guidelines were provided to demonstrate the time necessary for this venture to be truly operational, more information would need to be provided on this. Overall, this venture has possibilities, but I would like to see it eventually expand to a more global market, for the skills and abilities they are focusing on, would benefit students the world over.
Hi teacherben,
This seems like a very worthwhile venture. Your pitch, which seems to be aimed at potential sponsors was very professional and informative. I like that your site would be a central location which would provide a ton of resources for teachers. But because of the wide range of services it would provide, you would need dedicated support staff in place for upkeep, which you did address in your pitch. I have just seen a lot of sites which are a get resource initially become obsolete and unused because there is no maintainence. All the best if you choose to pursue this endeavor.
PS: Maybe I missed it, but why is the “A” is STEAM sometimes in brackets?
The ‘A’ is in parentheses because it was a later addition. People have been talking about STEM education for a while, but only recently have a few organizations recognized the opportunity to add ‘Art’ to the list. You will see the STE(A)M, acronym used by Adobe Education, Autodesk, Unity and a few others while most school board and government initiatives use STEM.
The big product for Edutech/HK is actually the workshops and conferences. The Face 2 Face stuff is where my real interest lies. The website is where people can stay in touch and share what they are doing after they met at a workshop. The idea is to keep the organization small–likely under a hundred members. Most people would either know each other, have heard of one another or at least know people in common. If I am a pretty swift tech teacher that is pretty good at a lot of stuff, but maybe have little experience with 3D modelling and would like to introduce a 3D modelling and 3D printing program in my school, I contact Edutech/HK and ask around to see if there is someone out there that has something going. Perhaps I can arrange to go to their school and visit. I can get advice on a good 3D printer to buy. As it turns out, there are a few more people who want to get a 3D printing program going in their school. So we all go to that school together to see how it is being used. We might be able to watch a lesson. The teacher gives us a short workshop to get us started. Then, we create a discussion group on the website where we might keep in touch with one another and see what challenges others are having. In the meantime, I didn’t know much about 3D printing, but am an expert in app development. Others have dabbled a little, have maybe downloaded a couple programs and played around. I can offer workshops, school visits etc… to help people get an app development program going.
There are certainly a lot of online groups for this sort of stuff, but few that are very local, very specific and are meant to support face to face interaction, rather than the other way around. The website may not need a whole lot of maintenance. With that number of people, I would set up something like Elgg or Buddypress and it could easily be maintained by one person in their spare time. My brother and I set up a social network using Elgg on our own server to support university-aged ESOL students and it was pretty active, with a couple hundred members and he was able to keep it running smoothly on his own in his spare time, while still holding down a full-time university teaching load and a family.
Hi Ben,
Excellent use of Prezi to present your elevator and venture pitches. I thought your pitch was clear, clean and professional. Your elevator pitch did a great job in presenting you the problem and your solution. I would have liked more specifics on your ask and the potential benefits for investors.
Sophia
Hello Ben,
I think both your Prezi and your video did a great job of describing your idea and outlining all parameters needed to make a strong and successful venture.
This is a great idea and there is definitely a market for it. You are obviously knowledgeable in this area and this came across very clearly in your presentation. You did a good job of sharing visuals and data to back your venture and make it stronger. You explained who your company comprised of and did a good job of outlining the roles everyone plays. You also did a great job of outlining aspects such as market, financial components, etc.
Overall, I think you did excellent. This was definitely a well thought out pitch and the time and effort you put into it is evident. Thank you for sharing.
Nureen
Hi Ben,
Your Passion and Expertise always resonate through you comments and work.
Your analysis of promoting substance over style and creation or consumption are well taken.
Coming from the West where perhaps Art and Design are more privileged than Engineering, Math and Tech; I wonder if focusing on the former could be your true niche.
I’m curious what the advantage of a not-for-profit is over a social venture in this regard. For the former – as there is no exit (sale) value – you will likely need considerable momentum/critical mass, before big sponsors jump on board (i’m thinking how Sal Khan (Khan Academy) spent considerable time building his tutorials online before Sponsors took notice.
I recommend you avatar yourself – figuratively – and walk through what your success journey might look like and what obstacles you may have to overcome; if you can see those and lay out your milestones, I think this venture could be a GO – I wish you luck!
I have selected your pitch from the group that I am reviewing to comment on in more detail. I was very impressed with the quality of your presentation. I feel that the venture idea that you have presented here is one that has a real market (in any region). You explained your venture in a way that was engaging and easy to follow. I was interested to see this as a not-for-profit venture pitch. As I initially thought of how to make money with my idea, you have turned it around to provide quality experiences for those that participate. Your invitation to sponsor or find out more was handled tactfully. It would be interesting to see how much would be required to reach the goals of your venture in a given month or year. I don’t know if that would cause more donors or not, but it would be good information for an EVA to have. I think I would consider another meeting to go over the complete business plan with you, if I was an actual EVA. I think there is great potential here.
Hi Ben,
Great work.
My evaluation of the elevator pitch is that it’s a very polished video, with a clear description of the venture and what it does. I.e. what pain point it addresses and the solution it provides as well as clearly stating what it would like from investors (expert time and hardware or software donations).
For the venture pitch the team seems very credible and with enough combined experience and expertise to make this happen. The venture concept is clear and meets a viable identified market need. I am pretty sure these conferences, events and services are marketable going by the popularity and increasing use of technology in education and the workplace. The venture plan seems sound. It details how the events could feasibly be funded through subscription and corporate sponsorship.
All in all a well thought out venture. And YES, I would invest in/support this venture if I was based in Hong Kong. Furthermore if I was working in HK, given I normally work for tech companies, I would encourage any company I worked for to donate either the time of their employees (as experts), or hardware and software. I believe they should be investing in their future employees with ventures such as this one.
Thanks,
Melissa
Ben your pitches were very informative and it’s seems you have been able to find a helpful solution to the challenging pain point of how to keep learning professionals interacting and developing as a community. As I have state on numerous occasions already, I maintain that Prezi is fine choice for “gluing” pitches together and presenting them to investors. Which brings me to my primary criticism – as an education venture investor, what do you need me or my money for? It seems the venture is already well on its way. Beyond donations of time, or used resources I’m not sure you need any of my 1 million dollars! In the end, I feel the market for Edutech/HK is quite narrow and it seems more like a government initiative in many respects rather an a venture concept. In true Canadian fashion, I’ll apologize now if I have been overly critical in my assessment, but within the context of our purely academic assignment, I’m not sure how I fit into your concept as an EVA.
Hi Ben,
I found your elevator pitch to be very polished. Great job editing and scripting it. I also enjoyed the prezi presentation format, as it allowed for a clear and concise exposition of the pain point and the solutions you are providing. Your venture actually strikes me as one that has already been going on for a long time, and almost seems as though it is running on its own (and does not need support). However, this is all to say that, I would definitely respond to this and encourage sponsors to support this venture. While your venture is very much niche, I think the format could be adapted in other places with great ease. It would be great to know more about the potential branding of this venture.
Great work,
Eva
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jenbarker 12:16 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Coral,
I liked your Elevator Pitch. Your venture is Interesting and original and I believe there is a market. Your Venture Pitch was excellent. You included all of the necessary facets and your use of text and visual graphics such as graphs were attractive, easy to read and understanding. My only suggestion would be to add a bit more information about you CEO teams background which would give more credibility to them being able to champion such a venture. Thanks for sharing your pitches. Best, Jen
joeltremblay 4:43 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Coral,
This is a brilliant, if big brotherly, idea. Great venture and elevator!
Paula Poodwan 5:20 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Coral,
I’m not one of your reviewers but curious to see what your venture is all about. I absolutly agree with Joel ‘s comment above that your venture is briilaint, and it is quite innovative. As online learning is becoming more and more accepted these days and everywhere too, not just North America , I’m very sure that there will be a market for your venture. Good thinking, well done!
Jenny Brown 10:22 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I felt your elevator pitch was very concise and covered all of the important aspects of a successful pitch – well done!
I also really enjoyed your prezi presentation and I am not a huge fan of prezi but yours was clear, concise and well laid out. I really don’t have any suggestions for improving your venture pitch except maybe showing pictures of the team?
As an EVA currently enrolled in an online Masters program, one of my concerns was the fact that I live in Calgary and would have to fly to Vancouver to have an Iris Scan done, this would be a deterrent for me especially if this would be the case for all online courses that I take through different institutions. I would consider investing in this venture after a careful read through a detailed business plan.
tomwhyte1 1:43 pm 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:
From the provided elevator pitch, the CEO for ExamScan exudes confidence in their venture. However, specific information regarding the overall teams abilities to manage a start-up company and deal with obstacles that will occur, especially considering privacy and legal rights, is hard to determine at this time. Therefore, before pursuing formal investment, further investigation in this area would need to occur.
Venture Concept:
Based upon a quick search, it appears that this is a unique and innovative approach for the use of biometrics, and that institutions and agencies are currently using various devices, including handheld technology to do iris scans (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/20/us-crime-identification-iris-idUSTRE76J4A120110720), making this venture not only possible but feasible. Furthermore, significant research has been conducted, which not only demonstrates the possibility of this product working, but the potential need for it within distance education courses. Lastly, the recognition of cheating in various educational environments has been on the rise recently, and it is possible that ExamScan could deter this from occurring.
Marketability:
ExamScan did a good job providing information regarding the potential market that could access this service. However more information regarding the number of schools that still utilize traditional assessment (multiple choice, T/F/, etc), instead of constructivist exercises would also be needed, as other forms of assessment would also greatly reduce potential cheating, as these other assessment strategies are very time consuming and require a strong knowledge of the material to develop any meaningful artifact. Regardless, if ExamScan can show proof of concept, those schools still utilizing traditional approaches could still represent a significant share of the market making this service potential viable. In terms of innovative advantage, ExamScan is on the cutting edge of biometric utilization within a distance education environment. It is important that one realize though, being the leader in this market may ensure increased market share and potential revenue, it means more risks in an unproven market place, an issue that may scare away potential investors.
Venture Plan:
Based upon the provided information, ExamScan has been in operation since 2011, however no specific implementation of services was provided. Therefore, it would be essential to know where in the process ExamScan is? Is the biometric software still in beta testing, or have they begun developing partnerships with industry distance education leaders? Information that would need to be provided, before investing occured.
Lastly, as was mentioned in the presentation, the legal issues surrounding the collection, storage, and use of Iris prints is a major hurdle to overcome. ExamScan has done a decent job, providing information as to where and how this data will be stored, which does alleviate some of the concerns. However, if this venture is successful, more data centers will exist, and potentially cross international borders, where data comes under different laws, and then different problems. Lastly, some students partake in online courses who are under the age of 18, would the inclusion of this technology limit them from partaking in these courses, and therefore limit the potential market for ExamScan?
teacherben 9:12 pm on November 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I guess you would need an initial, in-person scan when registering in the program in order for this to work. Or, you could have authorized, scanning centers where a person could have their iris scan registered with their identity. This is a little creepy, but I can see the potential marketability. The idea sells itself. This is one of those things that the fear of people cheating is all that it takes. You don’t even need the statistics, (although they were a nice addition) because many people will assume that if it is possible to cheat, people will.
(Incidentally, Google introduced a facial recognition feature that could be used to unlock your cell phone and it was very easy to hack because people could use a picture of you in place of the real you. They improved that recently. Now, it looks to see that your eyes are blinking in a way that is hard to replicate. i don’t know if a video of your face would work, but Google is pretty confident…)
I would have liked to know a little more about the people behind the venture. And it was cute that you included the number of active users and 3-year return on your money but before I would give you a million dollars, I would want to see evidence. If you are going to include numbers at all, I would think you would need to back them up a bit. It’s tough in this role-play situation to know how much to include in this regard.
I also think it would have benefited from a few more visuals. For example, in your elevator pitch, you could have been sitting next to a computer and turned, looked into the webcam for a moment, then turned back and said, “The scanning process only takes seconds…” which would have been much more powerful. Similarly, the Prezi had a lot of words. A few more pictures would have made it more convincing.
visramn 3:13 pm on November 28, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi,
Brilliant idea and very well posed. I think this is a great venture and I think you did a great job of portraying the need for it. You used pertinent data and graphs to show that education is definitely moving more and more towards online delivery and that there is a need for this type of tool. I think you covered all parameters needed and did a very good job of drawing in your audience and convincing them that your product is a necessity. You were confident, knowledgeable and had confidence in your voice. This had a great impact. Both your pitch and your Prezi were set up with good information.
Excellent job. Thanks for sharing.
Nureen
Doug Connery 8:36 pm on November 28, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Coral:
Great presentation in the elevator pitch and the venture pitch. I agree with Ben, a quick turn to a web cam to get scanned to show how easy it is would have capped it off.
You have also nailed a wonderful opportunity that is needed and for all the reasons you identified. This gives me confidence that the CEO knows what she is talking about! I have very little else to offer for a critique because you have caught my attention as an investor. If we were going to take this to the next step I would say – lets talk!
Doug.
Pat A Son 4:56 pm on November 29, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Coral,
Your idea is very practical and timely with the growth of online learning. You venture pitch showed that you did your homework but am of the opinion that it will be applicable to institutions that do traditional testing as the name suggests. I also suspect the temptation to cheat will be higher for exams such as SAT. For programs that do project based assessment the likelihood of cheating will be lower. Since most Schools still do exams you have a large possible market. At the end of the day it will boil down to how far these schools are willing to go to t curtail cheating. Right now I have not heard of any institutions such as Sylvan taking this kind of measures for this kind of cheating. Most institutions seem to be preoccupied with plagiarism instead.
Despite my concerns you did a good.
Cheers
Patason
jameschen 9:12 pm on November 29, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Coral,
Thanks for an interesting elevator pitch. It grabbed my attention as an investor.
Here is my analysis on your venture pitch using the guidelines found in section 2.7 of our course blog – Deconstructing a pitch:
ExamScan: The Content
Pain Point: Your pain point is supported by research. The numbers would be more relevant if they specified how many ‘online’ students cheat.
Solution:
Questions:
What would happen if the actual test-taking student scans his/her iris, and then as soon as the exam begins a more capable other takes over and completes the exam; or if a student does not have the required hardware; or that the camera has a very low resolution; or if technical difficulties arise and the iris cannot be scanned? The plan would be viable if it addresses these potential challenges.
To me, the only possible way for this product to work is for the technology to continue recording the student while s/he takes the test from beginning to end. This leads me to think of the money that needs to go into perfecting the security around the software, which might cause potential investors to walk away from the investment.
Differentiation: From your venture pitch, I was unable to locate information on how your product differs from existing security features implemented during online testing situations.
Marketing: I was unable to locate information about what your venture will be doing to establish itself on the market other than information on what the investment money will be used for. The target market is not identified.
Championship: I did not find information on the competency of the venture’s leaders and advisers (you) in your pitch.
Competition: Information about the venture’s competitors and partners could not be located in the venture pitch.
The Ask & Return: A provision of how these numbers came about would increase the credibility of your pitch. If you do not know the numbers, perhaps a formula about how the return on investment is calculated will suffice. An exit strategy would also increase the viability of the investment.
Hope that helps! And thanks for a well-presented pitch.
James
cunnian 12:05 pm on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Cora,
Funny, I was just watching the CBC documentary that you cited last week as I had some plagiarism issues in my class to deal with. It made a compelling argument for the need for strict security measures as the cheating schemes are getting more and more sophisticated.
Your elevator pitch was excellent as you speak with confidence and passion about this product. I liked the Prezi format for the venture and you walk potential investors through your pitch in a clear and logical manner. As far as I can tell, you’ve identified all of the requisite information for a good pitch, including details on the investment that you need and what your potential market is.
One question that I have is how you obtain the initial iris scan. It seems that this could be faked as well. Yes, your product will keep a user from creating multiple accounts, but will it prevent a user from using someone else to do the actual work of the course?
Regardless, this product has the potential to greatly improve the security of online courses. Well done!
melissaayers 2:29 pm on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Coral,
Congrats on 2 great pitches – both were very clear and informative and contained ample information.
Interesting venture idea and great way to introduce a new(ish) technology into the classroom. You have clearly identification a pain point and a solution, as well as growing market trends and what you need as an investment.
Many thanks
Melissa
sophiabb 6:45 pm on December 1, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Coral,
Great job on your elevator pitch. You clearly described your product, problem and your solution.
I love your use of Prezi to present your venture pitch. I actually like that it was text heavy as I was able to go back and peruse at my leisure. The following is my feedback:
Product: interesting use of current technology as a solution to a problem within the education industry.
Pain Point and Solution: was real, clearly stated and one with which many educators relate.
Differentiation/Competition: the pitch was weakened by a lack of information on the market in terms of competition, positioning, barriers/ease of entry.
Market/marketing: the target was clearly identified and the opportunity seems possible. Statistics and facts helped in increase the credibility of the proposition. However, the absence of a marketing strategy is noted.
Ask and Return: were clearly stated.
The Team: Investors are interested in the skill set and abilities of the CEO and team to drive a start-up business to success. Insufficient information was presented to aid in my decision.
I think your proposition is full of possibilities. I would be interested in your proposal once your pitch is strengthened.
Sophia