From blogs.ubc.ca/etec522Sept2013
Pitch Pool
Post by David Vogt 1:42 am on September 2, 2013
WeBook: “writing loves company”
A digital publishing platform: video
Comment by jiorns 12:01 am on September 20, 2013
I have tried twice to post a critique but the server has not accepted either of the posts.
Comment by jiorns 12:18 am on September 20, 2013
Let’s see now …. the President makes a persuasive and professional presentation for the most part. She certainly comes across as a capable and credible representative of the webooks venture, and as someone very passionate about the venture.
However, more evidence is needed of a market gap and webook as the solution to that gap. So far, there is only an inference of a point of differentation (commercialisation of collaboratively written books); an investor does not know if other similar collaborative digital publishing ventures also exist.
Also, the potential to earn 50% of any sale of an e-book on webook is another claim that requires evidence. It is hard to see how a 50/50 split of revenue for an e-book is possible given the number of parties/creators in the webook community that stand to gain a share of a sale (writers, editors, reviewers/voters, publisher).
So, there is an excellent marketing pitch and it could have been stronger with a call to action at the end. As an investor pitch, the venture needs to provide more evidence for its claims. And possibly decide who the audience is for the pitch – is any one of the roles in the community more likely to be attracted to the venture?
Comment by amb585 5:47 am on September 21, 2013
I would invest in this project. The speaker immediately identifies the niche market, draws parallels to help me conceptualize, and shows me how her product has the potential of revolutionizing the publishing arena. She correctly identifies that there is a market gap from professional publishing houses but fails to describe the other competition to this gap, other self-publishing sites available around the internet, such as on Wattpad or Amazon Kindle direct publishing. If she had, she would have been able to make a stronger argument as what I like about We Book is that it builds on what is already available to be collaborative and to include quality control.
Webook seems to be a great tool for aspiring writers to break into the publishing market. We’ve all heard stories of now famous authors who once had to struggle to find a publisher for their book. This program opens this process up to the public. I would like to hear more about the credentials of those marketing the venture, and more about the specifics of how this would be profitable, but she made a good pitch and I would be interested in hearing more and investing.
Comment by jldr 10:53 am on September 23, 2013
While I agree this is a very interesting product with a lot of potential, both for developers and users, I agree with the previous post in that I think it makes a better marketing pitch than an investment pitch.