A3: PRO-T

FEEDBACK: Chris, I really liked your Weebly site and felt that your elevator pitch gave a good overview of the company. This was a clear pitch that highlighted the company, what it does and why it is needed. After watching this pitch, I felt that I would like to learn more about the company.

FEEDBACK : Chris, I really appreciate the efforts you have taken in developing the complete weebly site in the most professional manner. I also think that you have gone into great details in explaining each facet of pro T right to the revenue model and return on investment. Just acouple of quick thoughts - I think the camera did not face you directly in the elevator pitch. You appear in a slight side profile. I would have liked if there were a few figures regarding the market size. Also a last question - why would a certification from a relatively new program be valuable to the teachers ? Good Luck !

Feedback: Chris, what I really liked about your elevator pitch was that your product was very clearly explained which makes it easy to understand even for those not in the education field. I think this is important, particularly if faced with an investor panel that consists of investors who do not have experience in the education field. I think this was one of the clearest pitches I have reviewed so far and as an investor I would be interested in learning more. My only suggestion would be to brighten the video and include some visuals as others have suggested.

REVIEW:Firstly, I loved your platform for presentation. It was clean and simple and I was able to skim through it quickly finding the answers that I needed. I can see the market need very clearly and would certainly invest in Pro-T provided that the company consider a few small tweaks. The market size is very large. I am not sure that this is a disadvantage, but as an investor, I would probably want to test in a smaller market size first before expanding to a larger market. Also, the paid certification and bulk purchasing made sense. The amounts per course made sense and would be an affordable option to off-site PD. I felt like perhaps the recruitment was a bit awkward. I can see the revenue value in it, but am not sure that it would fit well with the platform. Teachers generally have an account for spending on professional development, I think that if marketed correctly, the per course amount could be even higher provided that teachers can claim the professional development on their PD accounts. Your presentation was excellent. I loved the idea of a website as opposed to videos. It give investors a better chance to look for the answers that are important to them! Great work!!

Feedback: You make a compelling case for your venture. Your elevator pitch gave me a good impression of your product. Your venture site is very professional looking, and your information is nicely laid out. Your entire pitch looks polished and professional, and inspires confidence your product.

Feedback: I think your idea of Pro-T is great. Teachers do need more differentiated and timely professional development. I found your video a little dark and stark. It would be more interesting to have some graphics to create more interest. Your voice was well modulated and easy to hear, but you seemed a bit awkward with your camera angle, but I understand trying to take a video of yourself can be difficult. I love the way you started off with a question about student success and then connected that with your product. I would be interested enough to take a look at your venture pitch to see how this would work.

Hi Riea, administrators would mostly be paying for the fact that they can receive a volume discount on professional development material for their teachers while being able to align the professional development with district goals.

Hi Colleen If the teacher just wants to access the pro-d material, it's free; if they want to receive a certificate (Coursera-style) they pay a fee. If administrators want to choose certification for teachers that aligns with district goals [and all of the markets that I identified tend to pay a lot annually for professional development as is], they can choose the pro-d material for their teachers; I don't really think it's any more 'Big Brother'-like for administrators to receive notification when a teacher has completed the material than it is to have a sign-up sheet at an existing pro-d day. If the teachers want to keep their profile private, the choice is theirs; on the other hand, if they want to use the site for professional networking (similar to Linkedin), they can display their profile with any certifications that they have achieved. The last page had a pretty clear description of who the site is for, asking for both an initial phase of funding and a secondary phase; I am sorry that this wasn't apparent to you.

Review: The content of your Elevator Pitch was great and left me wanting more. Constructively, I thought the video was too dark and I didn’t like the sideways angle of you looking at the camera. Somehow it didn’t lend itself to trust and connection but felt aloof and distant, but this might just a creative difference of opinion on my part. I was immediately attracted to your site. It is clean and professional looking. It would have been a little easier to navigate if you had added buttons to the bottom of each page to guide the reader to the next page rather than having to return to the top AS a venture I am a confused. The material is free for educators but admin pays for it and distributes it to the teacher’s portfolio. The teachers have control over their privacy settings but the administrator has access to their progress and can send reminders. Recruitment feature allows users to be searchable and be poached from existing positions. These all seem like contradictions to me. You have great strengths in your venture analysis and did a great job at identifying your competition and market niche. However, while you did a great job in presenting your idea, what is missing is your target audience/investor. Is it teachers, administration or recruiters? As a teacher, I personally want the flexibility to be able to seek out my own pro d from recognized institutions and get approval per course based on my own interest level. I particularly don’t like the idea of Admin acting as big brother. I think there are already a lot of options out there and this ‘All in One’ does not appeal to me personally. Recommendation: I don’t see myself wanting to invest in this venture.

Feedback: I think your weebly is sleek and professional looking. The information is clearly laid our and organized well. I especially appreciated the "Why Pro-T" page where you list the competition but also promote your product as well. It helps to actually do the comparison and draws your attention to Pro-T. I am very curious about your subscription. If it's free for teachers to sign up, is it the tracking portion and assigning professional development materials that administrators would want to pay for? One last point...I think your elevator pitch was articulate and informative.