A3 Virtual Angel

Interesting Colleen! I have to say as soon as your Elevator pitch started, my toes started tapping and I was watching. Great choice of background music to grab my attention. Some slides went a bit quickly but overall your product grabbed my attention, as you gave enough information to make me want more but not totally enough to understand completely what exactly your product does and how it works. I immediately wanted to click on your site, so well done on making your Elevator Pitch catchy! As for your website, it is very content heavy which at times seemed daunting to read through, a voice over or something might have been better. I would suggest your change your opening picture, as it makes your product seem religious based and that can turn many people off. I now read that others also made this suggestion, it just seems to narrow your market. Otherwise, I think you have a very creative and unique product and feel you did a great job collecting data and relaying your purpose!

Review: Hi Colleen, This is a very interesting idea! I was very moved by your reflection and reasons for choosing to develop the Virtual Angel concept. I can relate to your story on a number of different levels. I think your sincerity and genuine passion for helping people would be just one reason that investors would be interested in your product. As some people have mentioned below, I agree that the symbol of the cross is a little bit misleading as it may suggest to some people that you are marketing this product mainly to Christian investors/buyers. In order to broaden your scope and your market, I would not include any religious imagery. I would also be interested in learning more about what other types of technologies exist to help students with Autism (or people with Autism in general). Identifying these technologies and aids could be a good way of helping potential investors understand what this idea is up against. Also, I wasn't totally clear about how much you were asking investors for - and how much money it would take to develop this product overall. Thank you so much for sharing this idea - I really enjoyed exploring your product and thought your elevator pitch was fantastic. If I were a potential investor, I would consider investing in your idea :)

REVIEW- I think you have a really interesting idea here in your venture pitch. It is something that could benefit so many! Your video made me want to check out your site to learn more. So in that sense I think your elevator pitch is really effective. I know it is hard to include so much information in such a short time but it might be a good idea to include a bit more info about your market potential in the elevator pitch. Your site is very informative, I especially like how you have included your inspiration. Thinking more like an investor I think it would be nice for your elevator pitch to be a bit more visually similar to the venture pitch. I think that this would be an interesting project to pursue!

FEEDBACK: Thanks for sharing the things your struggled with in your reflection. I could easily relate to them because I struggled with asking for money! You have stated the problem of the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder very well by substantiating with statistics. I like how you've provided information about your strong business partners like Google because they add credibility to your venture. I find the transition of your slides a little too fast for me to take in the amount of information presented. Something to consider tweaking perhaps? Overall, well done!

Hi Colleen, Sorry, I just realized that the tabs had drop down boxes and I found the price! They are great but quite expensive. I might recommend looking for a partnership with a charity to subsidize them so that it is less daunting for investors. What do you think about that?

Review: I thought that your elevator pitch was very engaging, your name makes sense and it is a very good idea. I also liked the pictures that you provided. It intrigued me so that I wanted to see your website to see more about how it would work. When I went to your website it looked very nice and I was surprised to see the information about autism. This made it seem even more important to me and I would suggest putting that specifically in the elevator pitch. I was wondering if it is marketed to Catholic schools? I am also wondering how much you think this would cost? Is it something the parents would purchase or do you see it as something that the school districts would purchase and provide to students who are recommended by a school counsellor or school psychologist. I saw that you would like to get an educational grant which is great, but I wonder how much something like this would cost on top of the cost of Google glass. Other than that I really liked your website and elevator pitch and I never would have thought of this, it is great!

Review: I can tell you have a real passion for your product and the inspiration section of your site was heartfelt. Your video pitch made me want to learn more. As a special educator I get it but it is highly unlikely the general investor would. For this reason, you might want to define your device a bit better. Another suggestion I would have is you might want rethink the design of your device somewhat. It is a lot of technology especially for students who often struggle with change and/or have sensitivity to materials. I’m not sure how a student with special needs would react to wearing google glass, but I know how their peers might. That being said I was interested since my focus has always been special education but you’d need to target the right investor for them to get it. Finally, I'd be careful with religious symbols in my pitch. You don't want to limit your product market or investor interest to Christians. I think your inspiration could stay the same but perhaps a name change would be in order. If as an investor I don't believe in angels I may not give you your 1 minute.

FEEBACK - Hi Colleen, presentation wise I thought you made a good case for the reason for the product - there is definitely a market for this kind of support for special needs children. I can see the reason for having two part for the product, but how well would it work if either one of the glasses or bracelets were lost or damaged, since those things are likely to occur. I would want to further investigate if there was a way to simplify the system before introducing it into the market.

What a novel idea. I have students that would benefit from this today. This is probably the first wearables in schools idea that seems viable. Social interactions are difficult for a lot of kids in middle and high school and especially so for ASD students. A reliable voice in the ear might be the perfect way for these student to deal with difficult social situations. I think that some students who would benefit from this device would also be ostracized by using it but many ASD students probably wouldn't be as aware of social stigma to be bothered (yes a generalization, I'm sorry.) I would also get rid of the religious imagery because I think that could limit your audience. Find a way to mention your faith that also draws in 'non-believers.' Interesting and engaging venture.

REVIEW: I thought that this was really interesting, but kept asking myself throughout the elevator pitch whether I knew what the product was, and I didn't. You used the sentence "providing guidance to your child" but never explained what that guidance was. Also, as a parent, teacher or other person working with children and youth, I have doubts that a tech gadget will help them to monitor themselves, I needed more to go on here. The images were personal and really seemed to feel genuine, but the rest of the design was very contrasting and I associated it to grunge and was turned off. When I think of children and youth and support, I think of bright, opportunistic and dynamic and this presentation did not have that feel (the website did not match the presentation). Just on another note, I think that if religious symbols are going to be present on the website (if that is the approach that is being taken, as a church or religious venture), this needs to be identified in the pitch because I think that would have a significant impact on the investor, mainly for the reason that it is targeting a specific community of people. Again, I think there needs to be more clarification and transparency in regards to the actual product, projected outcomes based on the product etc. Why, as an investor would I want to support the development of this product? How does this product monitor the wearer's physical and emotional state?