Expressions

Great pitch. You detailed out what your product is and how it works. You also provided numbers of how much capital that you are looking to raise. My only thought was why is the focus on lessons, where teachers that I work with focus more on units?

Feedback: I enjoyed the quality of your pitch and as an EVA would be excited to invest in your company. I feel the conclusion at the end of each page was a great touch, and made it much easier to follow. Professional, well designed pitch.

FEEDBACK: I like your product. At the college I taught at for many years our only option was traditional paper lesson plans (Paper!). Having a product that would help me both plan and deliver lessons would have been brilliant! That said,I think competition is brewing, We need to get this out quickly before the moment is lost - I'm in!

Review: I really like your idea for your venture. I have experienced times where I am looking to teach a certain subject and need to look up an idea of how to present the information. Having an organizational framework that has all the lesson ideas in one place with curated ratings for each interactive lesson plan from other educators seems like a great option for me and would love to use. Using a collaborative effort is one way to improve on an idea and you take advantage of this thinking in your product. You clearly identified a product for a teacher market. You did included some competition however like others mentioned Teachers Pay Teachers should be included as it offers many of the same features Expressions would have as well. You include the who, what, and why for investment so I am clear what the investment in your company is for and what the plan of action is. I would appreciate a more articulated schedule of events to help in preparation for the marketing efforts. I think a 50% in ownership of the company is generous so I will take it and fund you.

Feedback: Hi Chris. I really enjoyed your venture and I will invest! Your work on both the elevator pitch and on the venture reflects a high quality work and design.Also your website structure is pretty and easy to follow This give me a good indicator that your company is well established and your products will have an attractive design and this is one of your goals. The idea is very nice but I think that a good lesson plan needs more complicated elements more than what you have addressed. The CEO experience is compatible with the venture's requirements, but there are no other information about the teams members. I hope if there was another way to invest rather than paying $75.000. I agree with Victoria that you can rely on teachers pay teachers for the marketing strategy. I think it is more effective than contacting schools to purchase the product, especially in the product's first phase when it is not popular yet. Any way, great work!

Hi Christopher, Your venture pitch is professional and concise. I can see where your tool is helpful but I'm wondering if there is some way that you can also incorporate an adaptive component to it. For example, could Expressions track a teacher's selection over time and then present similarly formatted content when the teacher performs future searches? I use O365 to share lessons and materials with students and I am very picky when it comes to lesson activities. I usually end up creating my own to match my specific teaching style and my students’ needs. As a consumer, I am wondering how much teachers can modify the resources Expressions provides. From the perspective of an investor, I am a little concerned about the originality and versatility of your product. I think that the market if heading towards learning systems that not only organize and present content but also provide assessment capabilities.

From the elevator pitch, I thought this was more flashy lesson plans for teachers, however, after investigating your venture site and seeing your screenshots (good add by the way), it appears that this is for students. I do agree that something more interactive for students is needed - I created a pitch along those same lines.

FEEDBACK: Chris, Nice presentation. On one hand, it seems like it should be possible to create a bank of customizable lesson plans, but I remain skeptical. Don’t you need to take a pedagogical stand and advocate for a consistent approach or even a consistent set of approaches? Otherwise, how can you say what to put forward. The advantage of the Teachers Paying Teachers model is that there is space for individual teachers to do this within that system. If you are putting forward a better plan for teaching, I want to hear more about what those educational values are.

Review: Yes, I would invest in this venture. It looks like you have a solid team, have done the necessary market research and defined the three areas where your product fits – instructional support, instructional content, and enterprise management. You have also developed a practical tool that supports teachers. The one aspect that I am skeptical about is the removal of the human element in your pitch. The creation process involves people collaborating and sharing ideas. While lesson plans that are created by teachers are one-dimensional in the sense that they are created on a flat surface (paper or digital), they can still be shared and created through collaborative effort. It is also the execution of the lesson that makes it dynamic. Your product has the potential to create novel lessons because many resources can be pulled together quickly, which is a selling feature for teachers who are looking for different ways to teach a subject. I do like that your program allows lessons to be shared between teachers and students. This has the potential to support distance learning as well as personalized learning. Good idea!

Good job Christopher. Your elevator pitch may be a little flat on the product description since I wasn't sure what you were making until I got into your venture pitch. I would look at your competition again as there may be some products out there that you didn't consider. Is it a Learning Content Management System? I used one in the past that does most of what you describe. Good job at identifying your product, market and approach. I like it and will give you all the imaginary money you need.