Venture Forum: Science Labs Plus

Hi Christine, You seem to have a lot of passion that you channeled into inspiration for this venture. It is a valuable resource and it seems like a great way to make science more easily accessible and also to allow all students the resources they need to learn how to conduct experiments effectively. I was a little uncertain whether this resource was a virtual lab where students conduct the experiment on the software, or is it rather a software that allows students to collect data in the classroom that also allows for data collection and analysis? There is a data collection resource like data studio, the interfaces of these software sometimes take a little while to get used to and to master. How will you ensure that this software and interface is user friendly for that entire age range while still being challenging for students as the progress through each grade? What are the different aspects that still need developing? Is there data collection software that needs to be created? What exactly will an investor's money be going towards? - graphic designer, computer engineer, and instructional designer? Great job on this innovative resource.

Feedback I know you stated that this is a fictitious company but I would say that the focus of it is very close to your interests. You make some great observations about the pros and cons of other products in this marketplace and I feel you are knowledgeable about what a gr 7-12 offering would need. There are a couple of items that I might suggest that would help define your venture pitch a little more. 1) The items you raise in the section ‘Barriers to Entry’ are very relevant but it would have been useful for you to provide solutions to each of the points you raised as a way to help an investor feel more confident that your pitch was working to remove these barriers. 2) It would have been beneficial to see at least a mockup of what the process would look like. As an EVA I don’t think I would invest in this venture at this time.

Hello Christine, Your idea is intriguing and I believe it has potential. I also think you covered major points in your website and venture pitch that a possible investor would have. The one thing that marred the thought behind all your work was recording the elevator and venture pitch off of another device. Few content gaps that I noticed: marketing plan. Just because there are 2 million students, they will not pay for your product. How do you plan to roll out your product? A bit more about the team. I know this is fictitious, but you could have marketing, financial and software experts in your team. Perhaps also a serial entrepreneur ;) What happens after roll out? How do you plan to sustain the product? What is your vision. These are few questions perhaps a venture capitalist would ask. Regards, Moumita

Hi Christine, I really liked your focus on the high school students and creating a mobile app to help students with the scientific method. I think there is a great opportunity in bringing the mobile devices into the science class and this may be one of those bridges. After watching both the pitch and browsing the website, I wondered if teachers would be a little bit reluctant to utilize this tool as it walks students through the entire process (I think it’s great – if the tool is available, why do we need to have students memorize stuff). I would be interested in investing in Science Labs Plus but just want to know a little bit more about the launch of the product and what that would entail (where my investment is going). Great product and pitch!

Hi Christine! I like the concept you have come up with. I would suggest modifying the formatting on the page slightly to make it easier to read (white on beige is hard on the eyes). Your elevator pitch is visually appealing and has catchy music, but the way it is filmed is a little distracting and it doesn’t tell the viewer how it will save time or what the instructional/collaborative features entail. In the venture pitch, you spent a lot of time discussing the business model and competition. It would strengthen your pitch to add some visual mockups of your user interface or more specific on why your app will return 1 million back to investors. You’ve got a solid idea to build from!

FEEDBACK: Hello Christine. Your venture is a very interesting concept and I especially liked how your concept works and the educational benefits for students. Your venture pitch was focussed for educators and how Science Labs Plus can help them in their classroom, which may be a distraction for some investors. You provide a lot of information with respect to student data, however I am still unclear of what your product is or how I can get a return on my investment. I enjoyed your elevator pitch, it looked clean and professional.

Hello Christine. When I began to look at your pitch, I first wanted to see the elevator pitch. I would have liked to see it feature more prominently on the page. I am sure that you must have run into to some kind of technical problem that forced you to record a video of the computer screen, but this really distracted from the presentation. After watching the elevator pitch, I understood that you were offering something to help students with their science labs, but I really had no idea what. An app? A hardware device? A website? Although brief, your initial pitch should be more informative. And I would have liked to hear your voice (or a voice) as well. In your section on the competition the link to projectmanager.com leads to a fake site. I think it is a wise idea to offer a free trial period to hook the users and then get them to pay. A whole year is a long time, though. That means a year without revenue. Maybe you could build that into your ask and trying looking for more money. You did a good job presenting the statistics of prospective students, but you got the last number (grade 7-12 total) wrong. You are probably aware of this already. You have an excellent idea here. I think the what will make the product standout is the the data collection feature. Technically, this will be difficult to implement and will require research and perhaps the production of hardware to be compatible.

FEEDBACK: I really liked your video and it was very easy to follow along. I understand what your product is and how you want to implement it. However, the video was a little blurry and shaky. I wonder if you could have just uploaded your video from your computer versus uploading it from a taping of the screen? I liked the characters and layout of your video. It was informative and I can tell it was well researched. Thank you for your video.

This looks like a great web-based platform for science teachers and students. The pinch point is clear and you appear to have done your homework on the competitors. For a fictitious product it sounds like one that genuinely needs to be developed. You might want to actually consult with a web designer or app creator to launch this product. From and EVA’s perspective, I regret to say that the presentation should have been screencast or you might have used a tripod to steady the image. I haven’t figured out how to screencast from the iPad, but an alternative is to use iMovie. Another alternative is to use a product called “Reflector 2” which will duplicate your iPad screen onto a PC. It has a record function that’s excellent and the product only costs about $20. Again, from an EVA’s perspective, this looks like a product that wouldn’t require a great deal of upfront capital. You might, if you’re interesting in starting your own business, be able to launch it on a small scale and work your way up. There are lots of freelance web designers and app creators.

[Peer comment]: Thank you Christine for presenting to us a well-thought venture pitch. It sounds even more convincing to learn that you yourself will benefit from using this product if it existed. Your pitch coverage is very comprehensive including research about market overview, competition etc. I wonder if it will be even better if (1) you can make the elevator pitch more visible on your website (2) somehow we can see a product demo. Basically great job.