Hello and welcome to my A3 Venture Pitch for Soaring Compass Points!
Soaring Compass Points will be a small mad win Canada for Canadians publishing company for the BC Social Studies Curriculum. I will be the owner and primary author. In this company there will be workbooks, modules and even weekly podcasts that will focus exclusively on the various Social Studies topics in high school for both English and French Canadians.
There is no official material that has been published exclusively for Social Studies. Any new material that has been published has been in conjunction with other subjects. In the new British Columbia (BC) curriculum there is no replacement textbook for Social Studies. SCP will “fill” this gap while providing a scaffold foundation to both the student and the teacher to create an inquiry project based learning environment.
This will be financed through sales and with the generous support of those in the Patreon Support Network.
Soaring Compass Points Elevator Pitch:
The benefits of using and financially supporting SCP would be as follows:
- Less teacher prep time
- Up to date accurate and engaging content
- Guarantee of Canadian content made by a Canadian and not an international company
- Lower student stress level because students are terrible at being organized
- Up to date with curriculum standards and Ministry of Education course requirements
- Logical flow and progression from year to year
Soaring Compass Points Venture Pitch:
Face #1 – Market Focus
The market focus for this venture focus will on the K-12 public school education system in British Columbia.
Face #2 – Types of Offerings
The type of offering the SCP will offer is a Content model and SCP can be implemented immediately. I am the expert in the content and subject matter. As an independent author who is not influenced nor financed by any large multinational company there will be published books that will coincide with web platforms. Additional support will be provided on an official YouTube Channel and weekly Podcast Episodes.
Face #3 – Who is the Buyer?
A typical K-12 buyer is the focus for this venture. SCP will target secondary EVA buyers who are searching for learning materials but could also be buying centrally such as a public school.
Face #4 – Global Market
In the beginning SCP will focus on the anglophone Canadian market but french versions of the same materials will be produced because Canada has two official languages after five years. Canada has a population of over 36.2 million (http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/canada-population/) and it would be foolish to ignore the French Canadian market as the province of Quebec has the second largest population in the country, a population of 8.2 million (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/demo02a-eng.htm) .
Face #5 – Market Status
SCP is suitable for a market that supports the importing of content and infrastructure. School districts and individual teachers are empowered to look and support local businesses in learning in which SCP “fits.”
Face #6 – Competition
SCP will target the “Learning Technology Substitutes for Other Forms of Learning.” As the result of ongoing budget cutbacks and new curriculum changes the public education market is always looking for new platforms to enhance student learning while constantly searching for new ways to save money.
There is an incredible variety of platforms that cover Canadian topics. Infant there’s too much information and it’s hard to access because there is no “middle ground.” That is a weakness for this market. However, SCP will provide that middle ground. There’s fascinating examples of printing press operations as the result of Globalization in the Education Market. However, there is not a Canadian specific brand name for Canadian Social Studies.
The corner stone of this venture pitch is the Patreon supporter network. Patreon is a unique crowd sourcing platform as Patreon supporters help fund material that is produced by SCP and there is no limit on how many investors can sign up. As a Patreon supporter you will gain exclusive Google Hangout and FaceTime monthly chats, first hand look on material that is currently being developed, exclusive rights to any material and a public recognition. All money raised from the Patreon supports will be spent to finance the venture.
SCP has been a real passion of mine for many years and I feel that the time has come to take this product to the next level and that is why I am asking for your support. As I have laid out there is a market for this product and as the result of the curriculum change in British Columbia there is a need for this product.
As I reflect both personally and professionally on the strengths and weaknesses of my product its clear what are the strengths. The weakness of SCP would be BC Teachers Federation (BCTF) and the Code of Ethics. There are not many laws in the province currently to regulate teachers from self-publishing their own materials but the threat of a “conflict of interest” violation between two or more members in the BCTF is serious. This is a serious threat and a concern that will need to be monitored on a weekly basis. If a conflict of interest issue is raised by a Surrey Teachers any resource they want for free. Another weakness of this market is teachers are cheap and would break copyright protection laws because the education system is under-funded. In order to mitigate this weakness an aggressive and compelling pricing system needs to be implemented.
In the next 2 to 5 years I want to elevate SCP to become a brand that would be recognized as a Canadian brand for Social Studies. Perhaps after the first five years SCP will expand to include other provinces in Canada.
It should be noted that every image, not unless it has a source in this document, are images from the actual completed materials at this point.
Special Note: If anyone would like to see any examples of the materials or books that I have currently made with the SCP title please feel free to ask. I would be more than happy to share and hear your feedback.
There is a complete 13 page document that goes in companion with the presentation…… If you would like to view the complete supporting document which has more examples please click here or for a complete example of one of my module please click here.