CompanyCAVU: Micro-learning onboarding ​for smart businesses

REVIEW: Hi Esther, this is a really interesting concept and until your pitch, I didn't know these types of services existed. You present a very compelling idea in a highly professional manner and although I was unfamiliar with "onboarding," I was able to infer fairly easily what it is. As your company focusses on employee growth, I could see this being marketed to areas that have lower retention rates and need to keep their talent (I'm thinking STEM areas). It would have been interesting to see a comparison of one of the current onboarding companies in terms of services offered and your projected differences. I would consider investing if I could see how this company differs in that way. Also, I imagine each "journey" and personalized digital storytelling etc. would differ based on the company's needs but an example would probably help me understand the concept more fully. With those 2 changes, I might be willing to invest. Great work! ~ Sarah

Review: Wow, Esther! I forgot I was listening to an ETEC assignment pitch and thought the TV was on. Your voice, pacing, visuals and rhetoric is incredibly persuasive. I have little knowledge about corporate learning but you broke the idea down so easily and I was able to understand your concept, the market plan and projections without any difficulty. If I was entering a company from the bottom, I like that your venture seeks to include and educate me - an overall feeling that few companies try to achieve. I see the value as a corporate EVA and I would certainly be interested in investing. Your research, content, graphics, web design and video design skills are top notch and I applaud how seemlessly you pieced it all together. As a pitch, everything felt like it should and I would be interested to invest. My big question though as an EVA is where does my money go? What is the future of the venture and what is the ROI? If these questions were answered, I would certainly be interested to invest. Additionally, there were a few terms I was confused with like "onboarding" but I'm not sure if that is my own fault or if it wasn't made completely clear. In any case, thanks for the great pitch - I enjoyed it thoroughly!

Esther, congratulations on the interesting pitch. I found your idea very original. I don’t have the type of business experience that would need this service but it is a niche that I hadn’t considered before and so was interested to hear you lay it out.

My main question would be delivery. I am not sure how CompanyCAVU is creating the ‘journey’ that improves onboarding. Is it a corporate video, role playing game, or some sort of written narrative? Basically I need to know more about the 'micro model digital storytelling'. It sounds awesome. Perhaps a couple of images would help me make the leap to full understanding.

Your three-tier revenue model seems very professional. I would like to see some numbers or projected earnings before investing but I like how you have differentiated CopanyCAVU’s worth across different sectors.

I love the tagline on the competitors page. You simultaneously acknowledge the competition while differentiating yourself from them. It shows me, an amateur investor, that you know the field and how to improve upon it.

Finally, your team seems diverse and competent. I would have confidence investing in such an experienced group of innovators and business people. Perhaps some pictures would help soften your pitch with a human face. I took the easy way out in my venture but using cartoonish avatars, but I thought that was better than simply listing names and titles. But who knows, perhaps the cartoons would turn off certain investing professionals.

Nice work.

Esther, may I first say how wonderful your voice is during the elevator pitch? It felt like I was watching a television commercial with its high quality and convincingness! As you did mention, it is a very saturated market with competition, but your idea of fostering the new employees from the start to keep them motivated to grow throughout their work is one that I'm sure many other startup businesses would like to incorporate in their future plans. And as an employee in Japan, I wish ANY company or school or business here would have anything remotely similar to this (don't think there is a market for it here unfortunately though). Maybe more detail on actual costs/prices for your revenue models, and examples of what kinds of materials your team would create would be more convincing. I'm not sure if you can run the whole operation with just a team of three, because I feel like it would be a lot of work for that small a team. I'm sure this idea would succeed with growing businesses (especially in the IT sector, I believe) if you plan on making it a reality!

Hi Ester, Your elevator pitch will not run for me....the message I get is to check back later(?). I am disappointed because it sounds from other reviews like this is quite good and I would like to see it so I will check back but for now, I can review the website. The website is nicely laid out and you have provided good information on the need for your product. I had the same experience of some others here though and I am unsure of exactly what you will do for a company and their employees, what the learning outcomes would be for employees and if the learners would include the company executives as well....which seems important given the number of employees that leave after 6 months and that the greatest input occurs in the first 8 months. What happens after 8 months and why are people leaving? This is where I am unclear how this product matches the cause or pain point you are addressing. Admittedly, I am not in business with a large staff nor do I have an HR background but in discussions with a friend for whom this is a passion, it seems that people want to know their place, be clear about their tasks and outcomes, to feel a part of a successful team and what their story will be through the company. This last part is key - what is the path I can take and what opportunity exists for me are the key elements to retaining and engaging employees according to my friend. If so, is this what you mean by onboarding and the journey? Are you engaging staff to collaborate, offer their creativity and energy to the company but also to create opportunity for themselves and their team as they build their career and reputation within and for the larger group. If so, then I can see this being a very powerful too and if the dialogue continues, the story and communication could provide mentorship, encouragement and inclusion of many levels within a company helping everyone to understand the challenges from the warehouse / mail room to the corner office on the top floor with a view of the park. I think it is great that you offered a corporate perspective and workplace training tool as this is often overlooked and under discussed in the education dialogue and there is a lot of opportunity and need in this sector.

Hi Esther, I think your elevator pitch is really well done as I enjoyed the graphics but the concept was a little unclear to me. As I went through the venture pitch, I was still a little unsure by what is meant by “onboarding?” Is that simply the beginning process of getting acclimated to a new job? I would have liked to see some specific examples as to how CompanyCAVU streamlines this process or sets it apart from other programs that provide a similar process. I wonder if this should be positioned as a training tool or kind of an career achievement planner. With some more information and details, I think the target or focus on the venture would become more clear to us EVAs. I definitely feel there is a need in this area as retention and time and money spent on human resources is plentiful and any successful business is able to bring down the retention rate. So there is definitely a market for this product. This product feels like it would match better with larger and established businesses to craft and tell stories from different employee successes. I feel that in many small businesses or start-ups, your interaction with everyone allows you to see first-hand the successes and challenges people go through and so when there is a larger corporation, this tool becomes a lot more important in terms of disseminating information and crafting what success looks like across the board. I think it is a good idea Esther!

Interesting venture! There is definitely a need in this market and you did a great job presenting your audience with the statistics about unsuccessful onboarding and its importance. I struggle a little seeing how CompanyCAVU is different from the other similar products that you listed, perhaps more detail on how the product works would have been great. You state that this venture is different because you don't focus on efficiency gains but rather employee growth, while this may be important for some larger companies, it may not be the case for all. Most companies hiring new employees are looking to have efficient, well-performing workers asap. Some larger companies do invest in their employees life wellness and CompanyCAVU could be a part of that, however, I believe that is achieved more efficiently in personal experience within the company and through peers. At the end of the day, a digital story about the company history and co-worker interaction means very little if the people themselves don't act that way and facilitate that message in the office. I think you have read the market very well and have brought out a part of business that many people overlook. It is very costly to have to hire and re-hire employees. Great job finding a potential business niche!

FEEDBACK: I found it difficult to review this venture, as the Elevator Pitch was very vague. How does CompanyCAVU make workers more motivated? What is it? How does it work? You use many statistics on your website (like “[a] statistic for employers is that nearly​ ​33%​ ​of​ ​hires​ ​look​ ​for​ ​a​ ​new​ ​job within​ ​the​ ​first six months of employment, but among Millennials, that percentage is even higher”. Where are your sources? Is it true that a greater number of Millennials look for work? In your “Competitors” section, you say that CompanyCAVU stands apart. How? What makes CompanyCAVE unique? Also.. what does “CAVU” stand for (according to a Google search, it’s used in the military to mean “Ceiling And Visibility Unrestricted”. Is this what you are trying to convey?)? Perhaps my lack of business acumen (I have no experience with the business world… I’m just a teacher!) has made this venture hard for me to penetrate or understand. I don't know what someone in Human Resources is looking for, and I don't know how new employees to a business are normally 'brought on board. For example, I’m not really sure what ‘onboarding’ really means. Also, I’ve never heard the term “microlearning” before (is it used in mainly business, or education?). After reading the website, unfortunately I’m still not sure what this venture is really about. Perhaps some screenshot ‘mock-ups’ would have helped convey what it is exactly that CompanyCAVU offers.

Hello Esther, I found your pitch to be very intriguing and one that I would be interested in making a connection with if my own pitch would ever turn into reality. I have never worked in HR but I cam see the real appeal for your company and I could easily understand your market focus and pain point. Would you focus on any market including education or would you wish to limit your market focus in the first 3-5 years? As a EVA that is my lingering question and how much money would you need to launch or your venture?

Hi Esther,

I used to work in Human Resources for a large national company and then ran a small organization so definitely interested in your SaaS for onboarding. There is SO much effort put into recruitment and welcoming new employees! As I was reading your pain points which were clearly laid out and well argued, I was actually starting to feel anxious. LOL. It is stressful because people have often left other jobs for your company and you want it to work out both ways! I definitely understand the need for your product.

I agree that company culture is vital, and you touch on it in your pitch but I want to be hit on the head with ways your approach ties in with a learning theory :) Could you include something about affective learning, belonging, or socially situated contexts for learning about company ethos. I just want a bit flushed out here to understand and trust your expertise in training and learning. (Note: this is coming from an educator, so perhaps investors don't need this assurance, but I feel it would tip over your great idea into a grounded and well informed one).

I say this because I feel your approach is an important one. From the readings I have been doing in my Constructivist course, I am becoming more and more aware of the importance that affective factors for learning are important for group social cohesion, team commitment, and knowledge sharing and construction. And onboarding is an important area for this to occur, your pitch about people not being - robots - right on point! (Ugh, makes me revisit some of my not so mistakes as a supervisor).

I really do not know anything about the microlearning approach, I have heard the term used and if it is about chunking learning into smaller bits and just in time learning then I definitely see this as an important part of workplace learning, makes complete and total sense. Great idea!

I really like how you laid out your revenue streams. Smart, product is there but the added value of having content designers for creation is a perfect fit. I was also intrigued by your Affiliate stream. I am not sure exactly how you get revenue, you mention the benefits to staff, but not how this makes you money. Do affiliates need to purchase something from your company, is it advertising? How do you vet who can become and affiliate? Also, were you going to have an ask for an amount from investors? Did I miss it?

Esther is this something you are doing in real life? Are there specific companies that you feel this will suit more? Who in particular would you target and why? Your outline of competitors seems fierce, I wonder if you could join forces with your competition to develop this service (?), it would get you brand and clients immediately and round out their more 'process' oriented approach. Or is this your idea too, build it, have proof of concept and then sell?

Great to have a workplace example to mull over!

Briar