Notepound – A Digital Note Sketching App for Mobile Devices

REVIEW: A striking pitch! My initial reaction when reflecting on your video was how much thought and analysis went into this product. Both videos are of a very high quality, and I enjoyed the visual demonstration of what Notepound is anticipated to be capable of. I appreciated your honest analysis of the product, both its positive attributes and its limitations. In particular, when you noted concerns around being able to keep up with a lecture using this format of note taking I found myself connecting with the pitch and nodding my head in acknowledgement of the potential learning curve for users. As an EVA I found both of your pitches intriguing and very professional. As an investor I would have concerns around timelines and its appropriate market. You noted that this pitch was intended to get from concept to release, a lot could happen during that time and I wonder if this app would be out of date by the time it was launched? Overall, an excellent and compelling venture pitch!

Review - I really enjoyed your pitch. It gave me a pretty good understanding of your product. I am very interested in this product for a few reasons. First, I was at a conference and an individual drew a mind map of a keynote speech during the speech. I thought it brought the learning to a new level. That picture allows me to remember the keynote speech. Second, including audio is key. As an EVA I would invest because a picture truly is worth a thousand words. I can see this product being used in both education but also in business. This might be marketable to various companies.

Hi Mark! To start I must say that I thought your pitches were very well crafted with appropriate graphics. In terms of your Notepound concept, I find it a little difficult to get on board. You mention there is no other product on the market that has the functionality that you mentioned for mobile devices. I would agree, but I'm not sure how many students would prefer taking notes, drawing images, making annotations, moving objects, on the screen and interface of a mobile device. Cell phones are obviously not ideal for these tasks, but even iPads and tablets are seldom used by students above Grade 6 as they eventually get frustrated by the speed/power and the lack of a decent keyboard interface. If we move Notepound to a laptop environment, applications like Microsoft OneNote can do all the functions that you mentioned in your presentation including audio annotations and layering. For me, an application that seemlessly integrates mobile devices with Microsoft OneNote or Google Docs with the functionalities that you mentioned would be more interesting to me. I think you were alluding to that in the end of your presentation.

Review: I enjoyed your elevator pitch tremendously and found that it was very easy to understand your product and what you were trying to achieve with Notepound. The use of graphics and animation was powerful and it was easy to see how this product could benefit students. As an educator and also an EVA, I am skeptical about the practicality of the app in many settings. First of all, in order to achieve market saturation, the class would have to be heavily reliant on devices, and even then, in order to note take proficiently, it would appear to require the use of a keyboard and/or stylus. If this is the case, I am uncertain as to the extra value provided by Notepound would be worth investing into. How would one convince teachers to convince students to take notes using this app, and that it is better for them in the long run? You have also addressed the real time usage difficulty in your extended pitch (a problem which I also thought was very real and needed solutions) by suggesting that the app allows users to record audio and to add sketches to help with memory retention and to activate different parts of the brain as the lesson takes place, but would grade 8-9 students be capable of using this app without being distracted by its drawing features? As a pitch however, I found the video to be excellent and you used your time well to address the pain points and your marketing strategy. Real savvy media editing efforts!

REVIEW: As an EVA I would recommend investment in this product. I was blown away by the thought put into this pitch, particularly the "digital flexibility" you highlighted in your extended pitch video. As with others who have commented before me, I was very impressed with the ability to integrate not only notes, but also a related audio layer, into the note for the app. I particularly enjoyed how you linked this technical function to important meta cognitive skill sets/preferred learning styles.

REVIEW: As an EVA I would recommend investing in the product as the audio and layer features are potential game changers that increase the chances of a buyout and thus an investor payday. (This is a repost/addition to fit with the W13 Launch guidelines. Feedback/fuller review in the original post below.)

This is a very impressive Pitch. I was immediately hooked by your elevator pitch. I am a doodler and the idea of an app that would allow this style of learning to be stored, altered and reviewed is appealing. It is obvious you have taken a lot of time to prepare this pitch and the professional nature of both the elevator and venture pitch help draw an investor in. I would need to sit down with the major competitors programs to truly see the differences available. I am familiar with OneNote as it comes standard on the surface computer. I feel your success will likely come down to your apps functionality at the a very specific level. It sounds like you plan on being guided at the early stages by user feedback so you may be able to out compete or be bought by one of the larger companies who are less flexible. I would definitely invest in your company.

Wow! This venture pitch is very professional-looking. I can see that you are serious about this! You have an excellent idea here. I am not a doodler here, but I know the importance of copying down chemical equations and food webs for science class and I have recently learned the importance of concept mapping for constructivist learning. As an EVA, I would definitely invest in this idea. I love that it can be used on many devices. I love how you can add to your drawings at a later date and can doodle with you finger or stylus (I am not a doodle but appreciate that many others are). Excellent work on the different layouts and visuals for the app. I agree with Noan that having options to share files would make the app even more desirable and that Freemium is the way to go. This pitch is very detailed and well thought-out. Great work!

I would like to preface this review with the fact that I do not doodle. I make meaning from spoken words with written text, not pictures so my immediate response to the elevator pitch was lukewarm. After watching the full venture pitch I can say that your layering feature and especially the audio feature (if it can still accurately capture ambient sounds over the tapping of the screen and other device buttons) are very useful and could give your product a leg up. I can't honestly say that I am well acquainted with the digital note-taking market as I just use the notepad that comes with apple products but these two features seem well chosen seem for your targeted user group. If you take this pitch to the investment community, I would suggest re-recording your on-camera segments with your teleprompter to closer to camera level. The setting was well chosen but it was a bit distracting to see you looking down all the time. Good Luck with the product.

This is a pretty impressive pitch. I really like the concept, and it seems you have etched (forgive the pun) out a niche within the note taking industry. Your visuals are really well done, and seem like the layout and design came from years of experience. Nice work!

I would invest in this application if I knew it was ready to release tomorrow. With tablets going mainstream, and devices like the Surface and iPad Pro moving off shelves, the time is now to get a good note taking application on the market. I would not feel as confident if you were to tell me that we had to wait a year to release this app, as the trends indicate a move into VR may stymie the long term growth of such an app. 

When it comes to your revenue stream, you are hitting a great option. Having the Freemium model on this is exactly what would be needed to gain users and build a community of note takers. I would suggest some social features (such as note sharing between students) could also lead to greater conversion to the paid version (lazy students will pay anything for easy outs). 

There are a couple areas which concern me though. One is that of this application targeting a more traditional format of teaching (lecture and notes), and while I can see it applied in a more broad context, I would ensure through the pitch that these other niches are highlighted. I also am cautious about Notepound not reflecting the future screen: We likely will be going smaller (phones) and VR, neither of which would necessarily be strong for Notepound. 

In summary, a super strong pitch that if realized today would be a good investment. Two years of development may sour that idea, as we are in fast changing times.