NoRedInk Mandarin

Hi Cris, I think you have a really interesting idea. Building on a software that already exists is smart - it helps establish the validity of your product. I think your elevator pitch could have utilized more visuals to make it engaging. Your venture pitch was very well researched and thought out. I think focusing on sustaining culture while learning a foreign language is very important and will help set this product apart from others. I also enjoyed the emphasis on personalized learning. You established that there is a market for this product which is important for investors. I think this product would be a good investment since there are not many competitors and the South East Asia market is hot. I would invest in this venture.

Hi Cris, overall a great pitch and a good idea for an already existing product to enter the Chinese market. As Ganlina mentioned, adding a video and/or image to your elevator pitch would engage the viewer a bit more, but I believe that you were able to effectively communicate your pitch and why it would be successful. My only concern is that as I understand, the original product is made for native English speakers who need to learn and practice English grammar. How would the product be adapted for second language speakers in China? You mentioned adding in their culture, but what help be added for low level English speakers? Duolingo and Rosetta Stone are specifically made for second language speakers and present the language at a level that the learner can understand without any translation. Would NoRedInk be able to do this as well? The vocabulary I saw in your presentation may be out of reach for many students, so there would be a delay in the grammar learning while they catch up on the vocabulary needed to understand the grammar rule. I also agree with Craig in the sense that focusing on Grammar only is not going to help students develop their fluency, however, it will develop their accuracy which is also important. If NoRedInk can address the presentation of the language for second language learners, I think the product will be quite successful in the Chinese market. Well done!

This seems very doable. I'll invest. I am an ESL teacher and second language user of Cantonese and Mandarin and so I understand the struggle that many Mandarin users have for English learning. I think this would be a great product to invest in as I can see the potential and picture the vast clientele who would use the product if marketed correctly.

I like it. As an online ESL course designer who works with students in China, I could see how this could greatly help. I would buy this for my own program. I think it would be good to supplement face-to-face instruction. I wouldn't just target international schools but rather the private language schools in China which is bigger market and would use it for a longer time with each student. I'll invest.

Hi Cris, Yes, I would invest in this venture. It is a well-established venture that is going to spread to Asian market, which is enormous. I have no doubt the expansion will be successful. Your pitches are detailed and well-presented. My only suggestion is to add your video or image to your elevator pitch as seeing the company title/logo on screen for the whole minute is too long. Well done!

A great pitch, Cris. I really enjoyed both your elevator pitch and venture pitch and thought the information as relevant and necessary to your call for investment. I believe Craig touched on this, but I have to agree, the market for this type of thing in China is HUGE! I am curious as to how this venture would fit in with distributed learning schools in Canada, if at all? We have several English Language Learners who struggle with the BC curriculum and take their courses online for several reasons. I am wondering if this program has potential to penetrate that market, making the product even more desired. I like that you took a culturally aware approach to creating the software. I would have like to see further projections and potential large buyers for this product but overall, I would invest in this product.

Hi Cris – what a well-researched pitch! You have an excellent grasp of the market you are trying to enter and the stats that back up the probability of success. You have also outlined where NoRedInk sits in comparison to your direct competitors. The current experts behind the product that is successful in the U.S. will be a valuable asset as you try to break into the Asian market. What will be their involvement in this new venture? How do you fit into this project? Will you be leading the team? I would need some more specifics on how you plan to market the product in Asia before deciding to invest.

REVIEW

I would invest in this venture. You had an excellent assessment of the market: very focused, very good potential. The private, bilingual school and private tutor/cram school market in Asia is enormous.

One of the best things about your presentation is that you identify the cultural concerns of “digital colonization” by Western products in China. This is a very real concern, and your suggestion to use existing Chinese content is brilliant. I think it is an excellent way to get government officials (who will need to be persuaded to allow your product on the market) and educators in general on your side.

I would have liked a bit more data on the numbers, even a rough estimate showing expenses and expected revenue and growth. It seems as if a market penetration of 30% of private schools and 5% of public schools (there are a lot of them in China) seems a bit steep, but with your request for a $2 million investment in a product that only needs a Chinese adaptation to it should leave a sizeable amount for marketing.

I believe that you demonstrated the usefulness of the product and the potential market seems wide open for your venture. Your very impressive Analyst Report (which was next on the Youtube playlist) provided excellent additional material that assisted my analysis.

Finally, I would invest in YOU. You have a very impressive resume and have demonstrated the kind of leading edge attitude that would make a good entrepreneur. Your work on your blog, and even hosting a conference on gamification as a presenter is exactly the kind of evidence of highly motivated leadership that is needed for a successful venture.

If I may, there is one area of feedback that I would like to offer. The biggest weakness of this product is not actually a failing of the product (because it does what it was intended to do), and it might not actually impede its sales. It is the idea that this kind of grammar practice can produce significant gains in fluency of second language students. I understand how this has worked to elevate the grammar skills of native language speakers in America, but I wish it would do more to address the different needs of second language speakers.

I know from your resume that you have experience in this field as well, but as an English language instructor in the Asian market for more than a decade, I can tell you that a focus on grammar in Japan has failed to produce fluent communicators. The curriculum in Japan is heavily invested in the kind of grammar activities that No Red Ink seems to provide, and it has yet to prove successful at developing fluency in either writing or speaking in large numbers.

What this kind of curriculum has produced are students who are capable of manipulating the grammar of sentences that have been provided to them… however, they have very low ability in general, to actually PRODUCE language. There is a huge difference between grammar knowledge using text that has been provided, and the ability to spontaneously and fluently generate their own sentences using this grammar. This product does not bridge this gap, but then, it was not designed to do that.

Having said that, I can see how students would benefit from the use of this tool as they are learning to use the grammar. I only wish there was a more comprehensive approach to this kind of software that would be able to not only utilize personalized lessons, but personalized CONTENT… taken from the student’s own writing and then adapted into grammar lessons. This is something that is beyond the scope of this product.