Thanks for checking out my venture. Both the elevator and venture pitch can be found on this page. I’ll be posting my reflections at the end of the week, but I’m really looking forward to getting your feedback! Enjoy!
Thanks so much to everyone for the excellent analysis. I am even more excited about this venture than ever.
Reflection:Having had some excellent feedback throughout the course of the week, I’d like to take this opportunity to reflect on my original pitch. To start with, I feel like this is a strong venture; however, there is a great deal to do before I can either generate enthusiasm with investors (donors) or get the venture off the ground. The strength lies in the overall concept. It’s a solid one and it’s one that could conceivably work. The need is there for a specialized, personalized program – especially with women. This type of program might be the thing that enables newcomers to get connected to their community, especially if it was easily accessible and not cost prohibitive. The social aspect – coming to a 1x a week drop in class – would be encouraged so their learning would be supported.
The weaknesses all revolve around specifics. I need to get more specific about how CANNEW will work. It’s all got to get narrowed down and written up, 1 year, 2 year, and 5 year projection plans. Realistically, a settlement agency could run a program like this within their mandate, and it need not be a special “venture”. The reality is though, that many of these agencies tend to run what they’ve always done (and what has the lowest price point) and so they’re likely not going to come up with this type of program and implement it. So if I’m going to try and sell this concept, I need to get down more of the particulars. I need a list of the apps I would be drawing from, I need explanations (and examples) of the initial assessments that would be done. Bottom line, I need to get a lot more specific so that a donor/investor (or even an organization) will know exactly how the program will work – step by step. Additionally, another thing that would help is further research in the area of personalized learning programs. I need to research pros and cons of various personalized learning programs. If I can bring those strengths into CANNEW, I think I’ll be successful!
I feel like my entrepreneurship inclinations are strong. I’ve been in business partnerships before, although not in an educational venture; however there are similarities. They are a lot of work. It’s one thing to have the idea, it’s another thing to put yourself out there and actually execute. The bottom line is that if I want to do this, I’ve got to address the weaknesses and put in some serious time and effort! I believe in this concept and am excited to see how it unfolds!
