EduStream360 – Venture pitch for 360˚ live stream educational video service

I really appreciated your use of infographics in the elevator pitch and in the website. I thought visually it was quite engaging. I agree that the Spark website has a lot of flow to it. I haven’t see a website built with that tool before and was pleasantly surprised that the experience holds up on mobile as well. I think that your venture is a good one and solves a problem that there currently is no solution for. I can absolutely see the educational efficacy of this product. Thinking as a potential investor I believe that you have strong evidence of your passion for the topic and the research that backs the idea. I think you’ve touched on all the necessary venture pitch points. You have talked about where the funding will go but having a percentage of how much goes where will help investors know their money is going to the best place. I received this feedback on my venture and thought that was extremely good advice. You have touched on many of my thoughts in your initial feedback section and I think you've done a good job of accessing the strengths and weakness of your venture there.

Jonathan, I really like the premise of your venture, and think there is significant market potential here. Edustream has the potential to incorporate many of the key elements of a 21st century classroom, and I think teachers/students would welcome this innovation into the classroom with open arms. Your problem statement is clear, and the solution is well grounded. You've created an easy to navigate website, that is visually compelling from a branding perspective. Some areas where I need more information include getting a more solid grasp of what you have identified as your target market, financials with detailed use of proceeds, and also note that the messaging can be tightened up (ie.too many words). I'm a word lover but I've learned that you must be ruthless when it comes to word reduction, cut, cut, cut and simplify. Overall, I quite enjoyed learning about your venture opportunity. with thanks!

Feedback – Hey Jonathan, your elevator pitch is professional quality with great visuals. The problem you identify is a real one worldwide. I know some schools in Newfoundland had been trying using a webcam with streaming software to do exactly what you are proposing here. What I like about your idea is the use of 3d cameras. Would you display content on a TV or would it be fully immersive with VR Tech? I felt that you really hit the investment nail on the head as a not for profit company looking for funds form a combination of government, educational institutions and corporate sponsorship. Also, you did a great job describing what you will do with the money. Brian

EduStream 360 is an intriguing resource for educators overall, but specifically for distance learning educators. To offer the opportunity to experience events, spaces and speakers in a 3D video environment is unprecedented. When moving through this venture pitch, the resource Learn360 (https://learn360.infobase.com/p_Login.aspx?loggedOut=1) came to mind. Learn360 is a collection of videos, but is for-profit and acquires revenue through subscription purchases. I am curious if your considered the subscription route for revenue?What is you rationale for choosing EduStream as a non-profit venture funded by grants, funding programs, etc? Overall, this venture is well presented (elevator pitch is excellent and made me “want to know more”) – not too much information, just enough to get the recipient curious. As well, I appreciated the research that went into the rationale behind this venture and the vision for the future. Well done!

REVIEW: Hi Jon. Great work on the site. I have been meaning to check out Spark for a while, and it does seem to have a distinct design edge over other site builders. EduStream 360 is a fantastic idea. Your rationale is well grounded in research, and this shows in the venture pitch. It would be worth it to include hard numbers (if any are out there), that could back up the claim that VR and live streaming technology is on the rise in education. You could include Google Expedition as part of this, though VR is not the same as live-streaming. In addition, it would be effective to include a description of the team (besides yourself, though you are certainly more than qualified) that is already working on this venture. It is always difficult to break the inertia of venture in the beginning. Giving potential investors/ supporters the benefit of knowing they are contributing to an already popular and inspiring venture will probably increase your support more quickly than if you gave the impression that EduStream360 was still in its infant stage of conception. From your site, I get the sense that you are pitching more than just a service; I sense that you are pitching for the more widespread support of VR experiences within the classroom. As a potential supporter, or investor, I would first be asking what the likelihood that the hardware required for your services is already in place in schools. That might be a more immediate concern before you get to how you are going to make your vision grow. Just like in Brian's pitch, I questioned whether equity in access to requisite hardware was a kink to iron-out or at least consider more specifically as part of the venture. You could offer class sets of the hardware, in addition to subscriptions for your live stream service, but that might require a rethinking of your business model and non-profit nature. Regardless, if I was to invest in this, I would want to know how we could make it as easy as possible to get consumers the tech they need, so they could start using our product. My second concern as an investor/ advocate would be how we could eventually move away from grants as a model for revenue. If we want this company to thrive and be self-sufficient, there should be other ways besides asking for money. Robert's suggestion below of sponsorship plans seems like a perfectly suitable way to make sure that revenue continues to come in. Overall, EduStream 360 is a great concept, and your work of presenting your vision was effective and engaging. Well done!

I could definitely get the sense of the kickstarter setup in the presentation. One problem with kickstarter is that it's mostly selling a future product and not selling a stake in the company. I could understand the product very well from the presentation and as a nonprofit company, typical returns are not expected. Perhaps, detailing a sponsorship plan, that branding of sponsors will be presented at beginning and/or end of all presentations, or on the website, would add value to the sponsors. I know BMO has a whole floor dedicated to managing donation funds, just takes some creativity for that money to come your way. If you ever did explore going after corporate donations, United Way would be a great charity model to copy in my opinion, not necessarily based on their work, but based on the amount of corporate sponsorship they have.