A3 – Gradenetix

REVIEW: Carlo, I thoroughly enjoyed reviewing your pitch. I am impressed by the way that you overcame the challenges of self-isolation to still deliver a compelling elevator pitch presentation. I appreciated your choice to include the elevator pitch script in addition to the video as it was useful to reference later on. As a CEO, you clearly have the ability to communicate your ideas and can back them up with your 6 years of experience, data to effectively convey a pain point (17 hours of lost time!) and an attractive solution (99% accuracy!). I found the closing of your pitch to be particularly strong: "Make an investment in us, in education and in the future." The irony is that it is I fear that Gradenetix (or any AI solution) cannot replicate this same calibre of communication in the feedback it may generate. How could AI really deliver personalized feedback that models that level of written ability? It doesn't appear that the strongest competition, Progressay, can come close to that, and I don't have information from your pitch about how Gradenetix would be able to achieve its claims. I also wasn't clear about the subjects and grade levels that Gradenetix was purporting to assess, and I wasn't convinced that a database of academic papers could address the breadth and depth required to meet the claims made by Gradenetix. For example, one of the papers I have to mark in my higher-education job are resumes and cover letters. A solution that has been bandied about for years is https://www.vmock.com/higher-education. It’s apparently a great tool, but my college is hesitant to make the significant investment that I’m told is around $30,000 per year. Given the individualized nature of resumes, I really wonder how AI (Gradenetix or otherwise) could provide accurate feedback. As an investor, I'd like to understand more about the content and the integrity of the tool in order to trust its capabilities. Specifically, how would the academic papers be selected for inclusion in the database, and how would students’ confidentiality be protected upon submission for grading? Privacy concerns could interfere with adoption with public boards; independent schools may have more flexibility and could be a logical place to start, especially given your background. I know that professors at my college can’t accept help from other college staff for marking as it violates integrity standards. I appreciated the honesty of your reflection and recognition of weaknesses. Your utilization of the Cube Framework is especially appropriate given the business of Gradenetix - submissions that directly respond to curriculum are certainly ideal! Based on the information of the current pitch, I would not be in a position to invest, but I thank you for the opportunity!

[REVIEW] Carlo, thank you for your pitch. Your strong presentation skills shone through in your elevator pitch, and you provided enough of the necessary components (need, functionality, experience, etc.) to draw me to your venture pitch. I was also drawn in by the promises of your venture (you make some very big claims). In reviewing your venture pitch, I was hoping to see more of the process behind the algorithm – how you’ll achieve these claims. I think there’s a big reason why other tech ventures (like Gradescope and Progressay) only provide some of the functionality that you’re promising – the reason being that an algorithm of that nature is extremely complicated. In the end, the “how will this work” component wasn’t really answered for me. If that’s a trade secret, then I’d want to know more about the “who” behind it – what expertise does your team have in bringing this venture to life? I did appreciate the added functionality that you presented compared with Progressay (the idea of selecting pre-loaded curriculum based on geographical regions), but I also spent a bit too much time thinking “wow, this Progressay product already does pretty much everything I imagine AI is capable of right now”. I do really like the idea of incorporating analytics into the product – big data should be at the forefront of our minds as we design the majority of our tech ventures. I also appreciate that you used the Cube Framework (strength in numbers, I guess, as I utilized it in my pitch as well), though I think the “Global Market” didn’t address which regions of the world would targeted with your venture. Though I wouldn’t personally invest (I don’t think there’s enough original value compared to Progressay), I appreciate your overall venture pitch and the opportunity to review it. Thanks again.

(Feedback) Hi Carlo. Great elevator speech--had the right emotional hook at the end. Gradenetix seems like a very invaluable tool for teachers and you did a great job explaining the features of the product, the current competition and how Gradenetix differs from its competitors. I would be interested in knowing more about the learning curve for teachers, as well as how the product would be customized for diverse clientele - national and international. Also, at the risk of sounding silly I am curious to know about the 17 hrs of grading mentioned in your elevator pitch--is it 17 hrs per week? Per month? Overall, good job!

REVIEW: I’ve heard many teachers complain of the time spent on grading – 17 hours is a lot! - so I can appreciate this more now that there are some numbers behind it. There is a clearly presented pain point here. There is a good analysis of the market to show where there are gaps that need to be filled and how Gradenetix can fill those gaps. The venture seems well positioned and has significant potential although I have to agree it doesn’t seem to be completely original, as was mentioned in the reflection. However, I don’t believe that technology is being used presently to great extent to grade student work so if Gradenetix is a venture that can make this reality it has a lot of growth potential. The pitch does address some gaps so Gradenetix could be the solution that is needed on the market that makes a difference. I felt like I would have liked to have some more information on exactly what was being planned for global expansion i.e. I would have appreciated if there had been some sort of timeline involved. Sometimes ventures can expand to rapidly and overextend themselves so I would have liked to have some more details on what was planned for global expansion and knowing exactly how the investment in the venture would be used and how much would be needed to support the expansion. Overall, it’s an interesting venture. As an EVA I would invest in it.

FEEDBACK: Hello Carlo, very well done! great elevator pitch. I think you brought up a very essential product. As an EVA I am however not very sure what your service does better than others. As it seems there is a big overlap, and I am wondering if what you suggest as a main benefit of your service is actually possible (Would the other companies not have integrated this already? or would it be too expensive? and that brings me to questioning the ROI - how much money would you need to realize this? And what are you offering your investors? I think when you integrate that it could be a very solid pitch with some good potential!

FEEDBACK: Hi Carlo, Your elevator pitch video is a good one, I appreciate the effort you put into making this elevator pitch. In your elevator pitch I did not feel you making a pitch for an investment; I hear you asking for “help” with marketing. In the role of an investor, I am not sure if I would want to read through your website; your video for your elevator pitch is good so I wondered if you could have done a video instead of a website. Your analysis of the competitors and the market for AI systems to grade student papers is good. I spent a lot of time reading your website and I read it a couple of times, and I come away with an impression that it is a fairly good market analysis of AI systems to grade essays. What I struggle to find is what is the “original value” that you are pitching that qualifies this as a venture. I finally understood my struggle; I am reading an analysis not a venture pitch. I happened to notice that in the “About the Author” you used the title “Educational Venture Analyst”, are you pitching a venture as an entrepreneur or an analysis as an EVA?

(Review) Hi Carlo, I like your confidence in your presentation especially the elevator pitch. Thank you for acknowledging the crisis we are in now within your presentation. I found your guiding principles and byline to be excellent--the Core Competencies clear and the application of the cube framework good. I am concerned about your claim of 99% accuracy, I am IB English teacher and the essays and portfolios I grade are quite complex, I don't feel that there a essay grading software that can do what I do. Years ago I used Vantage Learning which as AI Intellimetric software that helped but could not really provide much support beyond some canned responses similarly with Turnitin.com. So for me this claim is too high and not possibly at the upper school level for most assignments or tasks. Maybe the market focus should only for K-5 or K-8 in standards based curriculum and not in PBL curricula or specialized curriculum such as IB and AP. Another scenario would be to suggest that Gradenetix solve the more simplified grading tasks that are not essays or project-based. I did not see any discussion of roll-out phases--that is to the extent you can project the markets and strategic partners you envision.

(Review) Hi Carlo - First I’d like to mention that your elevator pitch was very attention-grabbing. You seemed like you knew exactly what you were talking about and after the first couple seconds I was intrigued - which I think is the point of an elevator pitch - so good job there! I definitely see a need for this, and I think you would have every teacher agree they would want to eliminate the many hours spent on marking. But, I do see the benefit being a lot greater in higher education, or in provincial assessments where you are looking for trends in a mass group of students. As a grade 5 teacher, however, and marking on a 1-4 scale, I need to look at what a student is doing and the processes they are using in order to see where exactly they need help. A lot of times marking is how I get to know my students; seeing their patterns, mistakes, etc. This is really how I see where the problems lie and I develop a plan from there. I think an investment can be made in this for higher education, but I do not see the need in lower education.

Carlo, Thank you for this Venture Pitch. You identified a problem and then create a clear solution and a practical application.Grading and assessment are incredibly important to education, but at times can become merely a checklist. Gradenetix can solve this problem and there is a clear market for it. A couple of aspects that I would want to learn more about before investing are the subjectivity of the system and how well would it sync with different LMS. It was indicated that it could mark up to 99% accurately on assignments, would this be in all subject areas or specific ones? How much say would the educator have in the final mark if needed? Also, would this be able to be used with different Learning Management systems? I would be interested in investing in this venture pitch.

REVIEW: You've clearly identified the benefit to using gradenetix and who will benefit from it. While it is clear that gradenetix will be able to grade an assignment it is not clear what types of feedback it will provide and how useful this will be for students and teachers using it. It was clear the time saving benefit gradenetix would provide which would allow for more student teacher interactions. If I were to invest I would want to ensure that a project manager worked with developers with feedback from teachers and districts to ensure that the feedback created not only allows for a grade but empowers teachers with a clear picture of their students abilities and needs. We would also need to ensure that any concerns or needs from a district level are addressed as well, as they will be the larger and targeted primary purchasers.