Assignment 3: Venture Pitch – Rise eLearning Authoring Tool

(REVIEW) Thank you so much for sharing this fantastic venture. As e-learning has been accelerated all over the world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rise 360 appears to be just the right tool for this period in time. Not only that, but I can see it usefulness and need as education continues to move away from the traditional classroom and more online, which I feel will happen even faster as both teachers and students become more comfortable with online learning. Your elevator pitch was very well done, polished and with high degree of professionalism. You did a great job of summarizing the main points and made me to want to learn more about the venture. The competitive edge that Rise appears to have over its main competitors cannot be overstated. Teachers want to teach, and spend the majority of time in that mode of instruction and feedback to see their students grow, and less time fiddling around with software or having to learn complicated procedures to produce teaching materials. I feel that is where the greatest value of this venture lies, and that is the main reason why I would invest.

I thought the Elevator Pitch was engaging, informative, compelling and professional. It left me wanting to know more about the venture and it shows there is opportunity in it. As for the Venture Pitch, I thought it very detailed in identifying the problem and why we need the solution that Rise 360 offers. I agree that the need for digital learning and online courses will see tremendous growth, making creation of eLearning courses important for the industry and the success of both content creators and learners who experience the course. Creative types will not want to be dragged down with technicalities, so having something that is easy, intuitive and responsive will be of such benefit. It looks like a good and attractive product with many features to recommend its ease of use, which is highly attractive. I think there is a great opportunity for this product given the current situation we face and the current state of the market–even before the COVID-19 crisis which will only fuel the drive for more digital teaching and learning options. Especially since many are now being forced to go online, where they had neither reason nor need to be before and therefore lack experience with teaching, creating and delivering content online, I think that Rise 360 is promoting that it is “Simpler, Better, Faster” it is positioning itself well to be a very attractive option and in high demand. There is a clear strategy for marketing. The founder and CEO has over 20 years' experience in the eLearning industry. Such experience in the industry that Rise 360 is serving, and the fact that he is both founder and CEO, shows his investment and ability to be a good leader for the company. As an EVA I would invest in this venture.

Hi Manize, Your elevator pitch is brilliant. You present the problem and pinpoint the solution. I also like how you present the market. Adding information about your background that would give your skills and interest in leading this venture would boost the pitch. This usually assures investors that you know your topic and easily attracts them to check in to hear your venture pitch. The statistics on the eLearning market that you presented shows that the business is favorable for the venture. From a sales viewpoint, the statistics of the revenues on the current market from your buyers (eLearning corporate industries and educational institutions) on similar services that Rise 360 provides would give a better idea of what could the venture revenue. This information would facilitate a decision to invest.

Manize, Nice work here. Your elevator pitch was well done and professional, however as a potential investor I would have liked to have been sold on you as opposed to the product itself - but I understand this is difficult as Rise 360 is already an established course-authoring product. I did appreciate the growth projections in the pitch; ROI is essentially the primary concern as an investor. Here's what I loved: * Identifying the pain points was great. You cut right to the chase that authoring eLearning courses are tedious and require experience - what a timely argument! Teachers around the world are struggling to take their delivery online, something that they weren't necessarily trained to do ( or want to). This is where Rise can help and is the edge that could take it to the next level. * Set up intuition is important as those trying to author a course can get frustrated when things don't make sense. Simplicity and control are difficult to put together, and without experience, it's a hassle. * Course development time doesn't dictate whether someone will design a course the first time, but it *might* determine whether they'll design another course, or work with the software again. Rise makes it conducive to repeat-use by cutting down dev time. * Swipe-enabled courses without any added work are in line with eLearning slowly moving toward mobile delivery. Gone are the days of having to optimize your content for operating systems and screen sizes. * I'm glad you clearly outlined the main competitors to Rise, and not only drew strong distinctions between them but offered their strengths as well. It would have been easy to suppress what they do well. It conveys honesty and a belief in the product. Concerns: * Rise doesn't have a version saving feature, something that might contribute to adoption, frustration, then dismissal, or even just non-adoption altogether. * You mention the two major markets, and I would have liked to see more information on these markets and their potential as buyers. Which do you think would be the most profitable - corporate training or educational institutions? * You're asking for $500,000 for a 20% stake, which seems conspicuously low. Verdict: Rise is an existing product, and a strong one at that. You convey a lot of important information that an EVA would need to make a sound judgement of investment. Based on your elevator and venture pitch, an established brand with reach, and more importantly your company valuation of $2.5 million, I would certainly invest in Rise.

FEEDBACK: Your pitch of Rise 360 is informative and does a great job at competitive analysis, and I enjoyed the Powtoon elevator pitch and the Rise experience. As an instructor, I would love to invest in this product, as a consumer and investor. However, the new direction of the existing venture wasn't clear to me. How would you take Rise into a new direction if you were the CEO?

Hi Manize thanks for sharing your company! I think this a great time and opportunity to invest in a company like Rise. I really liked your elevator pitch and the use of all the graphics was great! How did you make it? I liked all the slides with information and liked how you didnt just read each slide. Having never used Rise before I am left wondering if primary students can use it? You did a good job talking about why the company/product is important in todays world. I liked that you also showed many of the other companies and their products for competition out there. I would invest in this company. Thanks for sharing.

Well, I think you hit the nail on the head with a relevant product. I would 100% use technology like this, especially with the current global situation. There are a lot of companies trying to do a similar thing like Talent Cards, Mindtree etc but yours seems to have more of an appeal to an average person which I like. This makes it stand out! As an investor, I would be interested in this. But I would have a few questions. 1) How fast can you take this to market? 2) Are you willing to sell this technology to a bigger company like Google and is that part of the vision? My big worry would be that we cant develop it fast enough and a bigger company would take away a large part of the customer base. Love it! Great Job!

Hello Manize. You chose a strong product and your pitches made me interested about the product and I did check their website. You describe well the pain point (the growing need for intuitive eLearning authoring tools) and as an educator wanting to be able to create professional looking online content, I understood right away the proposition value of this product. If Rise is intuitive to use and is going to allow me to create the content I want, this is an investment I would consider. Many novice are looking into designing online content now so the pain point is real. You also did a good job describing the competition and it seems like there is actually no real competitor (it does not seem like the other programs are as intuitive to use...which is an important feature for someone with no design background). Rise is part of a suite of products (Articulate 360), do you know about the other products? Which one do you appreciate and why? Have you used Rise often? What do you like most about it? Thanks Manize.