bhanson

Thanks for sharing, Galina. I like the idea of students creating start-ups in school, undergrad or graduate programs. I believe securing the funds (grants) to do so would be one of the more challenging aspects of this venture as it seems there will be may students. As a teacher, I often wonder how work like this will be assessed? If a start up is not successful, did they fail? There are valuable lessons in success as well as failure. I also like the idea of investing in individual groups pitches rather than the entire project of startups in school. It would be sort of Dragon's Den like for investors to be able to choose who they would like to support and ask for a return on their investment. I think that informally, much of this already happens in business school but if it becomes a requirement, we might push some real life skills on people and possibly a successful start up. Neat idea, if I could, I would consider investing.

Hi Bryan, thanks for your pitch! I like your enthusiasm in your venture pitch. I really like the idea of this program but am not sure it is entirely practical or that many prof's would implement this. I think moving to a blended format where students complete the readings and are offered opportunity for discussion before coming to class might work best. I am not entirely writing off the idea yet as I do think it is unique and would like to use it first. If this worked well with current LMS platforms then I would consider investing. A sort of "add on" to already existing courses. Thanks for sharing the idea! Would love to see it live.

Thanks for sharing, Colleen. This presentation looks very professional, well done! I can relate to feeling out of your comfort zone on the business side of things, a challenge for sure! If I were the CEO of Spotify, I would invest in expansion into different sectors but as an EVA, no. I am not sure that the vision is clear enough or that the market isn't already saturated with similar opportunities. Being able to add business you are interested in and read their business reports would be neat. There is a lot of unanswered factors here. With more information, I believe this could be a profitable venture.

Thanks for sharing your passion, Sarah! I thought your presentations were well done and I think it is great you are wanting to "pay it forward" and looking at social capital. I am concerned about competitors in the market and the ability to expand beyond Ipads and towards other technologies. I love these kind of business plans and think the opportunity to expand into "technology training" is great. We just need to make sure that the infrastructure is in place to do so. Again, thanks for sharing this idea!

Hi Brenda, I believe you did an thorough job with your pitch and presentation. I think you have an important role in the district and that this is something that should be created in every district. I would go even further to pitch this idea as a video unique to your board and district but also one that could be used as an exemplar for other districts. I think your production budget is a bit low and I am missing key information about the vision of the video and the format. With further information on presentation and interactivity plus an increased budget (I would say having done a few videos around $7-10 thousand might be more realistic, unless of course you have internal staff to create this), I would support you in this. Good luck with this, I hope that it goes well as this should be (moving forward) a critical piece of staff training for all school districts.

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.

A very lively and personal presentation, Vibhu. I like how you incorporated technological tools such as Videoscribe and Piktochart as it demonstrates your experience and interest in the field of educational technology. As an asynchronous DL teacher, I am wondering if this product can be adapted for distance learners? I like the idea of seeing what your students are doing on their screens in the synchronous classroom environment and believe this would work especially well in the independent learning centers we have in our schools. In this environment students are working on different online courses during a block of their school time and it is often difficult to monitor work levels. That being said, I have a few questions about your presentation; are you able to see multiple students monitors at one time? Also, are you able to interact with the students screen? Giving them a quiet reminder through typing a message to them noticing they are distracted or may need help with a problem would be an excellent and welcome addition to this product. As you mentioned in your review, it would be useful to see the numbers and projects. With more information and a better understanding of functionality, I would consider investing in this product.

Thank you for a thoughtful pitch. At this time, I am unable to invest in this venture. Although this is a unique and handy tool to have, I would not invest because it is limited to Youtube and I often find teaching video's outside of this platform. I am not sure that this would always help me as I am always looking for videos I can use for critical analysis with my students and this seems to filter many of these videos out and such the opportunities for learning.

I really enjoyed your website and your pitch, Andrew. As a part-time history teacher myself (and a keen student of history), I really enjoyed your efforts to make learning interesting for your students. I believe that this market has a great deal of competition with free video's and powerpoints available online. Personally, I like to find a consistent style of teaching for each unit so students so not feel scattered and would want a package deal for units or a course in order to purchase. Maybe this is a direction you could take the venture if you had investment of funds and more time. I believe you had a top quality product driven by passion and with a little tweaking of how the product was branded and offered, I would consider investing.

As an EVA, I am hesitant to invest in this venture but not opposed. I like the company name and think the materials you have put together are worthy of a further look into the prospects of the company. I wonder if the market is too small and structured for this type of investment. I am unsure at this point how it differs from peer-reviewed journals and existing communities of practice within programs and Universities. I do appreciate the global spin on this but with more and more graduate programs (such as the MET) becoming an international program, I am apprehensive to invest as I am not sure how many graduate students would utilize this service on top of their many commitments. As an individual investor with no business experience within the constraints of University, I would have the decline. I will mention that I think as a larger company this could be a worthwhile investment over time.