brenda spehar

Thoughtful feedback Craig – thank you. My venture pitch was different than most on this forum because it was pitched to the internal decision makers of a school board regarding launching a new program to train our employees how to safely use social media. The idea of expanding it to focus on students is an idea but not my area of expertise. You have a good point though, perhaps I could create a more generalized video training program out of this to market to other school boards and/or companies for training their employees if I were to step out of the comfort of my permanent job.

Thank you Jason for your feedback. I agree that a mention of the products already on the market should have been part of my pitch. Some previously existing materials may be used but the full pitch is to develop a specific policy and procedure for ABC and therefore some internal material development would still be required to communicate that to our employees.

I like the idea Stefan. Nothing is more frustrating than the wasted time spent trying to find appropriate content on the internet. I liked your pitch and the idea of focusing on a specific market, where your expertise lies to build a reputation for quality before branching out. As an investor I would need to know more about why someone looking for this information would turn to and pay for VeriTube’s expertise instead of asking the question in a professional association blog for instance. Perhaps that would be somewhere you could start to build your reputation as well. Before deciding to invest I would like to see more information on direct competitors and your marketing strategy. Thanks.

Hi Cris – what a well-researched pitch! You have an excellent grasp of the market you are trying to enter and the stats that back up the probability of success. You have also outlined where NoRedInk sits in comparison to your direct competitors. The current experts behind the product that is successful in the U.S. will be a valuable asset as you try to break into the Asian market. What will be their involvement in this new venture? How do you fit into this project? Will you be leading the team? I would need some more specifics on how you plan to market the product in Asia before deciding to invest.

GloballyRED is a service that provides peer reviews prior to submitting assignments whose target market is post-graduate students. The name you chose for this venture is very clever. I like that the cost goes to the LMS provider rather than the student in contrast to the Rubriq competitor but I’m not sure why the institutions would invest. Could they not set up a sharing blog of their own in their on-line class and allow students to share? Would it be because it takes the administrative work away from their internal technological experts? Also, how would you ensure a student who has reaped the benefits of two “free” peer edited papers will review others in return? Will there be a monitor of the quality of feedback offered? I like the selling point you make that participation like this will improve the quality of papers emerging from the institution thus increasing their reputation. Some statistics confirming this would help sell the product. If a solid reputation for quality is built and the institutions and the students realize a benefit to using GloballyRED you could make a go of it. As an investor I would like to have the answer to the above questions before I decide to hand over any money. Thanks Laila.

Your SAI (Students as Individuals) pitch is very detailed, well thought out and professionally presented. I like that the software uses personalization algorithm to tailor the learning to each student’s interests but stays within the content established by the teacher. The personalized learning statistics you cited help greatly in selling the product. You have a good knowledge of your competitors and what gives you the edge over them and you mention you have set designed SAI so that there is minimal effort required by the teacher in terms of set-up. Although it is not designed yet, a demo would be beneficial in helping a venture capitalist make a decision to invest.

Thank you Joshua for your encouragement. My pitch was much less adventurous than yours but from where I sit social media training is so important in today's new world. It's hard to stay out of trouble!

Your elevator pitch and platform for the venture pitch were both eye-catching and engaging – I loved the baby picture! I liked your marketing idea of allowing potential buyers to test out to product by buying credits per use and then opting for a membership if they would like to. The sharing of content is a growing market and the idea of using an e-store is a good one. The expertise you and your partners have in the area of ELL makes you very competent to carry out this venture. I myself do not have the expertise to responsibly invest in your venture but wish you the best as you go forward.

Hi Craig, CLASSMASTER – Gameful Design Platform is a nice idea of packaging lessons as game quests and advancing characters in the gameworld to help motivate students to learn. The target market of ELL is a high potential starting point and staying focused on this area is a good strategy. If you achieve success you can build on it. You have a well thought out marketing strategy, your projections and targets quite aggressive. The selling point of allowing teachers to use their own lessons in CLASSMASTER is attractive but it is not clear to me how they do that. I would like to have a look at the product before making a decision to use it. As an investor I don’t have the teaching background or the experience with ELL to be able to make a proper investment. Great work though.

Hi Joshua. Liked the creative touch for the elevator pitch by actually filming it in an elevator – made me chuckle. I like the idea of Go+here, that creates an immersive experience modelled off of Pokemon Go to add to a tourist’s experience. Your slogan, “Always in the gift shop” is catchy and will be attractive to potential buyers. The idea that it is tailored to the user based on language, reading level and desired focus, using a game based approach is attractive but sounds like a lot of work for Zander, thus the two million asking price from the investor. Your two pronged approach to promotion is excellent and your stats on user experience are very positive. Being first to the market, you have an advantage and your detailed description of your competition and good knowledge of where Go+here fits in the market is attractive. A couple of questions – have you secured a big client yet? Where did you get your user experience data? All in all, a well researched venture pitch and I would invest a portion of $2 million if I had the money.