cbrumwell

FEEDBACK: As a venture analyst, I recognize the need for a more fluid and interactive environment between GAFE and K-12 group work. Your product addresses the need to simplify the movement back and forth between the various Google Apps with both synchronous and asynchronous capabilities in a manner that produces a seamless work flow for students. I am unconvinced that students are concerned about the visibility of each other’s searches through Google Plus or visibility issues with Circles, but educators and school boards certainly must make this a strong consideration. Your marketing plan is solid but I know nothing about you or your team. My biggest concern is what happens when Google turns its attention to the pain point that you have outlined. A quick fix on their part to lock down some of the social and privacy features of their existing Apps for educational settings may render your service redundant very quickly, unless you have some other functionality which they do not address. My other concern would be buy-in. Inertial with apps that people are familiar with is difficult to shift. How could teachers ensure that students are using GroupWork2.0 versus simply navigating between existing apps.

FEEDBACK: As as venture analyst I see the value in the simplicity of your product and therefore its potential reach to learners on a global basis. You have presented a strong case for the need to improve essay writing and the organizational reasons that hinders students from doing so. I am particularly impressed with the tutorials and referencing tools build directly into the system while maintaining a clean, visually pleasing interface. Your presentation also leverages the difficult memories that most people have with writing essays in their past. I found myself having flashbacks to scenes of despair and frustration. Stickynotes allows stakeholders to envision a simpler path from personal experience. The freemium upsell model will also provide investors with more concrete revenue projections over the initial investment period. How could your product evolve in the future? For example, could it be specialized for post-secondary and corporate environment in a less school-like version. This would have the effect of extending your market beyond the education sector to those who must write in their jobs.

FEEDBACK: As a venture analyst I recognize the value of a service that allows students interact with each other across districts and provinces in a controlled and monitored manner that is free from the advertising and lurking of social media. The case for a service like eSCiPi is strong. There are definitely students who would see its advantages and make it part of their weekly work flow. My concern is that they represent a minority of autonomous learners who are motivated to look beyond their class environment to seek help and partners. Your venture would require a critical mass of student interest and participation over a specific investment period where you would have to demonstrate a trend in uptake and interest to your stakeholders. The risk that this may not happen, or that your government partners may not buy-in from the outset are arguments that you will have to convincingly address. My other concern is security: with all the provisions that you have made to avoid bullying and trolling, would your service survive an incident where eSPiPi became the initial contact point between victim and perpetrator? It is much more complicated when school boards and governments are promoting the use of such an platform.

REVIEW: As a venture analyst I recognize the potential in your product and the value that it would add for teachers and learners. You have presented a strong case for the need of teachers to diagnose comprehension deficiencies in students that is effective, accurate and time-saving. You have also articulated the manner by which READgauge would operate with existing tools as a means to flag the learners most in need of attention. In this manner, your tool adds the value of prioritizing interventions possible. I am concerned that the mechanism for feedback in the READpauses is multiple choice questions, which allows for guessing by students. There needs to be some consideration that weak readers jeopardize the validity of the assessment and develop some means to deal with this. An example would be subsequent questions stemming from initial selections that aid in determining why a question was wrong. I also need to know more about you, your team and how you are the ones to champion this venture. Finally, further information how will READgauge will be marketed, price, the possibility of in-App purchases and other means to secure revenue for your investors must be further developed. I believe that you have a solid product that addresses a legitimate need among teachers as a diagnostic comprehension tool. I recommend investment in this venture with the provision that you further develop your marketing plan to address these concerns.

REVIEW: As a venture analyst I am interested in pursuing discussions with you about Key2Key, which I see as an intuitive next step in the evolution of writing products. You have effectively articulated the manner that it could streamline the writing process across educational, corporate and even personal domains in a way that clearly identifies the gap in efficiency and convenience with current practices. You have also demonstrated the inefficiencies of existing writing, collaboration, assessment and publishing products and the advantages that harmonizing these processes could bring to users. The example of organization-wide rubric-based assessment for publication and internal documents is particularly cogent to your rationale. My concerns are twofold. First, some attention to security issues with server storage as possibly sensitive information moves between the elements in your design must be addressed. Strategies to guard against malware and data mining from external sources need to be included before institutional and corporate clients will feel comfortable with a single service managing the scope of the writing process. Second, the big players in the industry like Microsoft, Google and Pearson would likely introduce their own service that mirrors Key2Key. A strategy that anticipates this eventuality will be necessary to the ensure long-time success of your company and protection for investors. I recommend Key2Key for further development as a MVP in an incubator stage as a means to address the concerns I have identified.

FEEDBACK: As a venture analysts, I see the value in the concept of combining GBL with continuity elements between grades. Your thoroughly outline of the projected growth in the industry. I am curious if this is based on the capacity to focus more on secondary school grades or if it is based on the status quo. You present a compelling case for perpetuating avatars year to year and having then grow as the student grows. The idea shares some qualities of mid-twentieth century house competitions, or the Hogwarts system in Harry Potter. I am not convinced to what extent that the pain point that you describe represents a genuine need on the part of teachers. My concern is the propensity and speed with which adolescents change their identity and interests, and how that would affect avatar and point totals that roll-over year to year. In other words, few interests persist from grade 8 through to grade 12. To that point, your 7 year development plan is possibly too long to ensure your survival against an upstart venture that could compete directly or indirectly with MovitatED. Classcraft is already a competitor for your market. They could most likely update their program to perpetuate characters and points year to year. It would be prudent on you, your partners and consultants parts to develop a plan for new feature rollouts to guard against copy-cat ventures. I would recommend investment in your project with provisions for such yearly upgrades to maintain a sense of newness and anticipation - particularly on the part of students.

REVIEW: As a venture analyst I am impressed with the compelling and thorough manner with which you have presented your TALO for investment. You have clearly articulated your pain point around the imperative to provide an uniform program of online and blended instructor training, and by implication, the lack of foresight of the province of the community of Ontario online education to address this need in the past. Your have presented your solution in an articulate and detailed manner with and effective, tested and existing program and convincing testimonials. Most importantly, you have described the value and your means to creating that value in a clear and balanced way. Your team has considerable education, experience and expertise to achieve your goals upon initial review. The timing of the opening of eCampus Ontario presents an unusual opportunity to proactively deal with issues of instructor training issues with TALO that could go far to avoiding repeated patterns of misaligned delivery of instruction that has characterized past online and blended experiences. Your breakdown of your asking amount is also explicitly detailed. The returns as stated are of undeniable value to the province. I am recommending funding this project with the provision that a timeline for your roll-out is further detailed and that an assessment plan is developed to determine the effectiveness of TALO at predetermined intervals extending into the future.

FEEDBACK: As a venture analyst you have captivated my attention by a technology that I know little about. You build a logical case that AR will rapidly be adopted by a wider range of services and businesses in the future, and that training departments will likely be included in the scope of interested users. Your pitch showcases the capability of the technology very well and you establish your credibility effectively. I had to watch the video twice to fully understand just what your offering represents. Your pain point at first seems to be the need not to be left behind in a potentially accelerating field but I need to be convinced that there is a necessity for this type of augmentation for training purposes. The medical and gaming examples you use to exemplify the technology are impressive, but your description of the type options available through your asset store is quite different from them. A practical example would have been helpful here. I have not been convinced that this very expensive technology - which I suspect will also require expensive support - is superior to present training or less expensive emerging technology. What are your projections on market size given the price and specialized nature of clients that you are targeting? Finally, $8 million is a significant investment sum: what return can be expected by investors based on the experience of your partners, and what time scale do you project before profits are turned?

Apologies, Ivana: my post was intended to be feedback, not a review Craig

FEEDBACK: As a venture analyst, you have raised my interest in a field that I have not yet considered. It stands to reason that any time the public in general and education specifically gets flooded with the availability of a new technology, people can feel overwhelmed by options and a lack of specificity. STEMverse provides that needed filter and customization for AR as you have described it. You have provided good points from which investors can focus their confidence in the display interface option, the software and the SaaS. My concern is that your service could become one category within a wider scope of a competitors categories who have a wider scope. For example, the iTunes store and AppStores are examples of a one-stop-shop that include an educational category. If you are to guard against a competitor with the same reach of topics, the value that your curation, specificity to STEM and community brings must be enough to push the user 3-4 more clicks in their search. This is entirely possible with your offering but timing will be essential. You will have to be the service that others are compared to, rather than the other way around. My interest is tempered slightly by the fact that you have not presented anything about yourself or your team. You are a voice behind a curtain.