Galina Culpechina

Thank you, Craig! I completely agree with you that I could have chosen another medium for my venture pitch to make it more visually appealing.

Thank you, Andrew, for your positive feedback! Regarding compensating - yes, I was thinking about volunteers. You can find more on this under Jason's post. I think I need a mentor myself to get clearer on whether it should be a for-profit or non-profit venture.

Thank you for your feedback, Joyce! I have responded to a mentorship question under Joshua's post. Regarding IP, I have limited knowledge and will need to do some research. Why would students do this in school? I feel this is the best place where you can get support from many like-minded people. In addition, you are usually young and motivated, eager to apply what you have just learned, and have more time than after graduation.

Hi Colleen! I like your pitch and think that the video pitch and the website are professionally done. Wonderful job! I feel your value proposition "be in the know while on the go" is very effective. However, I would not invest in this venture. In addition to having little knowledge with music streaming sites, I do not think that "music for everyone" and "business for everyone" are a great match. I feel like people turn to music to enjoy their time free of business. I can listen to music while working, but if I listen to business news or podcast while working, I do not retain much. I am not sure whether Spotify business will make Spotify more successful and bring more happy customers (as I care about Return on Investment), or will send more of them to Spotify competitors.

Hi Sarah! Yes, I would invest in this venture! I love how you built your venture based on your previous personal experience, interest, passion and clear vision.Your video pitch is engaging and explains this great cause clearly. Your venture pitch on the website is visually appealing and credible (with amazing images). I was impressed by the knowledgeable team you have to help you turn the idea into reality. You have considered the competition and explained your growth plan well. Similar to other reviewers, I have a question about the package price and whether you are planning to offer your services to other countries. Good luck with turning this idea into reality!

Hi Bryan, I think both of your pitches are great: well-prepared, organized and presented! I enjoyed watching them very much: you are a very engaging, confident presenter and a wonderful storyteller! You also ask questions and use facial expressions effectively. You clearly identified a problem and presented a solution. I like that Symposium allows independent reading and reading with the classmates, thus students can choose the mode they prefer. Your elevator pitch communicates well your "value proposition". I think your Symposium is an original idea, and I like your vision on how you will be developing/expanding it through different phases. However, I would not invest in it, as I do not feel I would be able to contribute to its success. Good luck with bringing it to life!

I am glad, Jason, you asked this question! While doing research on my topic, I found some Schulich alumni, who are successful entrepreneurs and are currently mentoring students at Schulich... for free. I know many Canadian organizations (ex. TRIEC.ca) that work with mentors and coaches from various industries to help internationally educated professionals build their careers in a new country. Mentors and coaches (well-established professionals) volunteer for the role. I personally had a mentor who I found accidentally online on LinkedIn, who mentored me in my current career, happily and for free. I have been giving back to UofT, where I took a program that helped me tremendously acting as a mentor, for free. I am a mentor for new employees at my current workplace, as per my request, in addition to my regular work duties, and enjoying it tremendously. Mentors/coaches are not only giving, many find they are getting a lot from the relationship. But this is another conversation. Regarding the program I am pitching, I feel some mentors and/or coaches may decide to become investors eventually.

Hi Joshua, great feedback, thank you! Yes, as a business student I would want it to be included in my program, but my research shows it is not. In addition, I was thinking to expand it to students doing other fields of study: engineering, IT, counselling, etc., who do not have any services that can help them to launch their businesses.

Hi Brenda, your elevator pitch is exceptionally well-done and your venture pitch is well-organized in a format suitable to present to the Board of Directors. You sound very confident and your idea is valid. I am positive the Board of Directors will approve it. I would like to hear back from you on that. Also, I would be happy to watch your training video (one that I found on YouTube: Camtasia vs. Movavi is excellent!). I agree with Sarah that there is no way to ensure people will actually watch the training video and/or apply the skills. It is great that you have chosen the real problem in your workplace for this assignment and applied what you have learned in this course to your real work environment. I, however, would not have thought about this idea as a venture. I feel like Craig offered a great way to expand on it.

Hi Cris, Yes, I would invest in this venture. It is a well-established venture that is going to spread to Asian market, which is enormous. I have no doubt the expansion will be successful. Your pitches are detailed and well-presented. My only suggestion is to add your video or image to your elevator pitch as seeing the company title/logo on screen for the whole minute is too long. Well done!