Heeweon Joo

Hello Katie. I think you did a very good job of addressing a pain point that needs to be discussed more in today's education. As I did the first few years of my teaching career in primary schools, I did see a lot of unhealthy lunches that were being brought in. I also recall a couple of times where other teacher had to teach the parent about healthy lunches. This seems to be like a problem that is simply being neglected. If you see countries like Japan (where I did my highschool), they really put a focus on offering a balanced lunch for students. They even have classes, just like your venture would do, in nutrition. Both parents and students understand the importance of a healthy diet and it seems to be having a positive effect on the country itself. I will definitely invest in your venture!

Hi Dustin. First thing, I am very impressed by your presence as a CEO and Founder of your venture. You sounded very professional and passionate about Indigenized Ed. This to me was the initial hook to your venture and had me wanting to hear more about what the venture had to offer. Also, the venture you have chosen fits your background perfectly with all the knowledge and problem you already know that exist in indigenized education. Indigenized education seems to be a field that is one of the biggest growing fields, but that lacks most resources at the moment. What your venture offers is a solution to this problem, and as an EVA, I do think it is worth investing in your company.

Hello Reg. As I was viewing your pitch as an EVA, I was quite impressed with your venture. First, your elevator pitch sounded very professional and to me, it sounded like you knew well about what you were talking about. That confidence and the facts to support your claim had me convinces with your venture from the start. Then looking at your venture plan, it was well geared towards investors rather than consumers. I feel like you have put a lot effort in researching the current market and the technology aspect of your venture, which in EVA's standpoint, this is something I would like to see from a CEO/Founder. Very well done!

Hello Katie, Thank you for sharing your post on Dion and his company, NextLesson. From reading various posts on entrepreneurs and doing my own research, I have noticed that many of the successful entrepreneurs come with vibrant past experiences that help them create a business like this one. As the leader and the founder, it seems like a necessity to learn and experience the business side of the world and make connections with people that might be your team of experts in the future. I also like how Dion has noticed the importance of real-world teaching and utilized it with technology to start up his venture.

Hello Reg, I enjoyed reading your post on Lane Marrifield and his company, Fresh Grade. Doing my teacher training in BC, I have noticed a lot of teachers using Fresh Grade. Everything I heard about it was positive, which is a good news for Fresh Grade. Not only that, as BC (elementary) is slowly moving away from giving letter grades, the talk about Fresh Grade amongst teachers are increasing as the portfolio of student's work will become the proof of learning. Reading about Lane, he seems to fit the image of a successful entrepreneur perfectly. He has the passion, knowledge, education, and experience for leadership and success.

Hello Chris, I learned a lot from reading your post about Craig Jones and Formative. As soon as I started reading about Formative, I started to think to myself that there are already a couple of other ventures that do formative assessment using technology. However, as I read more into your post, I started realizing the extra benefit Formative is providing compare to other ventures. This shows me that Craig can be an exceptional entrepreneurial role model by witnessing his ability to utilize what is already out there to make it even better for profit. I would also like to add that as easy as that might sound, it is actually quite difficult to make a product that is doing well currently in the market into something better.

Yes, I would invest in this venture as an EVA. The elevator pitch starts off by pointing out the pinch point of how we have difficulties focusing for a longer period. It is then followed by a statistic of how we get distracted every 3 minutes, which converts to 31 days a year. I would like to start off by saying that the team has done a great job starting their pitch with a pinch point that everyone in the world can personally relate to from young to old. FOCI tries to solve this problem by tracking our breathing pattern to track our subconscious using a wearable device and an app. It also helps to identify 6 mind states (Distracted, Fatigue, Calm, Focus, Flow and Stress) that can be accompanied by some mental strategies to help a person achieve deep focus. This is the difference of FOCI compared to its competitors as FOCI helps and coaches a user to train their mind. In addition, the app that comes with FOCI will record the details of your mental state for the user to review and improve. FOCI has started its campaign on Indiegogo with a starting price of $73 to $549 USD, depending on the number of rewards. Looking at their Indiegogo webpage, the team does a good job of providing essential information for investors. Starting from the production time, specifications on FOCI, and numbers of testimonials from real users. However, I feel that they could have done a little more with describing the team and their roles. Overall, this was a great pitch.

NO, I would not invest in this venture as an EVA. The presentation for ARCO starts off by illustrating the pain point of how toys these days cannot fulfill the children’s imagination. Then it goes on listing off some key features of ARCO that are the solution to the pain point. However, looking at the video and some examples of the usage, I do not believe that ARCO is a toy that will fulfill the children’s wildest imagination. The gameplay footage shows a couple of different examples of what gaming would be like with ARCO. In my opinion, the gameplay that ARCO provides seems to be lower quality in terms of graphics, stories, and mechanics. I feel that children can find a similar game on their phone, PC, and consoles that will allow similar gameplay with better quality in all, providing a better gaming experience. The only difference would be that those games would not be using an AR technology, but I would rather play something more fun and engaging and of better quality (conflict in differentiation that was not mentioned). As for their marketing strategy, they seem to be promoting ARCO on Kickstarter with a pledge amount with rewards starting from $79 to $359 USD. Investors will be awarded an actual ARCO kit and its number depending on how much they decide to pledge. Investors can also make a pledge without reward with any amount of money they wish to donate. As for the team creating this product, HICAT, has done a previous campaign with some success. They have acknowledged that they have some skills in mass production with a contract signed with one of the large-scale factories that manufacture smart toys. However, they have not provided enough details, such as the name of the company, production time and most importantly, the cost. With challenges like the need for further development of software (didn’t really specify the end goal), I think it is too early for an EVA like me to invest in this business.

Gaming today cannot be ignored as it is one of the biggest markets out there. Gaming is enjoyed not only by students but also by adults as well. However, the games that are out there for education seems to be outdated by today's gaming standard. I agree with Dustin Hyde that more complex game-based learning needs to be introduced and that it is surprising that no ventures have made enough impact to do so. It unbelievable to see what students get out of gaming today. I remember one time when I was teaching mythology and there was a student who knew more of Greek myth then me. When I asked him where he got all those information from, he simply said: "I play a lot of games". Keeping this in mind, if there was a game that was both educational and entertaining, I see great opportunity.

In schools, I have seen a lot of teachers using multiple textbooks to teach a lesson or a unit. I believe this is very normal for teachers nowadays that they have their own distinct teaching styles that sometimes premade textbooks cannot accommodate. When I think of a digital textbook, the first thing that comes to my mind is customizability of content. In addition, with a possibility of adding multimedia and a lot of other engaging contents, I believe the value of e-textbook is bound to go up in the future.