Jakin Lam

Hi Agnieszka, this is a great idea and I think there is a market for something like this. With this said I think selling hardware at this price point would be a difficult way to grow. There seems to be a disconnect between the pain point and the solution you are offering. The cost you are suggesting seems to be a high figure even for rental companies. How would the people that you are suggesting like immigrants be able to benefit from this? You are probably better off selling an app than an actual hardware.

Eva, you've got something that is highly marketable to an investor. I hope you'll be able to secure your funds to develop this venture.

Hi Mackenzie, you have a very detailed venture plan here. I want to understand a bit more about your pain point. You mentioned that elearning is an inaccessible field for k-12 educators but I question about whether or not educators want to be involved in elearning. Are there any researches that backs up your claim? By e-learning are you referring to complete online classes like this one or are you referring to a blended learning or flip classroom? Everyone seems to have a different idea of what e-learning is so it would be wise to clarify this point. By answering these two questions I would have a better idea of whether this venture is fit for the market and that I understand what you are offering.

Hi Shayla, great work on your elevator and venture pitch. The idea of online assessment and grading is not a new idea. In fact this is one of the major growth area in EdTech in the category of LMS, SIS, MIS. While there is a lot of potential in this area the market is saturated by many players already. You are potentially facing a competition of over 500 such platforms and at least over 10 strong ones that I can name off the top of my head. Having said that I think there is money to be made here but you'll need to present yourself as something different from your competitors.

Hi Charmalee, your elevator pitch is very well put together. I can feel your passion and enthusiasm in this venture. The venture pitch will probably need some more work on the details but I believe in this venture. More details about the source of revenue, potential growth and your team members would greatly help with giving this venture more credibility.

Amanda, you have a very professionally made elevator pitch. Its a bonus that you are comfortable with filming yourself! About the venture pitch I am not too sure what the difference is (other than additional subjects being added) between the current version of the Prodigy versus your new venture idea. I think there is a reason why there are so many platforms out there that are geared towards Mathematics. Other subjects just do not lend themselves to an online game or challenge. How will you address the difficulties in your venture? On investment I am not sure what the current model of revenue is and there were no information where the money is going to be coming from if the majority of the users are on a free account. This is a great idea but I will need to have more information before I can consider this venture.

Hi Jeff, your elevator is concise and to the point. It immediately highlights the painpoint and you have offered a great solution through this sharing economy. This is actually a very legitimate business because schools should not be purchasing these devices only to see it obsolete in a few years time. It is already a burden for schools to purchase iPads, computers, smartboards and an endless amount of gadgets that keeps on popping up. On competition I also see a cheap VR alternative like Google Cardboard as a competitors. Schools that cannot afford an Occulus may settle with a Google Cardboard. I haven't seen your rental rates but with your projected profit/return of four months it seems like your rental fee could be on the high side. If you follow this ambious plan to rent out the Occulus Rift five days a week you'll be asking for at least $6 per device per day to break even at four months. That excludes any damage and wear and tear. For a class of 20 students would schools be willing to fork out $120 each time just for the device rental? I guess this is the risk and challenging part of the venture. I would invest after thoroughly investigating the numbers and rate of return on my investment.

Hi Erin, very well written venture pitch. You have provided very clear examples and realistic use of funding. If you had provided more information on sources of revenue it would be perfect. While this may seem like a small venture, I definitely think this is a viable investment and I would put my money down for this venture.

Hi Tracey, great vision you have there but unfortunately the overal package is poorly put together. I am not quite sure what the pain point is. While it is a fact that girls going into STEM career has been in decline in the last 30 years, your investors may not know this. You have displayed a table of the number of apps in iOS and Android which is not really showing what the market is. Perhaps you were trying to show the number of competitors? After reviewing the PPT I am still not quite sure what the connection is between the Math and Tech app and the story line of the world adventure. There needs to be a lot more work before I can consider investing in this venture.

Hi Ann, this is a very professional pitch you have put together. Well done for your attention to detail in the venture pitch and the attention grabbing elevator pitch. As you have identified in your challenges there are no shortage of competitions. A lot of the mindfulness apps out there are also backed by studies and their advantage is they are free to use. The pain point you have identified is definitely a niche market but I personally think that this market is too small. Mindfulness is one aspect of a student's well being but studies have shown that students are faced with a lot more challenges on the Internet than just the lack of excercise and movement away from the computer. Online bullying, pornography and other harmful behaviour on the internet can cause a range or psychological issues like depression and suicidal behaviour. A more well rounded focus on the overall well being of a student's experience online would have a much better success in this kind of venture. The source of revenue could be a challenge in this type of offerings as most likely this app will need to be offered either free or at a very low cost to attract any kind of sizable users. My suggestion would to be target this to schools or district instead of students. In this way at least schools can pay per student per year and require all students to have the app installed on their phone. With a bit of tweeking I can consider investing in this venture.