Aaron

Feedback: You have a well conceived venture, with true market potential, however I found your elevator pitch a little difficult to follow because you were talking pretty fast. I had to watch it a few times to get the gist of it. I would slow down your delivery a bit in the future, and run long if you have to. But I was intrigued by your pitch nonetheless, and your venture seems like a viable product. You obviously know the market in your area well.

Feedback: A media rich resume is a great idea! You see a lot of media-rich, web-based, and interactive resumes in creative fields, but not so in education, which is a shame. A solution that allows principals and schools to accept such media-rich applications is certainly a great way for great teachers to set themselves apart from the rest. But I wonder how much of a market there really is for such a product. Principals hiring within the district pool in BC don’t actually have to sift through many applications, as they are bound by seniority, and districts where this would really be useful, aren’t doing a lot of hiring as of late either. However, I think there’s lots of potential for such a product in other fields!

FEEDBACK: Your elevator pitch certainly got me interested! I think any investor would love to be a part of such a new, innovative and exciting product, but they might just as easily be scared by the uncertainty of the venture. I’m intrigued by the possibilities, which span a wide range of markets, however as an investor, I might want to focus on one or two growth areas or high margin market at first. Although it would be a wonderful product to have in schools, I think education, with its paltry budget would be at the bottom of the market for such a bleeding edge technology. Thanks for introducing me to this cool tech!

FEEDBACK: Your elevator caught my attention and provided enough information to pique my interest and seek more from venture pitch. I think you have a novel and interesting venture here. I like the idea that users are matched up with the appropriate content based on their needs. Your business strategy based on paid subscriptions and sponsored tuition tied to advertising seems like a solid revenue model.

Feedback: You make a compelling case for your venture. Your elevator pitch gave me a good impression of your product. Your venture site is very professional looking, and your information is nicely laid out. Your entire pitch looks polished and professional, and inspires confidence your product.

Feedback: Excellent elevator pitch! It was polished, engaging, and very well composed. You make a great case for your product, and I was eager to learn more about your SOOC. I actually had no idea what a MOOC or a SOOC was, but your pitch inspired me to find out.  The information in your venture pitch was well laid out easy to read.  It was easy to find the information I was looking for, and I enjoyed the voiceovers.  Your polished pitch inspires confidence in the viability of your product.

REVIEW: While your product name is descriptive, I might suggest you consult a marketing company to rebrand your app with a sexier name! Nonetheless, you have proposed a useful app that many teachers would pay for. Your pitch was informative and got my attention as a product I would buy as a teacher, and possibly invest in. You identified the market, and have a clear business strategy and revenue model. $9.99 seems like a fair price to protect my significant investment in classroom resources. However, before I invest in this worthwhile app, I would need to know more about the management and technical team behind the app. I would also need to know more about underlying technology behind the app, and how it works. For example, is it a smartphone app, or a desktop application? How does one scan the books in and out of the system? If I sound critical, it’s because I really want to know more about this app, so I can invest!

REVIEW: Hi Katherine. Excellent pitch and venture product. Your elevator pitch was informative and piqued my interest in the product as an educator and investor. Your venture pitch is well laid out and easy to read, and clearly outlines your product and investment goals. You have a strong product that educators are interested in, a clear business strategy, and realistic goals to grow the business. You obviously understand the market, but I would like to know more about your business and technical team, and the technology behind your product. This omission doesn’t dissuade me from investing however, as your repository while novel is not a cutting edge technology requiring significant programming investment. I like that investors can recoup their investment with as little as 25 schools, however I question how you intend to pay the salaries of your venture team with such a meager investment. Nevertheless, I would buy your product and invest in it.

REVIEW: This is an excellent idea for an app, and a good pitch as well. I was hooked by your elevator pitch, which was snappy and informative. It did a great job of “highlighting” the merits of your app and hinted at a sound investment opportunity. Your elevator pitch succeeded in grabbing my attention as an educator, and piqued my interest as an investor. Good job! I am big supporter of solutions that make it easier for teachers to gather formative feedback on their students and I would certainly invest in your app based on your venture pitch. Highlightthis appears to solve a real problem teachers have monitoring and assessing student understanding in order to guide teaching, especially with content that is viewed online, rather than in the classroom. The market prospects appear to be solid, as there are similar web highlighting apps enjoying success in the marketplace, and your app’s education focus differentiates itself enough to carve out a significant chunk of the market. Positive feedback from a majority of users and unsolicited requests for access indicates the product resonates with the intended market and is a viable product. It appears that you have the capital to support the company at your projected modest growth rate, however I question your price points. It appears you have priced your product in line with other educational offerings, but I disagree with your assessment of blendspace, symbaloo, and class dojo as competitors, as they offer vastly different products. Your true competitors such as highlighter, diigo and offer cheaper or free solutions for educators. The feedback system and analytics tailored to educators warrants a premium price, however $14 a month feels too steep. This app will no doubt be indispensable for hardcore secondary English teachers with multiple English classes, but the price point may dissuade many potential buyers who would only use the app for an occasional project. I would use this product in my classroom, but I wouldn’t pay $14 a month. Otherwise, I feel your financials, technical direction, and marketing projections are solid. I would invest in your company.

I may not invest solely on this literal elevator pitch, but I am very intrigued by the pitch and certainly would want to hear more. The pitch was successful in getting me interested, but could be improved by stating its business case. Two things she mentioned, piqued my interest. First, bringing “traditional” education to the mass online world, and bringing the opportunity of work to areas of the world where work is scarce. I think to a keen investor, bringing these two areas of need together could be successful given the passion and know-how, which this CEO appears to have. With our globalized economy, there is huge demand for language learning, and many individuals and corporations pay big money to educate their personnel on language and customs. I looked up Myngle, and it appears to bring traditional classroom tutoring online. Busy businesspeople don’t have time to enroll in traditional classes, but still want a flexible, tailored and traditional approach that a tutor provides, and will pay a premium for the convenience. This appears to address an identified need, while also tapping into an abundance of inexpensive labour in developing countries like China, where there are many millions of bilingual Chinese nationals.