Katie Cowen

Hi Christopher, I really enjoyed your elevator pitch and venture pitch. I thought your elevator pitch was perfectly done, as you emphasized the NEED, the Lurnt solution and the target market so clearly and eloquently. To me this was one of my favourite venture pitches I've reviewed, because it was effortless to read through and it made sense in the order that you put all of the information in. You clearly did your research on other companies such as Reddit and Quora that are big competition for Lurnt, however you addressed how and why Lurnt is a great contender in many ways. I like how you incorporated the stats on how well the other competition is doing and what their value is, and then basing Lurnt's company value somewhat on those numbers. I absolutely love the concept and believe that a search engine such as Lurnt should be in every classroom for all students to use, rate and review sites so learning can take place in a more effective and efficient manner. You address a very good pain point here. A lot of thought was put into this, and as an investor I would definitely fund a venture such as yours. Thanks for sharing!

Hi Sarah, you have an interesting topic of discussion here on your presentation of xAPI. Data and analytics as we know, are so important in the world of education now which you clearly relayed to potential investors in your presentation. Your venture was clearly outlined, however I found it hard to understand from the pitch who the buyers are in this particular case and what perspective its outlining...from what I took from it, its understanding the ROI of learning. I appreciated the videos you created for both your elevator and venture pitch and it seems like you have a lot of knowledge to persuade investors into the future of xAPI.

Hi Molly, First of all, really great job. You obviously put in a lot of thought to both your elevator pitch and venture and it was a provoking presentation. You addressed the problem in the market and the Program Ready solution to fill the gap, which is what any investor would be looking for before funding your idea. It is clearly outlined throughout your presentation who your target market is and ways in which Program Ready can support them. I would have recommended to possibly give a step by step idea in your presentation outlining how exactly one would use Program Ready, quite possibly in the form of a case study!

Hi Dustin, I find Springboard a very interesting platform. To me, Gautam Tambay has a unique set of skills he has acquired through engineering and an MBA. It is quite a testament to his entrepreneurship how Springboard has enabled its students to work for some of the biggest tech companies across the globe (Google, Airbnb, Amazon etc...). Gautam provides the skills and strengths necessary to be a great leader and I'm sure the ed tech world will be hearing more about him in the near future.

Hi Lori, great video, I enjoyed listening and watching at the same time. Frank Lyons seems like the ultimate entrepreneur. He made me want to go into business with him! He has a lot of background knowledge in working for big companies such as Nokia to gain skills through a variety of different job positions. Starting your own company takes a lot of expertise in an area of work as well as guts. It's evident Frank held a sought after position with Nokia however, he saw market potential and went for it. Starting with just a few investors and eventually seeing more and more hop on board, is a testament to his entrepreneurial abilities.

Hi Christopher, I enjoyed reading your post on Craig Jones. It is clear he has developed many skills through his career in both education and business. Being laid off as a teacher and then going back to school for a MBA, it's evident Craig has a positive and forward thinking attitude which attributes to his current success, Formative.

Although this is very interesting, I would not invest in the VirtualiTee as an EVA. The two men in this video did not address the market gap or competition at all. Their main message was that this VirtualiTee would make learning more interactive and engaging for learners. I believe this would be the case, however they did not address the full potential or effect this venture could have on learners. The video showed kids and adults having fun with the app, however it was the same thing they were looking at the whole video. With that being said, a question that came to mind for me is, "Can the VirtualiTee do anything else besides look at organs and cells"? This idea could have a lot more potential if it looked at more areas of the body including muscles, bones etc. They also addressed that they want to make this "accessible to everyone, everywhere so they get the chance to experience this type of learning". They then contradict themselves by saying the app is free, but the Tee is priced no higher than a high quality t-shirt. On a positive note, they do make the app accessible on all types of existing mobile devices including IoS, Mobile, Android and Tablet. I did appreciate the fact they elaborated on how people can help make this endeavour more successful by sharing the campaign and giving pledges. Other things they could have addressed on the video include: How many VirtualiTee's have they sold to date? What is the companies reach - In the UK only, worldwide...? Competition - Are there other companies doing something similar, or are they one of a kind? Expansion - Is there potential for the app to do more than it does currently?

I really enjoyed Jill's enthusiasm on this particular subject of ionic liquids. She started off with a "hook" or question, to draw her audience in and get them thinking; "What do you think when I say the word innovation of the future?" Her answer, ionic liquids, was backed up with information regarding a massive poll that took place in the UK in which the results said ionic liquids were the number one innovation to shape the 21st century. She provides examples to the problems some technology faces such as battery life, and explains ionic liquids may be the solution. With all of this being said, Jill is a student who is studying ionic liquids for the specific purpose of using them for carbon dioxide capture as an alternative to the toxic and corrosive materials currently being used. I believe people/corporations would invest and use this product (method) because of the idea that is behind it: it's economical and environmentally compliant. It is not a true elevator pitch in the sense that she does not address the market on ionic liquids and the competition is not known. Her pitch definitely leaves the audience captivated and wanting to know more about this venture including how much money and time it would take to establish whether or not ionic liquids hold the key to the future of innovation.

It is great to see social media platforms such as Twitter, finally being recognized for their ability to connect learners and professionals at a global scale rather than as a global "wasteland of gossip, rumour and incivility" (Lynch, 2018). I have used Pinterest a lot in the last few years to acquire new practices and keep myself from reinventing the wheel. The drawback with Pinterest is that most of the content is not free and it's difficult to connect with the teachers that have these amazing ideas. Twitter, however, allows for teachers to connect instantaneously with each other in a broad context or in a specialized, narrow context. As Reg said, I would be interested to see whether or not anyone in our ETEC 522 group has used Twitter in this way, and if so, have they found it profound in such ways as sharing and generating ideas. I personally do not have a Twitter account, however, I will most likely get an account now and start my journey by easing into the ETEC 522 Twitter group chat.

I have often thought about learners worldwide that don’t have as much access to the use of educational technologies because of poverty, war and geographic location or distance. It is encouraging to hear companies such as Carnegie Learning working towards closing the education gap in developing countries by introducing personalized learning assistants and making online tutoring services more available and affordable. Web platforms such as Chatterbox and TeachMeNow are revolutionizing the idea of connecting teachers and students virtually almost instantaneously. Dot Learn is recognized world-wide for reducing video file sizes requiring only a fraction of the regular band width making it much cheaper to tune into e-learning videos. While this is definitely a huge accomplishment in the EdTech world, I can’t help but question its reliability especially for those rural underserved regions with limited or poor access to internet connection. After reading many published works on this area of education, it is clear that the EdTech industry has increased its reach within many underserved regions. These regions and the learners within them deserve every right to a fair and equal education. Hopefully corporations like Unicef keep working towards funding and raising awareness for this important component of education. Source: “The Case for Technology in Developing Regions” https://cloudfront.escholarship.org/dist/prd/content/qt7161q0jv/qt7161q0jv.pdf