Maureen Glynn

Hi Randy - Wow! This is one of the most ambitious pitches that I've seen in the forum. I admire your courage in pitching a venture with, in your words, "the current system" as its competition. I'm wondering, given the breadth of eSCiPi's goals, if there would be a way to launch it in a staged manner. For example, it sounds as if eSCiPi will be housing and indexing both static content (curriculum materials, and student artifacts), as well as the social/communicative interactions that take place within the portal. Might there be a way of tackling one aspect and then the other? Alternately, perhaps start by focusing solely in certain disciplines (second language acquisition was a great example) and then scale up from there? I'm not sure how to comment from an investment perspective, given that your pitch seemed to refrain, in the end from a direct "ask". Ultimately, eSCiPi would likely have a long and challenging path to success, but if it's vision was ever realized you may finally pull education more fully into the new millenium.

Hi Kate – Your pitch was very informative and definitely had a very professional/polished quality to it. As it is an area of particular interest for me, I am certainly sold on the need that you identify for affordable, robust/comprehensive faculty support in online learning. Your pitch is very effective in highlighting the understandable inclination of faculty to “stick with what they know”. From this perspective, institutions that recognize the pressing need for change, may be quite interested in ReciPROcity’s services, if they do not offer comparable support internally. Overall, for the potential end buyer, I found that all the aspects of your pitch, pricing included, were quite appealing. That said, from an investment perspective, it would be very helpful to provide some additional information. While you point out the differentiation between ReciPROcity’s services and those of a typical higher education IT department, you do not outline the distinction between this venture and the services often offered by centres for teaching and learning at colleges and universities. Are there other commercial firms/agencies currently in business offering these types of services? If not, it would be worth highlighting this fact for potential investors as well. Finally, a marketing plan, along with clarification on the “ask” and the “return” for investors would definitely help to round out the vision that you have presented for ReciPROcity. You must be so pleased to be wrapping up your MET! Whether it is through ReciPROcity or through other endeavors, I think that your materials for this pitch are a sign of great things to come!

Hi Michael - This is a really interesting idea that sounds like it could have potential in quite a few markets. It seems like your pitch is, in some respects, a work in progress given that information on the ask, the return, plans for marketing the venture, etc. were not included. All of this information would help to strengthen the appeal for potential investors.

Hi Sandy – Anything that can help to increase literacy rates is sure to grab the attention of educators and, as such, potential investors. I really like your idea of extending the value of an existing literacy-related technology to fill a specific gap. Your infographic contrasting digital text vs. text on paper was a very effective means of conveying the anchoring facts around text-to-speech as a concept. One detail of your pitch that is very interesting, but does not come across in the early part of your materials is that your proposed app would represent the only means to-date, for iOS users to gain mobile access to the Kurzweil technology. I found this information really helpful to framing my understanding of your product, but didn’t stumble across it until the latter half of the pitch. You are clearly very knowledgeable about this product and its context, but I wondered if your venture might include other champions or team members and what their profiles might be. My two other key questions were: What are your marketing plans for the product (integrated into larger Kurzweil promotion perhaps?) - and - How do your revenue projections translate into return for investors? More information on these questions would help to support a confident decision to invest in this worthwhile product.

Hi Lane - I found every element of your piece to be polished and well thought out. The pain point that you identify is highly relatable for your audience. Your solution helps both teachers and students. One of the features that I found attractive was the support for student self-esteem through ensuring that all students are working with the same materials, but in a form and at a level that best supports them. This is a great example of the personalized learning trend already identified in our course. From an investors perspective, your team comes across a very well rounded and includes not only educational and software expertise, but the critical business know-how as well. It also appears that you have some fairly significant champions outside of your core team. Overall, the product seems quite nimble due to its dynamic materials, and the fact that it operates across multiple languages and platforms. I don't work in K -12, so it is hard for me to assess the financials and whether the price point makes sense for your market, but in terms of the pitch itself your financials were well organized and easy to understand. Glad I had a chance to take a look!

Feedback: Your explanation of Edsecute's approach is very clear, and it is easy to understand how the firm's services would be extremely valuable for clients. Your presentation(s) has confidence and style. One of the main questions left unanswered for me was, beyond vendors, who are your competition. Are there really no other firms or organizations offering this type of service? Also, while your self-deprecating approach to presenting the hypothetical team was unique, I think that for investors to be convinced, they would want to see the strengths and know-how of the CEO and "champions" placed front and centre. Overall, with a little more substance added to the existing style I think that this pitch could attract some interest. Nice job!

Hi Tina – Fantastic job! I would invest in this venture without hesitation. Your concern regarding the “basic” nature of your visuals was unfounded. I found the entire pitch to be very professional and highly compelling. The pain point of declining motor skills hits very close to home for me, as one of my three children was identified with a deficit in this area at a very young age. One recommendation that I would make regarding your description of the pain point, is to include additional information regarding the connections between writing or drawing by hand and neuro/cognitive development. Your solution of nano interactive papers is deceptively simple, but at the same time so well thought out. The comparability to real paper in terms of size makes great sense. The range of overlays also offers the user great options right out of the box. The fact that it is solar powered also makes the product highly attractive. If, as you state, this is truly the first product of its kind (tslearn’s review seems to indicate otherwise), competition does not seem to be a problem and you clearly describe the differences between your product and existing tablet technology. It is hard to argue with your ask/return numbers, and I like the way that you have compared the all in price at a “per class” level. This will be meaningful for your target market. All of this, combined with your own knowledge and experience as the CEO, make for a winning venture!

Hi Catherine - I'm in agreement with you that group work, particularly in completely online learning environments, can be extremely challenging and effective tools that facilitate this type of collaboration are certainly needed. That said, I struggled to glean a compelling value proposition emerging from your pitch. Some of the newer learning management systems, which allow for effective integration of Google Apps for education, would seem to meet some of the gaps that you have identified. I also wondered whether Google itself would take issue with this adoption if its suite as it wasn't clear from the pitch how a login to Group Work 2.0 would grant seamless access to the Google Apps, without requiring a secondary login directly to a Google Account. In the end, I like your concept of optimizing the features of an existing technology, but I'm left with questions around the functionality of the concept.

Thank you so much Osayma for sharing this incredibly important and timely venture idea. I feel very privileged to have had the chance to review it. Your pitch is very comprehensive and clearly identified the critical need for the SPARK project, in particular, you effectively demonstrate the current gap that this program would fill. The SPARK team has a wealth of experience, both from the technical perspective, and in terms of familiarity with the market and context for delivery. It seems like this venture will essentially leverage the best of what educational technology currently offers, at a pivotal time for Syria and for our planet. In this way, the return will be seen for years to come. I wish you every success!

Hi Natalie - As someone who worked in the area of barrier-free design in my early career, this app really spoke to me! Diversity and inclusion can only make our post-secondary campuses stronger! I think that you did a great job describing the concept, as well as identifying strengths and weaknesses of the app. I'm wondering what your ask/return for this venture might look like. Are you projecting that potential investors might see a high rate of return, and if so, what might the business model look like? Alternately, is this a venture that you hope might draw attention from philanthropic sources? I think that there is potential either way and would love to hear more about your vision on this.