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Hi Cwc1 I am sorry about the beeps, I tried to eliminate them from my computer i couldn't do it. I have an extremely old computer and I have tried on several occasions to get rid of it. I tried to provide something different in the elevator pitch, i like to dramatize things and make it interesting! We are always boring with our pitches, so in order to make it more interesting, you need to make it enticing to watch!

FEEDBACK - Hi Courtney, you have delivered your elevator pitch quite eloquently and professionally. Your tone of voice and selling ability is apparent and I’m sure you have worked in sales before! In any case, what I find with your pitch is that I enjoy the video, and I would love to know which software you used to create this. It’s a great idea, but I wasn’t sure if this is an application on the phones and how the polling will be used. The polling is great but I believe there are products out there regarding this already. How will this polling help educators? I think you have what it takes, but it needed a little more for me to want to invest in this product. Perhaps if you mentioned what differentiates your product from the others, and how teachers would benefit would be great, but overall it was a great presentation and well done!

FEEDBACK: Hi Chris: Interesting video! The idea is interesting in that you will deliver content in various ways depending on the time constraints and learning needs of the individuals. Its great, but how well will this hold up in traditional university settings and institutional environments? Will they accept that you are offering an alternative path and if your courses are not relevant to certification bodies and other examination boards, will students actually enroll in your courses? Is this a venture that you have created already and how is it going or you? I like your idea, because I know we all have different learning styles and we all consume content differently, but do you plan to offer credits as a functional university/school? I understand this as an alternative learning solution for individuals taking courses in a variety of subject matter, but I am not sure if these are accredited courses? It would be good to be enlightened regarding these questions. Thanks.

Hi Chris – Your elevator pitch brought some questions to my mind, such as how will you differentiate this product against other textbook applications, and tablet such as the LearnPad or Apple Educational products? I feel that it’s an important idea, but needs to be expanded upon in order to create a viable and different product that will compete against the others. How does your textbook pull the content and how will it provide consumable content to students? Will they be engaged with this content and will it be presented in format that is easy to digest but stimulating and exciting? It is hard to see these things unless I know a little bit more, but these are definitely some recommendations. Good job!

FEEDBACK – Hi Bruno, I’m an ESL teacher myself and am interested in this concept, however I’m not sure if I want to pay for the subscription! Also, I kept hitting the elevator pitch, but I wasn’t sure where it was because I kept being linked to the venture pitch. In any case, no worries! I had a similar problem, but overall I liked the concept and I think it could be developed a bit more in terms of how you are planning to stream this content to tablet computers. Will students be able to consume this learning content directly from the tablets? There are definitely some questions I have in terms of the product details, but you provide the important facts for investment model, strategy, long-term growth and company buyout. Great job!

REVIEW - First off, I think your videos are fantastic and work well together, although I went straight to the Venture video wanting more information. So whether or not the Elevator Pitch made me go forward and want more is difficult to say, because I still wanted to know more to make a better evaluation! In any case, the concept is great and as someone on the Wearable Technology team I think that wearable tech for assistive learning is definitely one of the greatest areas of growth overall. You have capitalized on this need for wearable tech in special needs learning. I don’t have a lot of experience dealing with students who have these types of problems, but I see that it could help me in a classroom situation regardless. At a 4.3 percent annual growth rate, and 13 billion dollar ceiling, there is no question that schools will be moving towards these types of devices in the future. I am not sure, however when you say straddling the wearable tech market, what you are referring to. Assistive needs and wearable tech are two different markets, but I see your device as strictly a wearable (might be a little biased here!) Your differentiation is well indicated that health and education is targeted together. Educational wearable tech is new but health is not so much, so there is definitely a combined effort here that will. I like your projection and funding map/graph, and it seems like you have thought about the future development of the product carefully. What I am concerned about is the actually functionality o the bracelet – do you think that a vibrating bracelet will sell? Your pitch is well done, but what about focusing on product development a bit more and considering multiple functionality of this bracelet for student with social anxiety disorder, etc. The teacher perhaps might be taxed and it is likely that the student will be constantly pressing their bracelet. What is the solution for communication between the student and teacher, and how will the bracelet support and ease the burden the teacher already has? There are some good questions, but overall, great job!

FEEDBACK: Technology is certainly the bridge between all curriculum strands and as someone who is not a geography expert but who loves travel and geography, I think this is a great idea. I find that maps are boring or too complex and I think there needs to be a middle path for students to get engaged in the material, feel that they are learning and developing critical information processing and technology navigation skills. It would be great to create this tool that would enhance learning and permit students to link up to Google maps and other live mapping tools that will provide them with real data. It is sad and disheartening to hear that teachers today are still using two dimensional maps to teach geography, when the future of holographic mapping is around the corner and three dimensional mapping is here already. Good job!

REVIEW - Wow! I have to say I LOVE this concept. I think I love it because I am in the same area as you technology and language, and speak four fluently. I am actually thinking that this is exactly what we need, however I have some reservations about this, because there are language exchange groups that people attend for language practice. The thing about linguistic and cultural groups is that there is often a sense of elitism with certain groups who are native in that language and would abstain from practicing with others. I should mention that the best type of language learning is within the immersion environment itself, but not an hour a day or even six hours a day. The only reservation about this application I have is whether people will actually meet up for language exchange on demand. On the fly meet-ups are hard to organize with strangers and this is seen in the world of online dating, etc. Why would people meet on the fly for this purpose? I am getting the idea that you are planning to make the money based on business advertising models. This is definitely smart planning, and I am sure coffee shops would love the extra business. It has potential for growth considering all the GPS based apps out there, but this is the first I have seen with an educational purpose. The difficulty in marketing apps such as these is that people are really not interested in meeting others for language exchange as much as they are hunting for a significant other, as silly as it sounds. It might be great to have an option to create groups on there for language exchange instead of person-to-person contact; for instance the option to manage and create friend conversation circles would be great, so that you could text everyone in the circle to meet up. Pesky ads are a nuisance for some, so an upgrade to get rid of the ads would be a great idea. Will coffee shops go for this and pay to host their content on your app, that’s a difficult question to answer, but I think it’s a great idea considering low start-up costs. I think you should do it! Thanks!

FEEDBACK – Hi Aaron, your pitch is interesting and I think there is a lot to be developed in student feedback and analytics; from the pitch I understand that your system is designed to measure student achievement and successes which I appreciate, however having seen other products in the market, what will make yours different from the others? I am not expecting too much from a minute speech, but you do bring out the important features of your product and you sell the product which is great in your elevator speech. I find that the speech should be catchy enough to make me want to look forward. I suppose there are pros and cons to stating how much you are seeking from investors in the elevator speech, since it could go two ways really.

REVIEW - First of all Anne, I love your 1 minute elevator video, because it is actually engaging; I find it simple, clean and engaging through the words that are presented. The thing I find is that elevator speeches focus too much on content delivery and should really be there to get the attention. It’s really a sales pitch, and you have created just that in an interesting video. I really liked your idea to foster learning through game play and incorporate all subject areas into one. It’s a great idea to allow students to choose avatars and their own path to learning; it definitely keeps it interesting and permits them to learn based on their own interests and not teacher dictated material. It seems to be a viable product in that there are options such as dual languages, and modification ability for teachers. I find that this product has lots of potential for market development, especially since there is not a single game that ties in all the curriculum material. It would be a nice option to tie in some strands of the curriculum and subject areas, so that teachers can work together in teams to target similar areas. Also, it would be nice to target one subject area when needed as well. It’s a solution that should be exploited. I like the idea as well that the team is comprised of MET students; we are so much looking for people with these credentials and years of experience in certain areas, that we should focus on providing our own team with opportunities. It’s unfortunate that we are quick to judge people based on their bios and pitches, and sometimes supporting grass-root initiatives are much more important. We might not be backed up by large corporations or universities, but independent ventures are always much more interesting and that’s when the dreamer becomes the doer!