Reg Surette

Thanks for the kind words Henna! Yes, I was challenged when recording, as my house is full of weird angles and bad filming backdrops! Believe it or not, that was the most neutral backdrop I could come up with... (-_-). Should this become a real venture pitch, I'm hoping that the details contained therein would allow a more interactive platform to be developed properly. - Reg

After going through your Venture, Kate, I'd have to say your site is just the most aesthetically pleasing; it's clearly organized and very well presented! I also like your research on the online vs offline language learning markets, and your venture's adaptability to profit from market trends in either direction. Strictly speaking as a prospective EVA investor, I'd have more questions about the ask/return, and might still be concerned about the 'big players' such as Udemy, DuoLingo, EdX or other MOOCs in online language training impacting your venture's ability to gain a foothold in the market, despite your venture twist of catering to audiences wishing to learn rural English. Simply by their popularity alone, until your brand and product differentiation gain traction within the market, your competition will be stiff. Overall, absolutely very professionally designed, great product theme, and a job well done! - Reg

Hi Christopher, I wanted to echo Ryan's comments on a job well done, as your efforts clearly show in your pitches. I also really liked your venture concept, as it is simple, easily editable by users, and the venture can be grown to cater to any grade level based on user inputs. My comment is not so much about your venture as I think it was really well done, but more so about how the content might be moderated. You mention subreddits and user-moderators, but I'm left wondering if that will be enough to maintain the academic integrity of the site? If one of your main selling features is specifically curated content for academic purposes, it might require more moderation than Reddit uses. Just a thought. Otherwise, I really like your use of user reinforcement through badging, upvotes and downvotes to encourage ethical and meaningful contribution. I liked how you mention the revenue streams of Reddit, but couldn't find Lurnt's revenue stream; if I missed it, just let me know! If our assumption is that it's similar to Reddit in that it's ad- and premium user-based, as an EVA I would consider a small angel investment in your venture. Great job! -Reg

Ditto! Access, please! Email sent :)

Such a clever way to incorporate gamification, Heeweon! As an EVA or if I were an educational institution rep, I would absolutely consider investing in your venture. You incorporate student engagement, collaboration, and new technology (VR) into a product that could realistically benefit learners. As a follow-on venture, you might even want to think about developing a software package that users could develop their own escape rooms (Although in doing so you might be creating your own market competition...haha)! Just a thought! I also enjoyed the website design; you and Kate both really have a knack for well designed, organized and professional web sites! The simplicity of the product made it really easy for me, a prospective EVA investor, to understand its value in addressing your noted pain points. You very clearly indicated what the venture investment would be used for, and have a clear plan for both product and market growth. From the student perspective, your active learning and collaborative pedagogies used in your rooms combined with fun problem-solving puzzles will undoubtedly engage and improve student achievement. I'm excited to see VReakout disrupt the educational markets! Very well done! -Reg

Just wanted to say great job on the ChatBot OER Kate, Aggie, and Evan! After going through your content this week, I'm certainly more aware of their presence on sites I frequent, and have a better understanding of their intended uses and educational applicability. Along with most other developing technologies, I'll be curious to see how common the use of ChatBots will become both in general and toward increasing online efficiency and student-content interaction, within a learning context. Not to mention, how 'smart' do you think they'll become; perhaps smart enough to steal Evan's job...? :) Wonderful presentation, -Reg

Agreed Dustin! He seems pretty humble for such a successful fella; although that persona may come off a little stronger on Dragon's Den...we shall see! Haha. Thanks for your feedback. - Reg

Wow - thanks for sharing Aggie. That's fantastic that it's been working so well for you, both for parents to check on the progress of their children, but also for you to monitor both student progress and parental involvement! Sounds like FreshGrade has really disrupted the report card generation; it's great to see the focus on formative assessment and student progress! Thanks again, Reg

That's great to hear Chris! I admire that Merrifield was able to co-develop a concept that imposes positive change upon the system almost forcing it to adapt as a result of the overwhelming benefits associated with it, rather than waiting for the system to change and adapting to it after the fact, as is the case with most large institutions/corporations.

Thanks for chiming in Heeweon! Not only is it good news for FreshGrade, it's great news for schools, students, and parents if in fact their concept is proven to be an improved solution to the antiquated grading scheme used in most school systems. It's probably an interesting and exciting transition for everyone involved!