stephanie mcginnis

Hi Mackenzie, thanks for sharing your idea. I think this is a great idea as eLearning is expensive and time consuming, which is unfortunate because it's definitely something that could be used by K-12 educators, especially in a blended classroom. Your elevator pitch and website were interesting but I feel like I'm still lacking some information about how your product works. Are you partnering with Storyline and Captivate? Or just using their technology? What is it like for teachers to use the app? I also think we need a bit more information on the pricing and profit opportunities, especially if you want someone to invest. Thanks for sharing!

Hi Shayla, Thanks for sharing your idea! I like that it focused on saving teacher's time as well as the planet. After watching your elevator pitch and watching your venture pitch, I am however a little unclear on exactly what your apps offer. Is it just access to rubrics, self-assessments, etc.? Are they pre-made or can teachers customize them? What about tests? Can you do those through the apps? I guess apart from the eco-friendly bit, I'm having a bit of difficulty really understanding why I would use this. I also think you need a more thorough evaluation of competitors and explanation of how you are going to return my investment.

Hi Charmalee, GREAT idea! I loved your videos. They were very well put together and you seemed very confident and professional. Your ideas were clearly conveyed and if I could invest, you definitely would have convinced me. The one question I have is around the long-term plan for CANNEW (great name by the way!). Your pitch focused on the pilot phase and those first 75 iPads - what's the plan after that? Even if you didn't go into it in detail, would have been great to at least let investors know that you had a long-term plan. Thanks so much for sharing!

Hi Amanda, Loved your elevator pitch! It was so professionally done. You did a great job of explaining the product and conveying your enthusiam and it just really looked like it was made by a professional video company. Your venture video was also really well done. You're a VideoScribe pro! You clearly outlined the benefits and improvements that were being made to the platform. You also added in lots of information for investors, which was great. The only thing I am unclear about is how does prodigy earn money? I understand parents have the option to purchase advanced features for their children but is that the only source of income? If so, 1 million dollars of profit in 5 years sounds ambitious. Perhaps there's another way the app makes money that I am missing? Overall, thanks for sharing! I really enjoyed learning more about your idea.

Hi Jeffrey, Thanks for sharing your idea. Your elevator pitch was engaging and did a good job of making me want to learn more about your product. Your venture pitch however wasn't very engaging. I didn't feel motivated to continue through it or as excited as I was when I watched the elevator pitch. I also feel like you were missing a bit of content. What exactly does your product do? Who are your competitors exactly and what sets you apart? And I think you needed more details to go along with your numbers. Thanks for sharing!

Hi Erin, Thanks for sharing, this was a great idea. The video for your elevator pitch was really well done. I love video scribe and you did a really good job putting the video together. I do think though that the introduction was a little long. It took almost one minute to get to the name of your product, let alone explain what it did. I also think you need to incorporate a bit more of information that would appeal to investors. Why should they go and learn more? What's in it for them? The website for your venture pitch was well laid out and easy to follow. It was a little text heavy in sections, but you had lots of great ideas. I think a key component that was missing was how are you going to make money? As an investor, I need to have confidence that I'm going to get a retun on my investment and I'm not sure that was conveyed effectively.

Hi Tracey, I have to admit that your pitch was very difficult to get through. It's great that you were able to think of a venture that related to something you are passionate about but the presentation was very poorly executed. The PPT and audio wasn't always in sync and just lacked editing in sections. At some points you just trailed off and suddenly the slides changed and I even heard a phone go off at one point. You also just didn't sounds enthusiastic at all, which made it very difficult to stay engaged. I am still not clear about what your product does and I think you missed a critical component - you never explained what STEM was. You can't expect that everyone, especially investors, just know what that is.

Hi Anne, What a great idea for an app! This definitely responds to a growing concern in all children - not just those participating in online learning. Your elevator pitch was very well done. Your video was very professional and engaging. Your venture pitch provided some great details about the app and was very appealing and well laid out but I think you needed a more detailed review of your competitors. I also think you need to explain what makes your idea competitively sustainable? Why is this an idea that won't be easily copied by competitors? Thanks for sharing!

Hi Justin, great idea! Grammar is such an important part of education and something I feel has really been forgotten. I taught English for a few years in Asia and grammar was one of the main focuses in English class and it was funny because the majority of teachers had to learn the grammar concepts before they taught them because they didn't remember learning them in school. I only knew the concepts because English and French grammar are very similar and I remember taking French grammar courses in university. Your elevator pitch was great. You had a lot of enthusiasm and I loved how you incorporated so many important trends - microlearning, real time feedback, mobile technology - it seems like a very innovative product! Near the end you mentioned that you were the only grammar app on the market, which is a great competitive advantage but in general, I think your pitch should have been more focused on the investor. As a teacher and student, I totally got why I would want to check out your website to learn more about this cool app, but as an investor, I'm not sure it made me want to learn more. Your venture pitch was very extensive and had lots of great ideas. I'm impressed that as CEO you're willing to be paid less than the majority of your staff! The only comments I have was that it was very text heavy and I found it a little difficult to navigate. You want to make things as easy as possible for an investor so maybe you could incorporate a Next button that moves the reader from page to page instead of having to scroll back up to the top to find what I should look at next. Overall though, great job and thanks for sharing!

Hi Ali, It's interesting that you've said 18 months seems like too long. From what I understand about venture capitalists and investors, the minimum is typically 5 years to see a return. Am I mistaken?