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Great suggestion Jason. I also like Six Pixels of Separation - http://www.twistimage.com/blog/

THANK YOU: Thank you all for your feedback and review. You have all been extremely helpful and if I was to make this a real venture I would definitely take all your comments into consideration.

REVIEW - Osayma, I am not sure how I can add value through my review comments because I think you have picked such an important venture that the two recommendations I have seem very trivial. I will provide you the two comments anyway in the spirit of helping you make improvements in your proposal: (1) Powtoon might not be the most suitable platform for presenting your elevator pitch. I found that it was sluggish and quite staccato in its movement. You might be better off using prezi or video. (2) I would like to see greater elaboration on the development and distribution model. I know that your proposal is still developing and it is too early to ask for a well thought out and completed model, but I think this is one of the areas you could make some improvements. Having said that, I don't know what else to add... The problem is immediately identifiable and I don't think you need to convince anybody that NGOs should be making this a priority. You have a nascent solution that requires some elaboration, but otherwise your presentation was great. I would highly endorse investment in this venture.

REVIEW - This venture appealed to me as soon as I finished watching the elevator pitch. The venture pitch only increased my appetite for learning more. Your presentation explains the problem and solution in clear and relatable terms. You use qualitative and quantitative arguments, as well as a mini case study to explain the merits of your solution. This helped me clearly visualize how your solution could be used and the potential benefits. The problem is well identified in terms of the numbers of learners who require emotional support. The wearable solution is a great way to address this need. I only had two reservations to jumping right in to say "I invest". (1) Although this is still an emerging market, you do have some competition in this area - Spire for instance. This is a tech heavy area and you will need a large investment to develop the technology. I would like to see greater elaboration on a plan for tech development and how you plan on differentiating yourself from the competition. (2) Health apps - mental, emotional or physical are a reputation game. Endorsements and partnerships with trusted names help you establish your name. I would like to see greater elaboration on a plan for these partnerships and endorsements. After you have satisfied these two reservations I am in. Great job!!!

REVIEW - Kate, this is a great idea. The biggest positives for this venture are that I know it is close to your heart and you would bring a lot of personal experience to its operation. Your commitment and subject matter expertise would be invaluable assets in this venture. Your identification of the problem is also based on keen observation and insights. Your solution is stated clearly. However, I don't believe that the model of engagement you have proposed will engage your audience (i.e. faculty) any differently from the current engagement model offered by institutions internally. The limited success of the existing professional development model for faculty has been its "if you build it they will come" approach. However, we know that "they" do not come because they are not motivated by any external factors to do so. Regardless of how well designed the engagement model and the professional development program may be, it will still enjoy limited success until faculty are deeply externally motivated to buy in to the professional development and implement it. Currently, your model does not offer a solution to the real problem - the lack of motivation of faculty. Even though your service offering seems diverse and offers flexible engagement models, I keep thinking that it is modelled on a "good faith assumption" i.e. faculty actually want to develop in this area. I think the limitations introduced by this assumption are what you need to overcome as you refine this model. Namely: "What can you offer that will increase faculty motivation?" Quality and diversity of professional development services will only provide limited appeal to an audience that doesn't think the product applies to them. Until the motivation question is answered you have a great product with no buyers and as a venture analyst I believe that you need a great product and an audience who sees the value in your product in order to succeed.

FEEDBACK - Sandy, you have identified a real problem and recommended a well designed solution. You also make an effective presentation. My only reservation with this venture was that you have too much competition and I was looking for some arguments that would provide rationale for market differentiation and you to make a distinct value proposition. I found that this was the only aspect that you didn't address and for me it was a big one.

FEEDBACK - This was a great presentation that really brought home the merits of the medium and made me think about how much information I receive on a regular basis through the radio, podcasts and other auditory media. As an English as a second language learner I used to listen to BBC Radio and Voice of America on a regular basis to improve my listening and speaking skills. NPR is also a great organization and seeking to make a pitch for their internal incubator is a great idea for a radio/podcast format. So, great medium, great selection of audience for your pitch, but only one problem for me - what is your product and how do you intend to monetize it? I could tell that you feel passionately about this project, but in the end I was left wondering, is this another podcast? I know that some of your ideas are still in development. I believe that giving your specific product greater definition will make your pitch stronger.

FEEDBACK - Great presentation for both the elevator pitch and the venture pitch. I agree with Michael G that you were able to pack a lot of useful information into two short presentations. You explained the problem, your solution, its applications and viability in a clear manner supported by strong arguments and examples. However, I believe that making a case for a solution that involves any form of information security is a difficult task, especially when it concerns confidential data related to children. My information security risk related reservations may be due my lack of understanding of your solution. The way I understood PrintPass is that it is a single sign-on for multiple apps using thumb/fingerprints. This would allow ease of use for multiple apps on iPads through single sign-on and also allow multiple users to access the devices. Both are great applications. But as you are aware, single sign on increases the impact of an information security breach because one password/print can be used to access data on multiple platforms. Although Apple insists that its fingerprint scanners are secure, there has been much debate on this issue and Apple has even had to testify before Congress on the issue. Cloud based storage increases the risk and recent news also does not bode well for those, like me, concerned with information security risk - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/09/23/opm-now-says-more-than-five-million-fingerprints-compromised-in-breaches/

FEEDBACK - Laurie, I really liked how well you articulated the problem and your recommended solution in the form of 3DCreatingSpace. Your elevator pitch and venture pitch demonstrated judicious use of media and well laid out arguments for supporting your venture. Even though I found your solution to be simple and well structured I decided not to do a deeper review because, as you already know, you have some stiff competition in this domain. Although you identify your competition, I believe that one way in which you could have made your presentation stronger was by making a stronger case for why users would prefer your solution above the youtube and flickr options. I believe comprehensive case studies and market analysis (real or fictitious for the purposes of this assignment) would have made me feel more confident as a venture analyst that I was taking a manageable risk in backing your venture.

FEEDBACK - Mary, your elevator pitch is clearly laid out and so is your venture pitch. Although you identify the problem and articulate the solution quite clearly, I found myself wondering if your solution offers greater value than some of the social media tools that are currently available. Maybe it is my lack of understanding of your solution, but I wanted to compare the features to what Google Groups and Google Communities (for example) offer and found that many of the features were comparable. Community of Practice platforms like Yammer (https://www.yammer.com) and eXo (https://www.exoplatform.com) offer even more features. At the end of your presentation I found myself asking: Great idea but why should I invest in this platform when there are established alternatives available? Would it be more feasible to build a project that customizes and configures one of the existing platforms?