Ying Gu

Hi Jason, thanks for the positive comments! I am glad to hear that you can relate to the pain point that I've identified. So frustrating creating problems all the time, isn't it? Yes, you are right, it will definitely be tough to compete with the big publishers out there who seem to have monopoly over educational books. However, I think a good starting point to get this into the game is to offer much lower subscription fees. Another strategy that I think might work is to just start mailing free samples to all schools in the lower mainland.

Hi Ian, thanks for the positive feedback! Ah, yes I should have included the cost of my phone app for the investors. Great catch!

Shoot, I misspelled your name! Sorry about that, Natallia!

FEEDBACK: Hi Natalie, you did a great job in identifying a very relevant pain point in Canada. It is well researched and your passion clearly comes through. However, you haven't created or presented an ed-tech related venture to address it. I could not find your elevator pitch, and your full length pitch only focuses on detailing the pain point. To improve this pitch, perhaps you can state clearly how it is your venture will solve all the problems that you've identified, and communicate the amount of funding that you are looking for to make your venture reality.

FEEDBACK: Hi Ryan, great idea! I definitely see the value of this venture in supporting the performing arts. I can see a drama class using this service to study empathy and acting. I think the market is well identified; a lot of schools are indeed cutting funding for the performing arts so a one time purchase of VR headsets could be a solution to save costs from visiting live theatre productions. I think this is marketable overseas as well. Canada has many offshore schools in China and Korea and there is no way that those students there have access to English language theatre. I think your venture also has applications for stagecraft courses. There are a couple of high schools in BC that offer stagecraft as a senior class and seeing performances in 3D would definitely increase the learning in those classes.

FEEDBACK: Hi Sarah, I like the passion you bring to your venture and its concept. Certainly, there is a lot of success with giving kids the freedom to create then the ability to showcase their creation. I think about Minecraft and how many users spend hours visiting other people's worlds. I think about Reddit as well! I think you should tighten the venture concept thought, because having too much freedom creates confusion. What kinds of projects are you envisioning students to upload? I know they have to be STEM related, but the options are so vast, even within the categories that you have shown in your video. Will there be some sort of quality control to ensure that no malicious ideas are ever posted? I think parents might be concerned that some child, or adult pretending to be a child, will post a virus. Perhaps the site can host semi-annual competitions where it gives everyone a theme or goal and the submissions have to be related to that?

FEEDBACK: Hi Sarah, thank you for your passion behind this venture! I think the over arching idea - life long learning - is very good. It is certainly what we try to encourage all students, and adults, to do. I found that I was looking for more concrete details about your venture, in addition to the vision and the theory behind it. Are there guidelines for what sorts of courses people would offer, how these courses might be approved (or is it fully open to anyone?), and is there a rewards system of any sort for people who post courses? What would motivate them to do so? You have advertised your venture as math and science, but later in your video you mention other subject areas. I think it's ok to be focused on just math and science. When I shop around for something, I like companies that specialize in one thing more than companies that have a broad offering. I feel that if a company specializes in one that, then that one thing must be really good!

Hi Chava, thank you so much for your encouraging and kind feedback! I will definitely take your feedback on the name seriously. I like the idea of somehow showcasing the AR component in the company name; I should have thought of that. If I ever start this venture, I will do exactly as you say, start with researching how much the AR development will cost. I too could not find it anywhere so I couldn't put up an estimate. I suppose one way to go about it is to seek an investor with experience in the field, someone who can advise me how to move forward with this. Thank you for all your thoughts!

Hi Jiri, thanks so much for liking my product! That is a very good point that you raise about my team. I should have dedicated some time in the video to showcase the expertise of the development team. Yes, the content is a big piece in this product, but it's the content that is the business, isn't it? It is actually not as huge of a task as one might think it is. It is smaller because we are not writing a textbook - a lot of content is cut out that way. Our sole focus is the practice problem piece. I have already developed a complete set for Chemistry 11 Enriched just while I was teaching it. With a few tweaks, it would be ready to go. So, in this sense, content development is very feasible with a small team. All it takes is a small group of people to curate what type of questions are most stimulating and relevant. Thanks for your thoughts!

FEEDBACK: Hi Tyler, I enjoyed watching your videos. I think the concept is really good and that you did a great job in anticipating what critics might say with your reference to Mark Speece. I think this venture is tough to get on board with because the competition is really high. There are so many companies out there that are already providing students with individualized lessons with learning analytics and AI attached that it is hard to stand out. I really appreciate the humour in Lion's Lair (clever!), but I also wonder if the humour is counter productive. I question if the humour might deter potential investors because it takes away from your professionalism. As the spearhead of your venture, perhaps you would want to appear more dependable and serious in a video that is meant to be an investor's first look.