elevator pitch

FEEDBACK: Great elevator pitch Daniel! It was engaging, convincing, and showed your confidence in the product. The rest of your venture pitch was strong, but could have benefited from being more specific on what differentiates Beyond Disruption from the competition. I also think presenting some specific use cases (i.e, health care) for the product could help highlight its potential and capabilities.

REVIEW: Hi Scott, I really enjoyed your both your elevator pitch and venture pitch. I thought your elevator pitch was concise and as a potential investor, I had a clear understanding of the problem you saw in the market and how your product helps to solve the problem in addition to what value your product brings to the table. Looking at your venture pitch, I think we had similar ideas in terms of creating curated repositories of information already available on the web. Your product adds an additional component of artificial intelligence to help refine the recommended videos presented. Your business acumen is apparent as you outline how your product will be marketed and provide case studies to that the investor can really understand how your product fits into the existing market. I also liked how you understand that you are looking for "smart" money and that you acknowledge that you don't have all the answers. Entrepreneurs that acknowledge the help that they may need are ones that I would look more favorably upon.  All in all, a very well done presentation. Congratulations.  I would invest in this enterprise! Christopher Wong

Educreations is noble in their pursuit to remove the “post-production” phase from video recording. Its mobile interface allows for quick tutorials from anywhere and with the ability to physically write on the device and turn it into video. It is interesting, but immediately there seems to be some issues present. First, we’ll begin at the pain point. The speaker discusses the issues of working with the demanding load that most teachers have, and investigates the best way to reach their students. In the pitch, he discusses the teacher not being able to communicate with all his students, but the purpose for the communication was not clear, and we are guessing as to why this was such an issue. Was it attendance? Distance education? Socio-economic factors? I’m not sure when a teacher would constantly meet with every student outside of the classroom. The solution they provide for out of classroom support is to watch teacher created videos that are narrated and feature texts and images. The purpose for these is not clear. Is it for a flipped classroom model, enrichment, or to catch students up? So yes, it is hard to meet with students, but giving information is different than engaging them with a dialogue. As a feedback tool this is where the pitch fails for me as an EVA. Within the pitch, no differentiation is mentioned, even though there are various competitors out there that are free (I’m thinking of QuickTime capture that is preinstalled on Apple computers, as well as the free app Explain Everything). Also, recorded Powerpoint shows are another option available too. Now, it was seemingly easy to make the video, but the setup process, online management system, and how the students access the information was left out. These managerial obstacles are typically the factors that prohibit educators from entering digital spaces, and they were not mentioned. In addition, we do not know who their target market is. I’m guessing by the images that it is for a secondary school environment, but I feel as if this would have greater implications in a post-secondary world. As for championship, competition, the ask, and the return, we really are not sure. In addition, the videos promote passive learning where students engage with the video. If there were different built-in exercises, then that would lead to assessment. However, since this was not the case, Educreations is just another way to make a video in an already crowded market. As an EVA, this application seems like a good idea on the surface, but competition and free competitors would prohibit me from investing.

*reposting as I seem to have misplaced it the first time* As an EVA, I would invest in this venture. That being said… This is a quick short elevator pitch that highlights several of the points from deconstructing a pitch. However, understandably misses some details such as championship information, ask and return, management team, and only a little bit about marketing. It does fulfill its purpose of helping people get the big idea. Pain Point: Every great teacher is challenged to find time to spend with 200 students outside of class to provide support in the way that they need. This is a great way of establishing a real connection with teachers that experience the same thing. We can all empathize with the lack of time/availability with students. It draws the listener in. Solution: The Educreations app makes it fast and easy to upload short video tutorials to post on the web for students to replay over and over as needed whenever, wherever. Differentiation & Competition: Competitive Edge: This is the value that got me excited about this person and their venture; he stresses the simplicity of use, automation, the immediacy of the app. There is no need to learn complicated technology in order to produce the videos. • Simply press record, then all that is said and written is captured. • Recording in real time and no pre or post production • Imbedded the ability to quickly web search images and automatically upload • Recording automatically stops then resumes so when students replay it there is no gap • Has an easy save flow (title, describe, who sees, category) • Immediate upload to the web with immediate access and playback • Students notified automatically by email Venture Concept: The presenter seems to have done his homework and stresses their main points about the quick ease of use. It is hard to tell if the venture is original as this pitch is from June 2012, currently, there are several whiteboard apps on the market, though none seem to have the same easy use and immediacy. The story that he uses to highlight his venture is compelling and very credible. Marketing & Market Readiness: The app has already been created and is in use. The presenter uses the story of a teacher that has used his app with success. He highlights how the teacher has been able to make 60-recorded lessons in one semester, bringing our focus back to the easy usability of the program with a real life example. Then goes further to show the teacher’s success with his lessons being viewed 17,000 times by thousands of students around the world. Wouldn’t we all like our lessons to be that popular and accessible? So it leads to the idea that there is also good potential for word of mouth marketing to increase the demand for the product. The presenter himself comes across as well –informed, confident, and passionate about the product. He works well with focusing on a concise story of a real life teacher’s experience with the product. It really adds to his the presentation to have an interesting real life face to the application. As an EVA I would invest in this Venture. However, I really had to deliberate over my lack of knowledge in market and lack of information in the elevator pitch. I really liked the concept of being an EVA for a venture incubator and being able to invite them to work on the project for a few months. Eva Note: Don’t read till you’ve watched the pitch and decided This pitch was originally in June of 2012. In follow-up, the startup raised &2.2 million from an incubator and other investors. Since launching more than 50K teachers have created and shared lessons on Educreation’s platform, which is now being used in over 12,000 schools and in 117 countries From AngelList

What a great find. Thanks very much for this. As an EVA, Yes I would invest in this venture. I think this is a good example of a successful venture pitch It was interesting to see how he started to win over the investors during the pitch. Initially, there was a visible ‘taken aback’ reaction to a $ 400,000 investment for only 4% stake in the venture. His personality and passion for the product were a big part of the success of the pitch. He comes across as personable, relatable everyday dad that is very confident and excited about the product. The other part of his success was that his pitch was a concise well-told story that everyone could relate and connect to; it was credible and compelling. He put a very human face to his ideas and presentation and worked on making a personal connection with the potential investors. He addressed the Sharks as fellow parents and he asked if their young children also had difficulty answering what they did in school that day; then followed up with easily relatable video clips of standard children’s answers to “what did you do in school today” He then connected it to a global problem that “we’re in this together” by saying that millions of parents had the same experience every day, especially with younger kids. He really worked on the emotional aspect of the product with by saying how hard it is to leave your “little human being” for so long every day if that is the only indication of how they did during the day. He claimed that the system is broken, and his app was the solution to this daily disconnect between parents and children. The nugget of true value that got me excited about this venture was when he showed how the app worked for him. He used a real life current example of his daughter and showed the updates/photos he received of her. He talked about how his whole relationship with his daughter had changed and become deeper since making the app; that it allowed him to have conversations with Serena when she came home from school since he already had an idea of what she was up to. This was his great ‘hook’, you could see one of the investors faces light up with the thought ‘I could/want that for me’ Finally, the other things that really convinced me and added to his pitch was the fact that he had done his homework. He knew his market size and share, and was confident about his revenue. He demonstrated market readiness by having already created it, test marketed, and expanded. So they were well already on their path to success and had a clear idea of where they were going.

No, as a venture capitalist, I also would not invest in "Empowered Learning," although the idea was presented in an appealing, interesting, and clear and confident manor. The video was quite good, covering previous/current market environment and clear pain-points (time for teachers, progress/information for parents, formative feedback and help for students) with explanations of how each would benefit (solution). The biggest minus for me, was no discussion of differentiation (others tried and failed in the past for various significant reasons) or any unique reasoning why this would succeed over others (competitive edge). Also, "automating" tasks is not necessarily the best way to pitch technology-based solutions, rather it might have been better to focus on this as an 'intelligent assistant' (the connotative meanings are less negative?) This was indeed a well-told story with a likable character; however, also not discussed was management team, marketing, return, and exit strategy. Who actually buys this in a K-12 sphere? In order to be used effectively and systematically, this would likely be districts and administrators which there was no mention of. Also as Christopher mentions no mention of the revenue structure for the service/product itself to make money. Is it a product or service? How to address financial, logistical, legal and ethical concerns? I did rate this video high as it holds great value to me as a student here!