Reflection

After receiving great feedback from my fellow students, I'm pleased to write this reflection of my Venture Pitch and its reception.

The idea of Guidance4U was well received, and I believe that there is opportunity there. In providing a service that is significant in the lives of students and their families, it fills a hole that exists in school-based guidance programs. While a couple of my peers wondered how I would attract users away from their school based guidance counsellors, the reality is that this is not the goal, and I think this is a strength. School-based guidance programs are exceptionally important, and Guidance4U is meant to support them, but significantly, to provide a resource for those who are unable to receive the support they need at school. This is a venture that aims to be an outstanding "extra" rather than a venture that is trying to steal business from the educational system.

Strengths:

• It fills a definite, statistically proven need in our educational system

• Multi-tiered subscription system provides affordability, and the free offerings may aft as a funnel for subscribers

• This is a venture based in my experience, and it is a venture that finds strength in the personality, character, and success of its founder

• It makes itself unique from other for-profit guidance agencies in its tiered system, subscription-based rather than contractual and high-priced

Challenges:

• In larger centres, there are many companies vying for clients, charging a lot of money for guidance/agents, and generally making life difficult for school guidance programs. This may make guidance counsellors and administration suspicious of the venture

• Lacking a detailed financial and business plan - as this venture requires the production of materials to begin and maintain, and once up and running requires the time of guidance counsellors for personalized interactions, a strong financial and business plan is a necessity. 

• Marketing in the face of many aggressive and high-priced agencies will be a challenge, and the need to communicate what is different about Guidance4U is crucial. A strong marketing plan will be a vital element to success.

Based on this feedback and my own judgement, I actually think Guidance4U is a solid venture and worthy of consideration. Further business plan development is essential before asking for investment. With the feedback I received, along with my recognition of the investment of time and money, and the need for increasing levels of guidance counsellor engagement as subscriptions rise, I'd be prone to treat this as a small and independent venture to begin. Develop resources, refine website, build up clientele, then look at seeking investors and building up.