Reflection

This assignment was an interesting and insightful one as we took on the roles of being entrepreneurs. As special needs parents, the topics of ableism and equity are close to our hearts. Our ideas for this assignment naturally revolved around our beliefs and passions for advocacy and using technology to teach and learn. We brainstormed several ideas and with each idea, we imagined how it would appeal to investors and become successful in the marketplace. Ideas came intuitively, but it was difficult to choose to focus on only one.

Ever since having a child with disabilities, we have gained a different perspective in life and better understand the needs, challenges, and experiences of people with disabilities. For Joseph, he strives to remove barriers for people with special needs and educate others on disability and equity. For Joyce, who is a K-12 educator, she acknowledges that teachers have many responsibilities and are very busy. Teachers are key players in promoting inclusion within their classrooms, however, many do not have the skill sets nor training to be able to deal with students that have diverse learning needs. In reality, many may have general knowledge and skills to engage and motivate students, but it is not adequate.

We decided to build on the idea of an app that could provide teachers with the tools they need to develop their skill sets and confidence in implementing inclusion in the classroom. At first, we thought of setting up a learning centre for people to sign up for courses as our venture. Then our idea changed as we learned about mobile apps, microlearning, and AI in education. We combined all these with our idea and came up with the INTeacher app. Anytime, anywhere learning along with on-demand support are solutions to what teachers need.

Overall, this was a challenging assignment for us because this was our first time creating a venture and making a pitch. We thought the elevator pitch would be quick and easy to write since it was short. It turned out to be harder than we expected. We had to look up a number of resources on the internet for examples of how to develop pitches. We needed to put ourselves into the shoes of the analyzers and figure out the components that would make them interested in investing into our INTeacher app. We believe that our INTeacher app will be successful if we put together a skilled and competent team to develop it. Our venture concept is unique, there is a market need, and the advances of AI will continue to offer new opportunities for educators and students.

The Strengths of Our Pitch

Short and concise, our pitch addresses a market need to provide teachers with tools for classroom inclusion that focuses on the expanding UDL and microlearning market, the latter of which is expected to reach $3.8 billion (globally) by the year 2027.

Understanding that the buyers of our venture will be the Ministry of Education, district school boards, and school administrators, our pitch explains how our app benefits teachers with easy-to-use tools and available 24/7 supports for inclusive classroom environments to all students.

Focused on affordability, our subscription-based app offers monthly paid subscriptions for teachers that range from a $1.99 to $7.99 per month. Our pitch also outlines to investors how our venture is fully scalable; once monthly subscriptions reach 100,000 users, earnings will be redirected into research and development, with a focus on growth and expansion into larger markets such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.

The Weaknesses of Our Pitch

As a new product offering in an unique field, our INTeacher app serves as a pioneer in providing teachers with accessible tools and 24/7 support to promote classroom inclusion. With a lack of competition, a weakness to our pitch is setting a price for monthly subscriptions that investors are comfortable with, as there is no actual reference point for a similar product or app that offer teachers 24/7 support for classroom inclusion.