These Are the Slides You Need to Include in Your Next Pitch Deck

You will need a strong pitch deck in your quest to find funding and commercialization partners for your new technology or business idea. Welcome to a discussion with Rae Steinbach, The Funding Circle, about the perfect pitch deck. 

A strong pitch deck is an invaluable tool for any entrepreneur looking to attract small business funding or an investment, and there are countless examples available online detailing the various strategies startups use in their presentations. Many entrepreneurs aren’t aware of the factors that are most important to potential investors, so it’s crucial to consider things from their point of view when designing your pitch.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to a successful pitch deck, and it’s important to remember that what works for one business may not be as effective for another. That said, you should consider including these fundamental slides in your upcoming pitch deck.

Your Problem

Finding a problem to fix is one of the most crucial steps involved in creating a successful business, and the problem you plan to solve is just as important to your investors.

Connect your idea to real-world situations and needs that investors can relate to. Numbers and strategies are important too, but every strong pitch fills a critical need in the market.

Your Solution

Following the explanation of the problem you plan to solve is the way you plan to solve it. Solution slides are all about explaining how your idea changes the way people approach your problem.

Demonstrating your solution typically involves showing how your service or product would be used. Again, this section ties the big ideas from your other slides in with real-world examples and shares a clear value.

Your Team

Investors are used to hearing about the next big thing, but what they’re really interested in is what makes your team the right group for the job.

Your team slide should highlight the main contributors along with their expertise and relevant experience. If you’re still looking for new members, use this slide to identify the positions you need to fill and what they will do for your business.

Your Competition

Competition is critical to the success of any business, especially for startups that are still building their brand.

Including a slide about your competition gives you a chance to talk about other ways users are solving the problem your business targets and how your company is different. You’ll be able to highlight any competitive advantages and demonstrate why you’ll succeed over other businesses in the same niche.

Your Investment

The point of a pitch deck is to encourage investment, so you should add at least one slide on investment near the end of your presentation.

This slide is meant to explain how much investment money you need and how it will contribute to your short- and long-term goals. You can also mention others who have already invested in your business.

More than 600,000 new businesses are founded every year in the United States alone, and investment is crucial to growth and stability in the early phases. Adding these critical slides to your upcoming pitch deck will tell investors everything they need to know to feel confident in your startup.

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About Rae Steinbach: 
Rae is a graduate of Tufts University with a combined International Relations and Chinese degree. After spending time living and working abroad in China, she returned to NYC to pursue her career and continue curating quality content. Rae is passionate about travel, food, and writing.
 

Interview with Gary Stading, Ph.D.: Energy Leadership MBA In a Time of Amazon, Google, AI Robotics, Climate Change, Fear

Welcome to an interview with Dr. Gary Stading, Dean of the College of Business, Engineering, and Technology of Texas A and M Texarkana. 

1.  What is your name and your background
Dr. Gary Stading comes to Texas A-M Texarkana after a distinguished career in industry, including transportation and supply chain management. He has been recognized by a number of global organizations for his contributions.

https://youtu.be/RxifFpSaQ5g

2. How can an MBA prepare a person for changing times? 
The Texas AandM Texarkana MBA program is designed to help build and enhance the skill set you need to compete in today’s fast-paced marketplace. Whether you are managing your own business or trying to advance your career to the next level, completion of the Texas A--M Texarkana MBA program gives graduates a competitive edge through its unique class design approach, flexibility, affordability, and diverse concentration options.

What makes Texas A - M Texarkana different?
The College of Business, Engineering, and Technology (CBET) faculty concentrate on preparing students to be valuable leaders in both business, and community service initiatives.  The CBET offers quality undergraduate and graduate programs through academically and professionally qualified faculty.  The tenured and tenure- track faculty members are active scholars that consider intellectual scholarship an asset for providing excellence in teaching.  The faculty pursues continuous improvement, and they realize that the curriculum must emphasize critical thinking skills and emerging technological solutions to prepare students for today’s complex business environment.  In addition, the faculty recognizes the importance of being active in community service.

3.  What do you see as the importance of Energy Leadership at this point in time and in the future?
The College of Business, Engineering and Technology works closely with members of energy based organizations, such as the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and Southern Gas Association (SGA), to offer an MBA with a concentration in Energy Leadership. to meet the needs of many growing businesses. This degree is developed for professionals already in the energy arena or aspiring for valuable and exciting careers in the energy and petroleum based industries, including oil and gas.  The coursework develops skills vital to successful leadership in energy related fields.  These topics include such areas as risk assessment and the management, accounting and financial planning specific to energy related fields, and management of capital and personnel resources. The program is offered online which enhances and encourages student interaction from all over the globe.

4.  How can Supply Chain Management make a different for students in their professional lives and careers and how is SCM changing?
Supply Chain Management (SCM) provides an exciting and rewarding path of study, in which students learn skills that directly affect and can increase business profitability. Careers in SCM take many paths and end up with a multitude of career options.  The curriculum teaches students to properly balance materials, finances, and information throughout the supply chain to achieve growth of company profitability.  Skills acquired via the Supply Chain concentration are in high demand. By completing a degree in Supply Chain Management, students will set themselves apart to succeed in business. Students will develop analytical skills in learning about inventory management, logistics, quality, purchasing, and transportation. Students in supply chain management have the opportunity to learn and then subsequently return value to both their own personal investment portfolios or to grow their company business.  Supply Chain is changing the way businesses compete.  Students learn how businesses leverage relationships with suppliers and customers by forming teams to compete in the marketplace.

5.  What are some of the new directions in business leadership that you see emerging?
I don’t know that I would call these perspectives “new directions,” but I’ll talk about some of the newer academic topics and perspectives being discussed in leading business education journals. One such topic is that the authors are arguing that it is important for business leaders to keep the forces of technology from dehumanizing the workplace.  De-emphasizing the human element out of the workplace is strongly discouraged because it basically eliminates a key sustainable competitive advantage for businesses.  Another stream of leadership discussion warns against “hero worship” of business leaders.  This rhetoric discusses how the practice of romanticizing business leaders gives too much credit and too much blame for failures on high profile leaders of companies.  A third area of discussion is really a research area.  A group of researchers are evaluating how a transfer of workplace knowledge is occurring and should occur between the retiring baby boomer generation and the millennials stepping in to take their place.

6.  Please recommend a few books for our readers.
I personally would like to recommend of recent resurgence of a genre of books out about some historical leaders.  I have read some recently published books about U.S. Grant, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lincoln, and others (each has different authors and titles).  While their places are cemented in history, the stories of these historical political leaders and recently researched leadership styles provide a fascinating perspective on effective leadership styles.  Two, in particular, are the recent biographies about Grant and Lincoln.  These stories also provide analysis of some of their failures, discussing how these leaders overcame or coped with the trials and tribulations of these eerily similar obstacles experienced by modern day leaders. The stories about Lincoln and Grant involve some surprising similar problems that modern day leaders face.  For instance, Grant, when he was president, was deeply involved in equality issues of all kinds (e.g. both race and gender).  Anyway, I believe we can learn a lot about leadership by studying some of our historical leaders. 

Life Edge Interview with Gary Stading, Ph.D.
https://youtu.be/RxifFpSaQ5g

Insights ... which ... 

Strategies for Repurposing Content to Build High-Value Online Educational Offerings

One of the best methods for building revenue and sales for technical products and services is to provide education and training. However, it’s not always easy to organize the training, or to know what to offer. There are advantages and disadvantages for each form of education. They can be standalone, and they can also be bundled to create online units that can be place in sequences to help master a topic, or to provide review for those that require complementary skills or content.

Assuring the Best Granularity / Building Block approach
--Training and professional development content
--Identify purposes
--White Papers
--Podcasts / Audio
--Webinars
--Training manuals
--Stand-alone assessments (test your knowledge, etc.)
--Stages and sequences – tie to individual’s career development
--Types of content and how to match to products

sketch by susan smith nash

Steps for Selecting the Best Speakers/Instructors and Subject Matter Experts for Your Program

·    --Identify what you want to accomplish

·      --Is this a one-off or part of a series?

·      --How advanced are your learners?

·         --How technical is your instructor?

·               -- Match-making: your instructor, the style, the assessment, the materials
          _Use a Guru! 

·               -- How will your SME perform?  How will the “face” deliver the content?

·               -- It is a lot more than content: sequence, style, clarity, charisma, chunking, scaffolding, assessment, mastery learning, and more

     How do you plan to market your course? The best of the best?

·         --Guide on the side? Self-Directed? Independent “Discovery” learning?

·         --Fail-safe your experts: Backup texts and assessments

How to Select the Best LMS or VLE for your Organization  

·        --Learning Management System? Or, Virtual Learning Environment?

·        -- What’s the difference between an LMS and a VLE?

·         --What are you using your e-learning for? What are your goals and overall purpose?

·        -- How many people will be using the training?  Students?

·        --How much input will the internal administrators, SMEs, etc. have?

·        -- What do you have to show credentialing or regulatory bodies in order to achieve compliance?

 
Concluding Thoughts 
Course and curriculum needs change. Careers, jobs, and skills paths change. The person who was learning to program Ruby on Rails and Java yesterday for a shopping cart application could be cryptocurrency mining for Bitcoin tomorrow. Make sure that your approach is flexible.

Corn of the Mind: Creating Value in a Post-Work Robot World

Interview with Jean Floten, Chancellor, Western Governors University (WGU) Washington

Welcome to an interview with Jean Floten, Chancellor of Western Governors University (WGU) Washington. Western Governors University (WGU) has been a leader in the development and delivery of online learning and has been at the forefront of establishing best practices. A flagship and guide for all organizations seeking to provide accredited, high-quality online degrees, Western Governors University has maintained a commitment to competency-based online learning, and has maintained high standards. Now, Western Governors University has partnered with the State of Washington establish WGU-Washington specifically to accommodate the needs of the citizens of Washington. 

1.    What is your name and your involvement in eLearning?
I am Jean Floten, Chancellor of Western Governors University (WGU) Washington. I’ve devoted my entire career to higher education – including over 22 years as the President of Bellevue College, where we were an early pioneer in e-Learning.  Drawn to its competency-based, mentor-supported, affordable online delivery model, I joined WGU in 2011 as the first Chancellor for Washington.

Jean Floten, Chancellor of Western Governors University Washington

2.    What is WGU Washington, and what is its history, mission, vision?
Western Governors University – WGU Washington’s “parent” organization – was founded by 19 governors of Western states in 1997.  At that time, they knew education was becoming even more important to meet the needs of a growing knowledge-based economy. Their vision was to make education more available to people in their states. They wanted to create a new type of university that captured the power of the internet to transform the way education was delivered and evaluated student learning and awarded credentials based on demonstrated competencies. They wanted it to be affordable – so people would not have to go into debt to earn a degree – and open to anyone who could benefit from the programs. 

WGU has not veered from this founding vision. It is what drives us today.

In 2010, Indiana  Governor Mitch Daniels entered into the first agreement to bring a state-based WGU affiliate into a state.

Then, five years ago this spring, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire signed legislation establishing a partnership with WGU. The legislative intent was to expand access to affordable, higher education for Washington residents. The result of that partnership is WGU Washington – the first and only legislatively-endorsed, online university in our state.

The impetus for the partnership in Washington came from community and technical colleges and legislators who knew more enrollment opportunities were needed in Washington, especially for transfer students. While more capacity was needed, budget shortfalls during the recession were making its funding impossible. WGU Washington operates on tuition only and is not dependent on state-funding or tax dollars to operate.

WGU Washington offers more than 50 job-ready bachelor’s and master’s degrees in four, high-demand fields: business, IT, teaching and nursing. WGU is the innovator of competency-based learning, a model that evaluates students and permits them to advance when they’ve proven what they know and can do, as opposed to the traditional model of using “seat-time” to measure progress. Competency-based education allows students the flexibility to work and learn at their own schedule – at a pace that works for them.

The flat rate tuition of about $3000 per six-month term permits students to take as many classes as they can, often accelerating their progress towards a degree and reducing costs. And, by the way, WGU’s surprisingly low tuition includes text books and additional learning resources! All of which keeps the cost of one’s education very affordable.  In fact, the average time for this year’s graduates to obtain a bachelor’s degree was 26 months for a bachelor’s degree and 21 months for a master’s degree.  The national average is 60 months! 

Delivered online, the model is suited well for hardworking adults who often have trouble balancing school, families, and work. Because WGU’s content is delivered online, students may study at any time and from any place – during breaks, late at night, early in the morning, weekends, or on public transit.  This permits many people to work their education into already busy lives. 

Our students are non-traditional learners. Their average age is 37 and many of them, 68 percent to be exact, are classified as underserved, meaning they live in rural areas or have low incomes.   More than a third of our students are the first in their families to attend college – a fact that makes us proud. 

3.    What does WGU Washington do? How is it unique?
WGU Washington helps hardworking Washingtonians to change their lives by qualifying them for positions that carry a living wage – enabling them to take jobs as nurses, teachers, IT or business professionals, or to qualify for advancement or even change fields altogether.

WGU uses a pioneering, competency-based model that allows working adults to apply the knowledge they have gained through work experience and previous education towards their degree, enabling them to focus on learning what they need to, when they need to.  Rather than award credit for time spent in class and listening to a single message that goes to every student, WGU Washington presents content that students cover at their own pace. Additionally, the model allows students to advance when they demonstrate they’ve mastered the course material – at a level that prepares them for professional effectiveness – by passing “high fidelity” assessments, both objective and performance based.  This unique model allows time, place, and pace-bound learners to pursue their degrees.

Studies have predicted that by 2018, 67 percent of jobs statewide here in Washington will require postsecondary education. Washingtonians— including busy adults who already have jobs, families, and lifestyles that make a traditional university setting unrealistic — will need to earn their bachelor’s and master’s degrees to qualify for these positions. WGU Washington is able to open doors for these nontraditional students and make further education possible.  For example, WGU Washington is a perfect choice for registered nurses who received an associate’s degree from a community college and are now expected by their employers to complete their bachelor’s in nursing.  With the challenging hours nurses work, WGU Washington offers the flexibility to complete the degree on their own schedules.  It is also a great choice for military personnel and their dependents who may be transferred often. They can attend WGU and never have to worry about transferring credits at their new duty station.

4.    How did WGU start to achieve its goals?
WGU Washington is proud to be part of the higher education family in Washington.  It provides a viable option to many Washingtonians, because of its affordability and accessibility, who thought getting a degree was just a distant dream.

In just five years, the university’s enrollment has increased by more than 1,000 percent from roughly 800 students in 2011 to more than 9,000 full-time students statewide today.

WGU Washington is the locally-based affiliate of Western Governors University – or, simply, WGU. WGU currently serves over 70,000 students nationally. Interestingly, Washington is home to more WGU students than any other state in the country. In addition, nearly 6,000 men and women in Washington have earned bachelor’s or master’s degrees in career-focused fields from WGU.

This staggering growth highlights the demand for the type of education WGU Washington offers.  The needs of nontraditional students – those who are historically underserved – are different from the needs of a typical undergraduate.  WGU Washington provides access to higher education for people that wouldn’t be able to earn degrees otherwise.

And when students meet their goals, our university meets its goals – goals focused on high quality, affordable and accessible higher education for students statewide.

Both students and their employers report high satisfaction with WGU.  Student satisfaction is 96%, and 100% of our employers say our grads are well-prepared for their jobs. That is what makes it all worthwhile! 

Interview with Eric Hung, Educator.com -- Innovators in E-Learning Series

Having access to the best instructors and the best course content can provide learners with the support they need to excel in high school AP courses, college and in their professions. For Educator.com, the goal of providing outstanding instruction and content in science and math has been a goal that they are achieving via innovative e-learning platforms and a way that brings out the best in outstanding instructors and content.

Welcome to an interview with Eric Hung, co-founder of Educator.com.

1. What is your name, affiliation, and relation to elearning?
Hi, my name is Eric Hung and I'm the co-founder of Educator.com.  I've been with the company since its launch in 2009.  My co-founder and I created the company after college to address a problem of having less than stellar instructors in our high school and college career.  We imagined a site where you could access all the best instructors' lesson.

Eric Hung, Educator.com

2.  What is Educator.com?  How does it help people?
Educator.com is an online math & science instructional video service (think Netflix for online tutoring).  We help students reach their potential with effective and time-saving videos taught by passionate teachers.  We differentiate ourselves from other services by going really in-depth with an average course length of 30 hours.  Our platform also uses two videos, one traditional video that shows the handwriting of the instructor, and another video of the actual instructor to give our lessons a one-on-one tutoring feel.

3.  What is Educator.com's target audience?  What are some of the services and offerings?
Our target audience is the high school or college student who needs help in their math & science courses.  We specialize in AP exam help for high school and pre-medicine courses for college students.  Some examples of our top courses include Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, and AP Calculus AB.  We fill the gap for families who value education but either can't afford private tutors or have inconvenient schedules, as well as give students a 24-hour option for help in addition to in-person tutoring.

4.  What do you think are some of the most intense challenges facing young learners today?
I think one of the most intense challenges is wondering if what they are learning in the classroom will actually help them in the future, aside from passing the class and scoring well on standardized tests.  I always get asked if my college degree in Biomedical Engineering (Duke) and Master's Degree in Medical Devices (USC) helped me out in creating Educator.  I respond with a resounding yes, that the background aided me in fact checking lessons in the beginning.  But how it really helped was how it instilled my work ethic and interpersonal skills along the way.  I doubt I could get great instructors to take me seriously if I weren't educated myself.



5.  Young learners may prepare for high-stakes standardized tests by following a specific instructional strategy. What is it?
I believe the strategy to prepare for high-stake tests is to first understand the underlying concepts.  However, then the edge goes to students who can afford to take prep courses where they can focus on strategy and tons of practice.  I definitely believe there's a place for standardized testing, but that it should just be one piece of evaluating a student.

6.  Learners may be good at taking high-stakes standardized tests, but lack the confidence to be creative. How can you help build that confidence?
I believe it starts both at home and in the classroom, with parents and teachers nurturing students' natural curiosity.  Standardized tests might be a necessary evil but they shouldn't take all the classroom time which could be spent with more creative projects.  I also hope that parents aren't too obsessed with afterschool test prep to let their children pursue other non-academic activities.

7. What are some of the theoretical underpinnings incorporated in the Educator.com offerings?
Our primary belief is that great teachers can change everything.  If you ask anyone to think of their best teachers, they usually don't have trouble coming up with one, but seldom do you find someone coming with several.  Educator.com aims to change that by finding the best teachers for every subject.

Our secondary belief is that there needs to be a personal connection with the instructor.  I know that with static videos, it's a little tough, but we think that with our two video model, just seeing the instructor in addition to their handwriting and slides, can make the lesson much more effective.

8.  Can you tell us something about the software, interfaces, and architecture? How is it better than the competition?
Our primary difference is in our two video interface which combines both handwriting and slides along with a video of the instructor.  We believe this leads to a better learning environment. 

We also dive into subjects more in-depth than our competitors and break down each lesson down to each individual topic and make it searchable.  This way our students can search and find exactly what they are looking for.  In creating the syllabus of a course with an instructor, we actively tell them to create their dream course where everything they feel students need to learn is included.

9.  What are the theoretical underpinnings that assure you that example and sample questions are effective and demonstrate learning?
This is one area we can see some room for improvement.  As of now, our lessons include several extra worked out examples at the end of each lesson, along with a "quiz bank" underneath each video.  However, we are working on getting the questions to be adaptive so students can find out what skill they are missing and quickly watch the segment in the video again.

10.  What are some of your strategies to assure engagement and persistence?
There are only a few students that will actively sit down for 30+ minutes to watch a video and we understand this.  That's why we handpick our instructors to be as engaging and effective as possible. 

We ask them to weave in real-world examples and be as passionate as possible. 

We find persistence is tied to really helping students out in their homework, classes, and exams.  However, we also find that our subscriptions are cyclical with the school year and that more students sign up a month or two before the AP's and/or finals, and pause their accounts during summer.

Some of the things that make Educator.com special:

1. Dropdown Menu Screenshot (100+ courses, screenshot shows our science courses, top courses right now are organic chemistry and biochemistry + a variety of AP's)
http://www.educator.com/

2. Instructor Introductions (meet our awesome instructors and also check out the free sample lessons and syllabus below)
https://www.educator.com/chemistry/organic-chemistry/starkey/

3. Sample Video in Biochemistry (full free lesson where you can see our unique learning interface which has two videos, one of the tablet slides and one of the instructor, to give it a one on one tutoring feel)
https://www.educator.com/chemistry/biochemistry/hovasapian/enzymes-i.php

4. Tons of Example Problems (almost all lessons have several worked out example problems that go over types of questions students will likely see in class)

5. Sample Questions (most math lessons will have sample questions beneath each lesson, and almost all subject lessons have study guides and downloadable lecture slides)

6. In-depth syllabus (every lesson is broken down by sub-topic and time so you don't waste time and can search for the exact part of the video to watch)

Additional links:
http://www.educator.com/about/
https://www.educator.com/membership/signup.php
https://www.youtube.com/user/EducatorVids
https://www.facebook.com/educatorinc