pointed columbia

Pointed

Team:!Gabriel Teo !Guan Hao Chan!Kaidi Sun!Christian Chow!

Interviews Today: 7!Interviews to Date: 67!

Learning tool that utilizes crowd-sourced evaluation to enhance team-based learning in academic environments

KP! KA! VP! CR! CS!

Small and medium-sized companies, operating in a lean fashion with an open-office concept: lots of meetings, discussions and interactions.!

Academic environments with group work, presentations and classroom discussions.!

Managers will be closely engaged to customize and implement the software for the organization.!

Usage of software will be largely autonomous and independent, as managers will facilitate sessions and user behavior.!

Software will be distributed via downloads through the internet with no physical product.!

Product will be marketed mainly through word-of-mouth and targeted online advertising.!

Feedback is immediate, transparent, continuous and accountable.!

Smart Management!Managers get evaluation data fed to them to provide managerial intelligence on team dynamics and individual performances.!

Enhanced Performance!End-users gain objective, holistic and specific feedback on every single work interaction.!

Users will provide feedback on other users after every meaningful interaction.!

Users will review the comments given after interactions. Managers will use comments to assess work performance.!

Pointed will be developed from scratch.!

App provides a platform for users to give and view comments.!

Data analytics will provide smart managerial insights for managers to use and act upon.!

Variable Costs!Server costs will be our largest cost component. We intend to utilize AWS as it allows us to easily scale up our operations with increased demand.!

Fixed Costs!Manpower and advertising costs will make up our largest cost component in this category. We intend to operate leanly to minimize expenditure.!

Subscription Model. Pointed will be offered free of charge for the first 50 users of any organizations, and will cost any additional user $5/month thereafter.!

KR! C!

C$! R$!

In-house Consultants. Pointed will expand to provide experts to provide specific data analytics towards companies to enhance their talent management through our software. !

Executers: Managers!

End-users: Employees!Initial Client Base!The initial client base will be established through alpha and beta-testing phases, and will have a huge influence in testing the functionality and application of the software.!

Day 1

What We Thought – Day 1!

Teams

•  Pointed would be relevant in all team settings

•  Crowd-sourced awareness and informed development to end-users

•  Managerial intelligence and efficient evaluation to managers

•  Improved productivity and attractive team culture to CEOs

•  Software as a Service •  Provide consulting service

KP! KA! VP! CR! CS!

Small and medium-sized companies with an open culture. operating in a lean fashion with an open-office concept: lots of meetings, discussions and interactions.!

Academic environments with group work, presentations and classroom discussions where there is a constant need for interactions in a group setting.!




Users will provide feedback on other users after every meaningful interaction.!

Users will review the comments given after interactions. Managers will use comments to assess work performance.!




Subscription Model. Pointed will be offered free of charge for the first 50 users of any organizations, and will cost any additional user $5/month thereafter.!

KR! C!

C$! R$!

Primary customers: CEOs!


End-users: Employees!



Open Culture!Transparency and openness of opinions are promoted within the workplace.!





In-house Consultants. Pointed will expand to provide experts to provide specific data analytics towards companies to enhance their talent management through our software. !

Initial Client Base!The initial client base will be established through alpha and beta-testing phases, and will have a huge influence in testing the functionality and application of the software.!

Day 2

What We Learned – Day 2!

Single segment focus Focused on corporates

Managers are not decision-makers

Pointed would be applicable in companies

with an open culture

Big companies have internal HR systems

Identified CEOs as primary customers

Focused on small companies and startups

Removed in-house consulting as a source

of revenue

Small companies Startups

KP! KA! VP! CR! CS!




Startups!





HR journals and publications (to be validated)!





Design a platform that is simple, non-disruptive and user-friendly.!

Provide concise, actionable insights.!



Server (e.g. AWS)!



Subscription Model!Pointed will be offered at the cost of $5/month per user.!

KR! C!

C$! R$!


Initial Client Base!The initial client base will be established through alpha and beta-testing phases, and will have a huge influence in testing the functionality and application of the software.!

Small companies!

Day 3


Startups are relatively small Removal of free-service promotion

Concerns about level of anonymity

Concerns about disruption to work flow

Managers concerned that Pointed would introduce

more work instead

Customize the level of transparency to align with

company culture

Introduce tweet format to keep it simple short

Introduced smart managerial reports

Small companies Startups

KP! KA! VP! CR! CS!




Free trial!

Telemarketing to early adopters!

App stores!

Official website!







Pointed will be developed in-house. Thus we have no external suppliers.!

Initial clientele will have a huge influence in testing the functionality and application of the software.!



Server (e.g. AWS)!



Subscription Model!Companies will be charged $5/month per user.!

KR! C!

C$! R$!

Successful start-ups who are rapidly scaling.!Academic and

Corporate Experts in fields of talent management.!

Telemarketing!

Word-of-mouth!

Startups!

Small companies!

Day 4


Customers were most convinced when they

needed scalable management

Targeted startups that are rapidly scaling or

are in transition

Need for theoretical credibility

HR departments control learning and talent management tools

Inertia to switch from existing systems to Pointed

Endorsements from HR journals and industrial-

organizational psychologists

Modify our channels to reach out to HR

departments

Introduced free trial period

Startups in transition

KP! KA! VP! CR! CS!

Primary customers: Department heads!

Executers: Professors!

End-users: Students!

Pointed is targeted at universities, particularly at classes where students work frequently in team based settings.!

Free trial!

Telemarketing to early adopters!

App stores!

Official website!


Smart Management. !Managers get evaluation data fed to them to provide managerial intelligence on team dynamics and individual performances.!





Pointed will be developed in-house. Thus we have no external suppliers.!

Soft-launch to test product with professors to discover bugs and usage data !



Server (e.g. AWS)!



Subscription Model!Companies will be charged $5/month per user.!

KR! C!

C$! R$!

Academics in the field of talent management.!

Telemarketing!

Word-of-mouth!

Direct Sales!

Day 5


Users questioned diminishing returns to

using the tool

Customer lifetime value is limited – acquisition

cost is high

HR: inherent conflict between compensation and

developmental tool

Need to ensure compensation is de-linked from the insights of the tool

No longer feasible

New Hypotheses – Day 5!

Need right incentives for usage of the tool

Universities have focus on learning for appropriate

usage of Pointed

New students come in every semester

Large number of students per batch

High customer LTV

Acquisition cost-to-LTV ratio is probably lower

Universities

What We Are Going to Do Next!

•  Conduct further survey of students to discover level of anonymity and usage of application

•  Validate user interface with students to discover level of disruption to classroom

•  Survey professors to understand what kind of insights they want on student behavior

•  Survey willingness to pay of department heads for such tool. Who would be a paying entity?

•  Reach out to previous profs who committed to pilot our tool in their class to continue our development

pointed columbia

Education