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The 3 Minute Pitch For GeekStack
Posted on | November 19, 2008 | No Comments
This afteroon was the Chicagoland Fast Pitch Competition, and alas, GeekStack didn’t win. Not a big surprise since a big part of the judging was “How credible is your team?” and “How big is your market?”. It’s a stretch to call us 3 guys since it’s more like me at one-fourth time plus the option for three others to work when I figure out something for them to do. Oh well, considering that I am about two months into my venture while other people there has spent years and big bucks, I thought I represented myself well. I also got some good guidance from the judges afterwards.
Here is the pitch I gave. I recited it basically word for word to make sure I covered all the required sections in the three minutes allotted. Enjoy!
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When grownups, especially parents, think of education, they think of the value of knowledge and a gateway to a high paying, secure job. Kids see something more like the DMV: boring, slow paced, uninspired and uninspiring. Why is there such a discrepancy?
TV, toys, and video games have taught kids that only fun, attractive things are worth their time, and education is neither fun nor attractive. Kids love learning, but most educational toys and games are so subpar that kids move on and lose interest.
My startup GeekStack is going to address this by making trading cards featuring the heroes of science and technology. Trading cards are a $5 billion/year business, including tie-ins to dynamic media like pro sports or video games. The GeekStack website will do the same. Each card will have an accompanying web page where kids can find out more about that person, and have a puzzle that can be solved for points and prizes. There will also be a trading marketplace on the site.
The way GeekStack will make money is simple: sell cards! We’ll have the usual random packs and boxes as well as complete sets at a premium price for those that don’t want to bother collecting. The web pages will have affiliate links to books about and by the featured person. Finally, once the software platform is mature, we can also power the online component of partners’ trading card lines.
The initial set will cover the field of Computer Science. Future sets can go wider into other fields like Physics or Math, or deeper into any subject. Computer Science is a young field and I’ve already cut dozens of names from the first set.
The competition in consumer entertainment is varied, large, and fierce. The main competition will be from other trading cards with mainstream appeal and parent-approved educational products.
How will I outcompete these big brands? First, by occupying an unfilled niche in the trading card market, we avoid direct competition. I don’t know how big the science card market will be, but I don’t need to sell ten million cards to be profitable. Second, we will provide a better social software experience. Our card-specific site will be easier to use and better suited than general sites. Third, because of the niche focus of each set, the cards can be marketed more specifically than a mainstream product. I’ve already started marketing the Computer Science cards by presenting GeekStack on a variety of industry sites and blogs.
There are three people on our team. I’m Peter Christensen and I have a BS in Computer Science and 5 years of software development experience. John Christiansen is a marketer and graphic designer currently in law school. Steven Carter is a doctoral candidate in economics at UC Irvine who’s helping design the marketplace and allocation plans. We’re old college friends reunited by a common passion. A little seed funding will help us with the initial print run and get the business going. Let’s make the world a geekier place!
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