FORTITUDE
Forts, Family, Fun
Our Idea
Who are we?
My name is Andrew Hunter. I’m the oldest in a family of 7. I am an electrical engineer with experience running workshops to teach kids how to make their own video games. I was home schooled for part of elementary, and I have a passion for hands-on learning. I want kids to be interested in science and technology, and I understand that teaching young minds is extremely valuable.
This is why I have been working to develop Fortitude. This would allow elementary teachers and homeschooling parents to teach volume, surface area and trigonometry in a fun, hands on way that kids will remember.
What are we offering?
Fortitude is a product that allows you to shape massive forts indoors or outdoors using large cardboard templates. It has modular connector pieces in 90, 45 and 30 degree angles, allowing a wide variety of shapes to be made. Each sheet of cardboard can be attached to these pieces easily with minimal force. Specialized lesson plans for teachers will help students to learn about volume, surface area and basic trigonometry. 20% of all proceeds go to the habitat for humanity to help end homelessness and improve quality of life in Calgary communities
Who are we offering it to?
Fortitude will be marketed towards teachers and homeschooling parents. It is sold as part of a kit that includes easy to use lesson plans. Parents with young children are also targeted.
Why does that person care?
Enriches education for kids and we hope it will be just as memorable as those plastic counting cubes that come in 1’s 10’s and 100’s.
Cheap to replace the cardboard part if it gets wrecked
Easy to use for all ages
Reusable connectors ensure continued sustainability
Social venture allows community involvement and is a decisive factor for people wanting to make a difference for homelessness in Calgary.
Our distinctive competencies
Engineering background allows technical design of connectors
Experience teaching kids helps with designing lesson plans that are relevant and easy to understand
Was home schooled personally and have insight into what teachers want.
Grassroots individual focused on enriching learning for kids.
The substitutes & alternatives
There are many cardboard forts available, but many of these are cookie cutter designs that can only be built one way, and set up solely for playing in.
Other cardboard constructions generally are built by adults and are not designed for kids to build themselves. Because they are not modular they require more involved setup.
Building a fort yourself with scrap cardboard, tape and box cutters is not easy nor safe for children to do. Our specialized connector pieces will ensure that it is safe and simple.
Other products have no focus on teaching or any community involvement.
Our Pitch
Our concept pitch
Our personal pitch
The Value
Our first key person
Rose Hunter
Former teacher in the public school board
Home schools some of her children
Cares because she wants fun toys for her kids to play with and set up around the house
Our promise to them is to make our product easy to assemble and cheap to replace when damaged.
Our second key person
Shannon Lemermeier
Teacher in the public school board
Teaches special needs students and English second language.
Cares because it is very difficult to teach math skills to students that do not understand written math problems very well.
Our promise to them is to create full lesson plans that outline exactly what to do so that she can focus her attention on helping students individually instead of making lesson plans.
Our third key person
Edie Reichardt
Principal at Mount View School K-6
In charge of raising funding, increasing student and parent engagement, improving curriculum.
Cares because she would be the one in charge of securing the budget for buying these kits for teachers to use.
Our promise to them is to make the products affordable, reusable and specifically tailored to how they want to teach in their school.
Your feedback and ideas
Feedback on our idea and your assessment of it are incredibly important. Please provide yours below.
Giving feedback and making an assessment are pretty straightforward, but make sure you know how it's done »
Customer (C)
8
Value proposition (VP)
6
Substitutes & alternatives (SA)
6
People (P) on the team
9
Offering (O)
7.8
Distinctive competencies (DC)
9
I think the idea is quite solid. I can clearly see the use case, and it’s really cool that it can be used as a learning and teaching exercise at the same time. I think the value proposition needs to be fleshed out better, as there is no explanation of why the key people care about this idea, or what kind of value that they receive from the offering. Additionally, I would explore the substitutes and alternatives further to see how this innovation compares to other offerings on the market.
Customer (C)
7.5
Value proposition (VP)
7
Substitutes & alternatives (SA)
7
People (P) on the team
9
Offering (O)
9
Distinctive competencies (DC)
9
Engaging children in numeracy through play is a worthy goal, and on I feel could be articulated better in the language of the value proposition. The actual offering is strong, and the dual emphasis on play and education makes this product stand out in comparison to substitutes. Adding a workshop/open source component to this idea may expand the customer base and increase the value proposition. The philanthropic idea is to support communities through fundraising, and building a community around the product could make it more distinctive.