EnkoVN's Mission Statement

To address the growing skill gap for STEM topics (Figure 5), EnkoVN has its mission to bring students engaging content by the use of Educational Graphic Novels (EGNs). Our initial market is within the 36,000 Public Charter and Private Schools in the United States. The relationship that EnkoVN would make is primarily B2B, since the read-a-thon programs must be approved by the schools’ boards of directors. Our end users are, initially, students in grades 6 through 8.

The subjects covered are split into Mathematics, Science, and Critical Writing. Math topics include basic topics in Geometry and Algebra. Science topics include basic concepts of Chemistry and Physics. Critical Writing topics will refer to concepts mentioned in the EGN story. The online platform at EnkoVN.com also serves as a publishing label for artists. Making EGNs of the same format, once approved by a board for educational purposes, it would be hosted on our site. This would allow students to have a broader choice of what type of EGN they would like: Realistic, High Fantasy, or Sci-Fi for example. Technology is utilized to increase the immersion and to provide value to students and to educators.

The main aspects of business that are supported by IT are the automated answer entry and grading, the use of EnkoVN’s Threadless.com store for supplying the apparel, and the outreach on social media and Meetup.com. As the IT development continues, EnkoVN would utilize IT on the eventual supplying of statistical data to educators in order for them to make decisions on their curriculum. Putting this all together, EnkoVN EGNs create narratives to engage student learning by creating a platform where artists, educators, and students are brought together in order to foster learning. Value Proposition The read-a-thon like program is a four week event where students are given online access to an issue of an EnkoVN EGN they decide they like.

At the end of each issue, there is a problem set which the answers must be filled online. Following completion and passing grade, students are given the option to receive apparel or a physical copy of the EGN. The basis for this type of program relies on the notions that bright colors for the art stimulates attention, that students are able to better remember concepts that have an emotional connection attached to them, and that students are incentivized via reward structure. Rewards also serve as a device for emotional connection to the concepts. The main outcome intended is for students to achieve better scores on STEM topics, to practice Critical Writing, and to inspire students to enter STEM related fields. We differentiate from other GNs primarily because of our main online presence and interactive question and answer format.

Our relationship with schools is another differentiation, where most GNs are sold at stores or online marketplaces to individual customers. Since each original work differs from others by the content that artists provide and illustrate, each EGN is able to differentiate from other original works. Additional visions include: students developing a sense of connectedness through the shared experience of participating in the read-a-thon program. If enough interest can be produced for a particular EGN, there may be additional media outlets to enhance the experience such as educational video games or animated films. Finally, the ease of making EGNs allows for content to be published to an international market in different languages. Then a larger educational ecosystem can be achieved.

Market Opportunity

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Science and Technology occupations are growing at 13 percent through the next 5 years. Currently in the United States, the occupations in mathematics and engineering are growing much faster than they are being filled. Healthcare occupations, with their background in biology sciences, have the largest growth rates with a high level of job competition. It makes sense to focus on these areas and develop a workforce with the needed skills and with an interest in the Sciences. Parents that I have spoken to have expressed that their concern that their children are not motivated to the STEM subjects. They have, however, indicated that their children enjoy doing creative workbooks focused on art and have an interest in watching animated media. EnkoVN’s goal utilizes this interest in its development of EGNs which combines education with entertainment.

Customer Profile

There are 36,000 charter and private schools in the United States. Each is either part of a franchise or individually chartered. The primary customer are these schools’ boards of directors and educators. This requires our team to present the site, the EGN mechanics, and the benefits that the schools and the students would receive by taking part in the read-a-thon program. Although we must get approval and support from school boards before implementation, our end users are students. Initially, the EGN program will focus on grades 6 through 8. The content must be able to be completed by the students. The content would also have to be engaging for the students. During our pilot program, content will have to be critiqued by student surveys. Then these topics will have to be adjusted until most students want to participate and are able to complete the assignments.

Go-To-Market

Our pitch to the boards is that, compared to other educational programs, EnkoVN read-a-thons are competitively priced at $100 per classroom. The site will be easy to use where the EGN is hosted online and accessible to students with basic computers or tablets with internet connection. The technical specs of the computers don’t have to be high since the interaction with the site consists of entering values into text entry fields for the problem set of the EGN. Our program must be approved by each school board, but once approved at one member school it would be possible to initiate programs at affiliated schools. Our sales team will focus on the franchised schools initially, and then we would increase the scope to non-franchised schools after 4 years. At that time, our team would be large enough to create a steady increase of enlisted schools year over year and maintain good relations with existing members.

Our activities to attract customers mainly are cold calls to set up appointments to demo the site and EGN program. With the 36,000 charter and private schools spread across the United States, it would take the sales team the initial 4 years to contact and meet with the boards of directors. Product rollout happens as new offerings from artists are approved for the EnkoVN EGN format. These titles would have to go through review from the school boards and then upon approval be added as options for the students to participate in. For the first 4 years, we expect that our support team will grow proportionally to the number of schools brought into the program.

Economic Model & Momentum

Our model centers on developing relationships with charter and private schools. Our sales team is utilized in acquiring new contracts with these schools, so the team and acquired relationships grow year over year. Since we provide the platform where artists can develop EGNs, another activity the sales team does is promote our platform at tradeshows and conferences. EnkoVN intends to have a subscription-based model for classes of students. However, there is a possibility to have the site include individual subscribers to sign up for EGN access. This would be geared mostly to parents who want their children to practice their STEM skills.

EnkoVN will eventually offer its EGNs, for individual subscribers, in multiple languages to reach students in foreign markets. The versatility of the platform being available online allows for this to happen. If there is enough interest in a particular country, EnkoVN may send sales people to make relationships with foreign schools. The nature of EnkoVN EGNs make it possible to transition to non-educational media in the form of GNs, Video Games, and Animated Films.

Next Steps

Upon approval, we would build EnkoVN’s site to be interactive and develop the data management system. The data management system would have to conform to the necessary privacy level for students and educators. The site would also have to feature basic statistics on how students performed on the problem set. Finally, the method of reward for those who had active participation and for those who passed the problem sets would have to be approved by the school’s board. Upon approval, our sales team would begin participating in industry events to promote EnkoVN’s EGN program.

We would look to contract to hire artists who want to participate in EnkoVN’s platform. This may be done with collaboration through EnkoVN or may be furnished fully by the artist and subject to approval by EnkoVN. Before the EGN program can be put to market, EnkoVN would enlist the use of pilot programs at interested schools at no cost to the school. This would help determine the quality of service needed and how EnkoVN would have to manage performance of the site. The pilot program can be used to determine the content that is most popular to participate, and then EnkoVN can also determine what educational material is able to be handled by students.

Source and Use of Funds

A Kickstarter would be used to raise awareness and funds for the first year. Angel investment would drive the next four years of activities. At the end of the fourth year, a second Angel is projected. Additionally, after year four the read-a-thon EGN programs initiated would be profitable and fund the business over the next years to provide the return to the investors. The use of funds for the first four years are split mainly in making the site interactive, acquiring content from artists, and developing relations with schools. There will be significant travel costs to visit schools and attend trade shows, which would be the main use of Angel Investment in order to generate sales.