A Tool to Ensure That Your College Investment Pays Off In my last post, I reviewed a company that wants to turn river pollution into energy. This week, I review a pitch to bring clarity to college research and the college experience. You can view both the video pitch and my video review below. Here's the pitch: Here's my review: I love seeing students getting involved in entrepreneurship, and it's great that the concept of this pitch was developed for college students by college students. It always lends credibility to a concept when the entrepreneurs see a problem around them and bring their relevant perspective to bear. My attention was caught immediately by the statement that college is the second largest purchase a person makes in a lifetime. That's a powerful statement and certainly the cost of college and the potential payoff - or the lack thereof - is very much in the zeitgeist these days. So we know there is an issue here. That said, I think some aspects of the pitch need to be addressed. The Concept The Campuszilla platform seems too broad and too ambitious for a starting point. Based on the pitch, the company is going after high school students and their parents, people looking to research all aspects of college life. But it's also targeting students who have already arrived on campus. All of the bells and whistles, from digital chats to ratings and more, seem robust but they make the business harder to explain and execute. The K.I.S.S. acronym comes to mind here - simplicity works best for online models. You can add to it later, but to stand out in the marketplace, you should try to do one thing really well. Also, the pitch says that the Campuszilla concept is unique, but the pitcher failed to differentiate it from other college resource sites like Unigo, College Confidential or Zinch. No matter how strong your concept, it's important to show an awareness of the competition and how your plan is different. I also think the model would be stronger if it were focused on the biggest issue relating to education right now: financing a college education (and making sure students get a return on their investments). Narrowing the scope would make this a much more interesting opportunity, and it can always be expanded later. Or maybe it should start as an app and then expand to a full site once the market is shown to be viable. Participation Campuszilla relies heavily on participation from college students for content and ratings. That participation will make the site either compelling or not compelling, depending on the quality of the content. There was no discussion of how students at thousands of college campuses will be incentivized to fill in that content - not just to begin with but on an ongoing basis. This is a big execution hurdle that will directly affect the value of the site. The Revolving Door The revolving door of users was called out as a strength. While every strength can be a weakness, and vice versa, I see this one as a clear weakness. The best models generate loyal fans that spend more and more time and money with the company. The fact that this business will need to regenerate its user base is an impediment to growth. It doesn't kill the concept, but it does need to be overcome. In addition, there were other issues that were not addressed. There was no discussion of what stage this concept is in - although I suspect it is just in the idea stage. And there were no mentions of milestones, marketing or other execution factors. Most notably absent was any discussion of the team. As has been the case in previous videos, the pitcher didn't identify himself or tell why he and his team were qualified to make this idea a reality. Plus, there was no discussion of the money it took to get this going and what any additional capital would be used for. Over all, I do think there is a market here. And, while I am not ready to take a second meeting with this group, I am a sucker for college entrepreneurs. So I would encourage the Campuszilla team members to try another initial pitch once they have re-evaluated their model. There is, however, a long road ahead before this idea becomes a reality. Please feel free to offer your thoughts in the comments section below. If you are interested in making your own pitch, you can find more information here. Carol Roth is a business strategist who has helped clients raise more than $1 billion in capital. You can follow her on Twitter.