---
# System prepended metadata

title: Pitch Deck Content Brainstorming
tags: [Revenue, Brainstorming]

---

# Pitch Deck Content Brainstorming

###### tags: `Revenue` `Brainstorming`

## Personas

### Eduardo The Angel

Eduardo is an angel investor who, like others, has invested in open source companies like Nuxt and N8N. 

He wants the software ecosystem to flourish, which is why he invests into OSS. 

If he sees a solid pitch from a company trying to make strides in the open source software education space, he will likely invest to strengthen that effort.

Eduardo is not a beginner at technology or investing, so he needs to see detailed explanations of the claims that companies make in their pitches. 

### Jerry The Enthusiast

Jerry has been working with computers for most of his life, and he has crafted a good living situation for himself from his time in the technology industry. 

Jerry has seeing the evolution of computer and software technology. That is why he respects and sometimes financially supports institutions like the Apache Software Foundation, the Free Software Foundation, Mozilla, and other impactful tech organizations who have benefited society. 

### Yasmine The Student

Yasmine is a university computer science student who is actively engaged with the Internet. She participates in online organization work and supports initiatives online through websites like Substack and Patreon. 

Yasmine is open to volunteering, spreading the word, and even financially supporting the causes she believes in.


## Angel Investor High Level Pitch - P0

**Goal:** Make the investor empathize with the problem we are trying to solve, what we've done so far to solve it, and ask for a donation of 1k to 50k to help buy us runway for our mission. 

[Current Pitch](https://hackmd.io/1mf8ZB24QVWgpB4GDFr86w)
[Brainstorming](https://hackmd.io/zjEE5cQ-QmuFP8toJd3veg)


## General Audience High Level Pitch - P2

**Goal:** Tell the story about why Grey Software exists, our impact so far, and how you can support us on our mission.

## Investor Detailed Pitch - P1

**Goal:** For the investors that see something special from our high-level page and want to dig in further, this page is designed to increase their confidence in the team and the mission. 

## Ecosystem Partnership Pitch - P2

**Goal:** Show companies the value of aligning their brands as ecosystem partners of Grey software.

# Content Brainstorming

### The problems with the status quo in software education
- The predominantly accepted and traveled path towards getting a software education goes through University
- Most university programs don't stay updated with or practice with the latest industry tech
- The best way for students to fill the gaps left by their course content are practical internships at companies
- Some students don't get internships, some get bad internships, and the best internships require side projects and conduct tough technical interviews
- Without adequate support from core university programs, students often scour the Internet for communities and resources to help them with side projects and technical interviews
- Changing curriculums and introducing initiatives in universities is possible but difficult due to institutional bureaucracy and inelastic public demand for degrees


### How would it look like if we were to construct our dream software education company

- It would provide an authentic educational experience of how software teams create and sustain products
- It would have to have clearly demonstrable proof that they have the credentials to teach you by creating and sustaining products in the marketplace
- It would have to be able to source the latest developments in Industrial and academic software technology
    - We have built web infrastructure to crowd source software knowledge 
- It would give students a practical environment to practice and grow in
- It would keep class sizes small so that students can get the individual attention they need to grow as software creators
    - Since we advocate for practical education by working with a mentor on a project they will be responsible for 


### Why our team is uniquely positioned to solve these problems by through recent trends in software education and global technology

- Introduce our team *(risky but I think why not if it flows?)*

### The Big Picture: Software as a part of our human ecology

- If we want an empowered human race, we must ensure that knowledge about software technology is not disproportionately distributed in favor of certain groups
- For us, creating software with the fundamental legal obligation of making money is not aligned with a balanced orientation, and there is not what we want to pass on to the next generation of software creators. We are not against generating revenue, but we believe that our foundation should be built on purpose rather than profit. 


### How you can support us in our mission to democratize software education

- Individuals can become monthly sponsors and receive premium features in our app collection products
- Individuals or companies can make one time donations and receive a tax credit
- Companies can sign up as ecosystem partners and get recognition across our websites and project repositories
    - It is common practice in the software industry for companies to sponsor the open source projects that they rely on 
    - In return for their sponsorship, they get recognition across the Project repositories and websites 
- Individuals can sign up to volunteer, which can get them rewarded with recognition, premium app collection products, store discounts, etc 
    - Similar to Mozilla, we want to compete asymmetrically against profit-driven technology corporations by leveraging the power of global volunteering efforts
- Individuals can sign up to work with us as software creators if they want to publish a product under our app collection
    - Focused Browsing is a successful case study into this approach

## Content Brainstorming

### The problems with the status quo in software education
- The predominantly accepted and traveled path towards getting a software education goes through University
- Most university programs don't stay updated with or practice with the latest industry tech
- The best way for students to fill the gaps left by their course content are practical internships at companies
- Some students don't get internships, some get bad internships, and the best internships require side projects and conduct tough technical interviews
- Without adequate support from core university programs, students often scour the Internet for communities and resources to help them with side projects and technical interviews
- Changing curriculums and introducing initiatives in universities is possible but difficult due to institutional bureaucracy and inelastic public demand for degrees


### How would it look like if we were to construct our dream software education company

- It would provide an authentic educational experience of how software teams create and sustain products
- It would have to have clearly demonstrable proof that they have the credentials to teach you by creating and sustaining products in the marketplace
- It would have to be able to source the latest developments in Industrial and academic software technology
    - We have built web infrastructure to crowd source software knowledge 
- It would give students a practical environment to practice and grow in
- It would keep class sizes small so that students can get the individual attention they need to grow as software creators
    - Since we advocate for practical education by working with a mentor on a project they will be responsible for 


### Why our team is uniquely positioned to solve these problems by through recent trends in software education and global technology

- Introduce our team *(risky but I think why not if it flows?)*

### The Big Picture: Software as a part of our human ecology

- If we want an empowered human race, we must ensure that knowledge about software technology is not disproportionately distributed in favor of certain groups
- For us, creating software with the fundamental legal obligation of making money is not aligned with a balanced orientation, and there is not what we want to pass on to the next generation of software creators. We are not against generating revenue, but we believe that our foundation should be built on purpose rather than profit. 


### How you can support us in our mission to democratize software education

- Individuals can become monthly sponsors and receive premium features in our app collection products
- Individuals or companies can make one time donations and receive a tax credit
- Companies can sign up as ecosystem partners and get recognition across our websites and project repositories
    - It is common practice in the software industry for companies to sponsor the open source projects that they rely on 
    - In return for their sponsorship, they get recognition across the Project repositories and websites 
- Individuals can sign up to volunteer, which can get them rewarded with recognition, premium app collection products, store discounts, etc 
    - Similar to Mozilla, we want to compete asymmetrically against profit-driven technology corporations by leveraging the power of global volunteering efforts
- Individuals can sign up to work with us as software creators if they want to publish a product under our app collection
    - Focused Browsing is a successful case study into this approach

# Script

## Why are we here?

  <details>
    <summary>Script</summary>
    
  Hi, my name is Arsala and I'm here to ask for your support to help me and my team give people around the world access to
  higher quality software education.

By the end of this pitch, I hope to help you clearly understand:

- What we're doing to solve the problems people face when learning how to create software
- Why our team is uniquely positioned to solve these problems by through recent trends in software education and global
  technology
- How you can support us in our mission to democratize software education
</details>

## Where it all started

  <details>
    <summary>Script</summary>
    
  So, I graduated from the Cambridge high school system in Pakistan with two C's and two D's.

When people would ask, I'd tell them I wanted to be a software engineer because it was a great career path and it could
keep me close to the tech I was passionate about.

But honestly, I was a bit worried because my sense of self competence and hope for the future were low.

Among my grades were mathematics and computer science, two subjects I knew I would encounter in University if I wanted
to pursue software engineering.

Could I make it? How many other people feel like this?

  </details>

## Questioning the system

  <details>
    <summary>Script</summary>
    
  Fast forward five years, and I was a Canadian citizen two semesters away from completing my Bachelors of Computer
  Science from the University of Toronto.

I had a Dean's List GPA, my name on a research paper, 2 published apps on the Play Store, two internships at Google and
one at a start up named Vida Health.

However, It wasn't a laid-back journey by any stretch of the imagination, and I couldn't ignore the problems affecting
other students in a system where I was supposedly winning.

  </details>

## The Problem

  <details>
    <summary>Script</summary>

University software education has not evolved at the same rate as industry software technology has.

The vast majority of university students think that their programs are overpriced and want a better shot at being
prepared for life in the age of software.

  </details>

## Motivation

  <details>
    <summary>Script</summary>
    During my senior year, I was the coordinator of a project collaboration space called the HackLab.

There, I found great meaning in supporting the next generation of students learning how to create software.

As the school year ended, I decided to dedicate my next life venture to empowering the next generation of software
creators with the education they deserved.

  </details>

## Enter Grey Software

  <details>
    <summary>Script</summary>
    I called this venture Grey Software, and the earliest description I wrote for the company during May 2020 was:

_"A non profit org where students can learn software engineering with mentors as they build fun, creative software for
human welfare."_

A lot has changed since then, and in order to understand why we do what we do right now, it's important to get a clear
picture of what's wrong with University Software Education

  </details>

## Undrstanding the Flaws in University Software Education

  <details>
    <summary>Script</summary>
    
  </details>

## What we do

  <details>
    <summary>Script</summary>
    
    ### Open Software

We create open source software that people can trust, love and learn from.

### Open Education

We make openly accessible educational content for learners around the world.

This content is informed by the knowledge and insights we gain developing open products for the marketplace.

### Open Collaboration

We allow students worldwide to practice by collaborating remotely with other open source developers.

  </details>

## What makes us unique?

  <details>
    <summary>Script</summary>
    
    We are pioneering the concept of a software company that transparently competes in the marketplace with the latest tech in order to pass on our knowledge and insights.

  </details>

## Revenue Sources

  <details>
    <summary>Script</summary>

### App Collection Sponsorships

For current and future apps that we publish, we plan to offer free versions to everybody and reserve premium features
for monthly app collection subscribers.

Successful examples of this model include the Google One membership and the Adobe Creative Cloud subscription.

## Ecosystem Partnerships

We offer 4 sponsorship tiers to organizations that would like to feature their brand on our websites and project
repositories.

Successful examples of this model include the VueJS Foundation, Nuxtlabs, and Webpack.

  </details>

## What does **_Grey_** Software mean?

  <details>
    <summary>Script</summary>

### Software you can Trust

Transparency builds trust, which is why we make our designs, code, accounting, and analytics open to the public.

### Software you can Love

Software is a part of our human ecology now, so we value creating delightful software experiences that people can love
and enjoy.

### Software you can Learn From

We empower future software developers by writing our code to be easily understood, and coupling it with open educational
resources.

  </details>


## The Market - Software Products

  <details>
    <summary>Script</summary>
    ### Mozilla

Mozilla creates high quality open source products to promote internet freedom, and manages the Mozilla Developer Network
which is one of the world's best sources for web development education.

  </details>

## The Market - Software Education

  <details>
    <summary>Script</summary>
    ### Free Code Camp

FreeCodeCamp is a not-for-profit company that creates videos, articles, and interactive coding lessons - all freely
available to the public.

### Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

They have Courses about computer science but don't delve as deep as Free Code Camp with respect to industry software
engineer and data science.

### Major League Hacking

MLH has an excellent partnership network with universities and tech companies around the world. With this, they run
events, competitions, and open source apprenticeship programs for students get practical software development
experience.

  </details>

## Our Traction so far (16 months)

  <details>
    <summary>Script</summary>
    
  - Our approach of teaching software engineering with practical open source development
    [has received great feedback from students](https://org.grey.software/feedback/)

- We partnered with a [prominent engineering and technology university in Pakistan](https://www.uetmardan.edu.pk/uetm/) to run [an open source apprenticeship program](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6776955647046025216)

- We appeared on the [Code for Cause Spring of code video series](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNWd6fBPo1k).

- We received 2 grants totalling INR 130,000 (~1700 USD) from [@malpani](https://twitter.com/malpani)

- We received a 1000 USD donation from [Joseph Jacks of the OpenCore summit](https://twitter.com/asynchio)

- We were invited to speak at the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir
  https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6731928808527601664

- We [released a browser extension](https://org.grey.software/focused-browsing/#try-focused-browsing-today) on the
  [Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ocbkghddheomencfpdiblibbjhjcojna) and
  [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/focused-browsing/) extension marketplaces.

  </details>

