Procuit

Tom Meloche believes the system he has developed at Procuit better matches the brain's learning architecture better than any other.

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Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Defining New Markets | Education | Procuit | Tom Meloche | Twelve Month Goals | Web 2.0

Tom Meloche wants Procuit to be known as the knowledge transfer (training) company on Facebook (download 6 minute iPod compatible video, 30MB). In a year, he would like to have thousands of curricula up and be cash flow positive even though they may be giving away 80% of their material for free. These goals are achievable if Procuit focuses its marketing on vertical segments and sells content that it knows already sells.

But Tom has a larger goal. He wants to put content up in a way that makes it possible for every child to master the basics of a K12 education no matter where they live. If MIT's ambition is to provide one laptop per child, Tom's ambition is to make sure those children are actually learning something from the laptop. He believes the system he has developed at Procuit better matches the brain's learning architecture better than any other.

The advantages of doing business in Michigan is that costs are lower, and start-ups focus on viable business models early on.

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Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Globalization | Procuit | Tom Meloche | Web 2.0

Tom Meloche thinks of himself as off-shoring to Michigan. In this five minute segment (download iPod compatible, 27MB), Tom describes how he tries to use Procuit's Michigan location to advantage while competing in a "Web 2.0" space that has its epicenter in Silicon Valley. The advantage of doing development in Michigan is that it lowers the cost of doing business.

However, there are also disadvantages. The capital markets are not as developed and there is less critical mass for idea flow. Oddly, this too may be an advantage because Michigan companies are required to find a business model early to fund themselves while not imposing an additional burden of cross-cultural communication.

It's the number of times you review material over time that guarantees that you will master material.

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Filed under: Procuit

In this seven and a half minute segment (download iPod compatible, 39MB), Tom Meloche makes the provocative statement that he needs only five minutes per day to assure mastery of key facts. Procuit's plan is to develop Facebook applications around key books used for training. One of the applications' key features will be to drill learners on the key facts they need to master the domain. It's the number of repetitions over multiple sleep cycles that matter.

Since the applications will be gathering points for communities, Tom expects community input to play a role in determining the facts to be mastered.

Tom Meloche discusses the dynamic of starting a new training venture in the age of Facebook.

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Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Defining New Markets | Education | Procuit | Tom Meloche

In this 9 minute segment (download iPod compatible, 48MB), Tom Meloche lays out three components of the training equation: credibility, network effects, and privacy. Tom has positioned his training ventures at the cutting edge of application. In that situation, customers look for you to establish credibility through articles and books and less through formal certification.

Further, referrals play an important role. Tom uses mastery frameworks to establish the knowledge that needs to be acquired through training and then to ensure that the knowledge is actually acquired.

Tom views Facebook as an amplified referral network. Much as Lou Rosenfeld uses blogs to establish focal points for his publications, Tom wants the visibility of people using his training application on Facebook to draw in additional customers. Of course, this approach raises the question of privacy. By default on Facebook, your activities, like installing one of Tom's training applications, are visible in a "newsfeed". However users can set privacy levels to control the visibility. It is unclear how changing privacy patterns will affect Facebook's networking potential.