What is the core problem Vivagogy aims to solve?

Vivagogy targets the 'skills gap,' which they value at $19 trillion globally. According to Slide 3, learners cannot find jobs or understand needed skills, while employers struggle to find qualified recruits. The deck argues that current EdTech solutions are failing because they don't address the fundamental lack of communication between education providers and the labor market.

How does Vivagogy plan to make money?

The commercial model, detailed on Slide 6, involves building a massive database of candidates by offering free learning and teaching tools. Vivagogy plans to sell access to these profiling tools and the resulting database to employers. The goal is to save employers money on recruitment and training by providing pre-verified, skill-matched candidates.

Who are the primary stakeholders in the Vivagogy ecosystem?

Slide 3 and 4 identify five key stakeholders: Learners, Employers, Teachers, Education Institutions, and Content Providers. The platform aims to reduce workload for teachers, help content providers map materials to curricula, and allow learners to track informal learning against real-world job competencies.

What is missing from this pitch deck?

The deck is missing almost all components required for a professional investment round. There is no team slide, no product screenshots, no traction or user growth data, no competitive landscape, and no financial ask. It lacks a roadmap and any evidence that the 'online system' mentioned on Slide 4 actually exists or has been tested.

What is the 'paradigm shift' mentioned in the deck?

The paradigm shift refers to moving away from the recruitment industry's current $400 billion dominance. Vivagogy intends to 'disintermediate' recruiters by creating a direct, data-driven link between the output of education and the input of employment, effectively making them a single continuous process (Slide 1 and 6).

Vivagogy Ltd. Pitch Deck (2016): 7-Slide Pre-Seed Deck

See all 7 slides of the Vivagogy Ltd. pitch deck — a 2016 deck in EdTech — with a slide-by-slide teardown of what the deck does well and where it falls short.

The Vivagogy pitch deck, dated October 2016, is a brief 7-slide presentation that outlines a vision for 'Making Education to Employment One Process.' The company identifies a significant global skills gap costing over $19 trillion and proposes an online system to track informal learning and match it to job competencies. While the deck provides a clear problem statement and a high-level commercial model—offering free learning to users while selling access to a candidate database to employers—it is critically lacking in execution details. There is no mention of a founding team, current product…

Key takeaways

Global EdTech investment reached $6.54 billion in 2015, yet the skills gap continues to cost over $19 trillion globally (Slide 2).
The recruitment industry is identified as the only current beneficiary of the education-employment gap, capturing a $400 billion market (Slide 3 and 4).
Vivagogy proposes an online system that tracks both formal and informal learning to match users to job competencies in real-time (Slide 4 and 5).
The commercial model relies on providing free tools to learners and teachers to build a global database, then selling access to employers (Slide 6).
The solution aims to disintermediate the recruitment industry and reinvest savings into 'third world economies' (Slide 6).
The deck lacks all standard operational slides, including team bios, financial projections, competitive analysis, and a funding ask (Omission).
A McKinsey quote is used to validate the disconnect between employers, education providers, and youth (Slide 5).

The Vision: Bridging the Gap

The Vivagogy deck, titled 'Making Education to Employment One Process,' is a high-level conceptual pitch. It focuses on the systemic failure of the current education and recruitment sectors. While the deck is dated October 2016, the problems it identifies—specifically the disconnect between what is taught and what is required by the workforce—remain relevant. However, as a fundraising tool, the deck is extremely sparse, relying on macro-economic statistics rather than company-specific achievements.

Slide 1: Title and Mission

The opening slide sets a broad, social-impact tone: 'Creating new learning paradigms to improve social conditions.' It establishes the company's core thesis that education and employment should not be treated as separate silos but as a single, unified process. There is no company logo or branding beyond the text and a simple geometric background.

Slide 2: The EdTech Market Context

Vivagogy uses this slide to establish the market opportunity and the failure of existing solutions. They note that global investments in learning technology reached $6.54 billion in 2015 , a significant jump from $2.42 billion in 2014 and $1.64 billion in 2013 . Despite this capital influx, the slide claims investors are not seeing a ROI because the 'important problems' aren't being solved. Specifically, they cite a global skills gap costing more than $19 trillion . This slide serves to tell investors that while the sector is hot, the current players are failing, creating an opening for a new approach.

Slide 3: Problems and Stakeholders

This slide breaks down the pain points for five specific groups:

Learners: Cannot find jobs or understand required skills. · Employers: Cannot find skilled employees and face high recruitment costs. · Teachers: Cannot meet student needs and face high burnout/low retention. · Education: Struggles to recruit and retain staff. · Content Providers: Cannot map content to curricula.

The slide concludes with a provocative statement: 'The only people who are benefitting are the recruitment industry who prosper in the search for recruits.'

Slide 4: Solving the Problems for Stakeholders

Vivagogy proposes an 'online system' to address these issues. The solution involves tracking 'informal learning' to match skills to 'job competencies sought by employers.' The most notable claim here is the financial target: the recruitment industry's $400 billion will be 're distributed to employers, learners and education.' This is a bold claim of total industry disruption, though the mechanism for this redistribution is not explained in technical detail.

Slide 5: The Vivagogy Solution and McKinsey Validation

To add authority, the deck quotes McKinsey regarding the lack of engagement between stakeholders. The quote notes that one-third of employers never communicate with education providers. Vivagogy defines its solution as an 'information system' and a 'database of learners, content, jobs, [and] job market data.' It emphasizes the ability to record formal and informal learning in real-time against performance objectives.

Slide 6: The Commercial Model

This is the most critical slide for an investor, as it outlines the revenue logic. The model is a classic 'data play':

Provide free tools to learners and teachers to build a global database. · Users control their own data but can open profiles for job searches. · Sell access to profiling tools and the database to employers. · Disintermediate the recruitment industry. · Reinvest savings into 'third world economies.'

The deck does not provide pricing tiers, projected user acquisition costs, or a timeline for reaching the scale necessary for a database to be valuable to employers.

Slide 7: The Conclusion

The final slide simply states 'The next big thing Vivagogy.' It lacks contact information, a summary of the funding requirements, or a call to action.

What Works in This Deck

Clear Problem Identification: The deck does an excellent job of articulating the 'why.' By breaking down the problem by stakeholder, it shows a holistic understanding of the education-to-employment ecosystem. The use of the $19 trillion skills gap figure provides a sense of massive scale.

Disruption Narrative: The focus on the $400 billion recruitment industry as the 'villain' of the story is a compelling narrative hook. It positions Vivagogy not just as another EdTech tool, but as a platform that could fundamentally shift how value is captured in the labor market.

What Is Critically Missing

The Team: This is the most significant omission. In early-stage fundraising, the team is often more important than the idea. There is no information on who is building this, their background in education, or their technical capability to build a global database.

Product and Traction: The deck mentions an 'online system' but provides no screenshots, user numbers, or pilot study results. Without evidence of a working prototype or early user engagement, the pitch remains entirely theoretical.

The Ask: A pitch deck is a request for capital. This deck never specifies how much money is being raised, what the valuation is, or how the funds will be used (e.g., hiring, marketing, R&D).

Competitive Analysis: The deck claims there are 'more than 700 companies offering the same business models' (Slide 2) but never explains how Vivagogy is different from LinkedIn, Coursera, or existing Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).

Founder's Takeaway

If you are a founder, do not use this deck as a template for a seed or Series A round. It is a 'vision deck' that might work for a very early conversation with a social impact mentor, but it lacks the rigor required for professional investors. To improve this, a founder should: 1. Add a team slide immediately. 2. Show the product—even if it is just wireframes. 3. Define the 'Ask' and the milestones that money will buy. 4. Provide a concrete go-to-market strategy beyond 'providing free learning' to build a database, which is a notoriously difficult and expensive way to scale.

Frequently asked questions

What is the core problem Vivagogy aims to solve?: Vivagogy targets the 'skills gap,' which they value at $19 trillion globally. According to Slide 3, learners cannot find jobs or understand needed skills, while employers struggle to find qualified recruits. The deck argues that current EdTech solutions are failing because they don't address the fundamental lack of communication between education providers and the labor market.
How does Vivagogy plan to make money?: The commercial model, detailed on Slide 6, involves building a massive database of candidates by offering free learning and teaching tools. Vivagogy plans to sell access to these profiling tools and the resulting database to employers. The goal is to save employers money on recruitment and training by providing pre-verified, skill-matched candidates.
Who are the primary stakeholders in the Vivagogy ecosystem?: Slide 3 and 4 identify five key stakeholders: Learners, Employers, Teachers, Education Institutions, and Content Providers. The platform aims to reduce workload for teachers, help content providers map materials to curricula, and allow learners to track informal learning against real-world job competencies.
What is missing from this pitch deck?: The deck is missing almost all components required for a professional investment round. There is no team slide, no product screenshots, no traction or user growth data, no competitive landscape, and no financial ask. It lacks a roadmap and any evidence that the 'online system' mentioned on Slide 4 actually exists or has been tested.
What is the 'paradigm shift' mentioned in the deck?: The paradigm shift refers to moving away from the recruitment industry's current $400 billion dominance. Vivagogy intends to 'disintermediate' recruiters by creating a direct, data-driven link between the output of education and the input of employment, effectively making them a single continuous process (Slide 1 and 6).

Cover slide of the Vivagogy Ltd. pitch deck — 2016 — Vivagogy Ltd. pitch deck, slide 1 (2016)

Vivagogy Ltd. pitch deck: the facts

Company: Vivagogy Ltd.
Year: 2016
Stage: Unknown (likely Pre-Seed/Seed)
Slides: 7
Sector: EdTech / HR Tech
Deck type: Pitch Deck
Headquarters: United Kingdom (implied by 'Ltd.' and SlideShare source)

Vivagogy Ltd. pitch deck PDF

The full Vivagogy Ltd. deck is embedded on this page and can be read slide by slide in the browser — no download or account required. Each slide is covered in the breakdown above.

What the Vivagogy Ltd. pitch deck was used for

This deck is the November 2016 pitch for Vivagogy Ltd., an early‑stage EdTech/HRTech venture seeking to build a global competency‑based learning and recruitment platform that bridges formal education outputs with employer skill needs. The presentation focuses on the macro‑level skills gap and proposes a business model where learners receive free access to tools and learning while employers pay for data and profiling services, effectively using recruitment savings to subsidise education. Given the 2016 incorporation dates in the UK and Ireland and the emphasis on vision rather than traction, this was likely a pre‑seed or seed‑stage fundraising deck. No specific round size or investor names are stated in or directly linked to this deck in available sources.

Business model: Vivagogy set out to build an online system that measures all forms of learning—formal and informal—in terms of micro‑competencies, then matches these competency profiles to job requirements to help learners find work and employers find suitably skilled candidates. The model offers free learning tools and content to users while charging employers for access to profiling tools and the candidate data

Founded: 2016
Founders: Chris Heron

Headquarters: Originally registered in Rustington, West Sussex, England, later moving its registered office to Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom. Separate Vivagogy entities also operated from Dublin, Ireland.

Industry: Other education not elsewhere classified (per UK Companies House and Irish registry classifications). Vivagogy positioned itself at the intersection of EdTech, HR technology and data analytics focused on competencies.

What happened after the Vivagogy Ltd. deck

The initial Vivagogy venture launched in 2016 with an ambitious plan to build a competency‑based global learning and recruitment platform and engaged in thought‑leadership activities such as parliamentary submissions, but the original UK and Irish entities were dissolved by 2018–2019, and no verified information publicly links the November 2016 deck to a specific completed funding round.

Vivagogy Ltd. was incorporated in the UK on 17 June 2016 as a private limited company classified under ‘Other education
An associated Irish company, Vivagogy Limited, was incorporated on 7 October 2016 with a similar education‑related class
Vivagogy submitted written evidence to a UK parliamentary committee, outlining its competency‑based learning and recruit
The UK Vivagogy Ltd. entity was dissolved on 4 December 2018, and the Irish Vivagogy Limited entity was dissolved on 18

What the Vivagogy Ltd. deck got right

Compelling framing of the skills gap and education‑employment disconnect. The deck articulates a clear, large‑scale problem—the global skills gap between education outputs and employer needs—and positions Vivagogy’s competency‑based system as a direct bridge between the two, giving investors a strong conceptual rationale for the product.
Integrated platform vision combining learning measurement and recruitment. Vivagogy’s proposed solution integrates measurement of formal and informal learning, personalised learning paths, and employer‑oriented profiling tools into one system, presenting a differentiated platform vision compared with conventional learning management or recruitment solutions.
Economically coherent and socially oriented business model. The business model explicitly aims to provide free learning and assessment to learners while generating revenue from employers’ access to tools and data, creating both commercial logic and a social impact narrative that could appeal to impact‑oriented investors.
User‑controlled data access and privacy framing. The deck and related written evidence highlight that learners control their own data and decide when to open their profiles to employers, which addresses privacy concerns and introduces a user‑centric approach to data governance.
Multi‑stakeholder value proposition with partnership potential. Vivagogy positions its system as beneficial to multiple stakeholders—employers, learners, teachers, education institutions and content providers—providing a broad ecosystem story that can support diverse partnership opportunities.

What could have been stronger

Heavy emphasis on vision and macro problem with limited execution and traction detail. The deck, as summarised in external descriptions, focuses heavily on the macro‑economic skills gap and the conceptual benefits of a competency‑based system but provides little or no quantitative traction data (e.g. user numbers, pilots, revenues) or concrete implementation milestones, making it difficult for investors to assess execution risk.
Insufficient clarity on product architecture and development stage. Although the solution is described as a complex system linking lifelong learning data with employer needs, the available text from the deck and related materials does not spell out a clear technical architecture, product roadmap or development stage in late 2016, which leaves unanswered questions about feasibility and time‑to‑market.
Limited competitive and regulatory analysis despite an ambitious disruption claim. The model proposes disintermediating a large recruitment industry and reallocating hundreds of billions in value, but there is no visible analysis in the deck of competitive dynamics, entrenched recruitment platforms, or regulatory and data‑privacy constraints, which investors would need to understand.
Commercial model lacks validated pricing and go‑to‑market detail. The Slideshare description and related materials outline that employers would pay for access to tools and data, yet they do not provide a detailed pricing strategy, customer acquisition plan, or proof of employer willingness to pay at the time, leaving the commercial viability assumptions largely untested.

How an investor would read this deck

What draws attention

Clarity on the underlying data and competency framework—how micro‑competencies are defined, validated and mapped to jobs, and whether this framework is accepted by employers and educators.
Evidence of early pilots or partnerships with employers or educational institutions that demonstrate real‑world usage, data quality and measurable recruitment or training savings.
Details of the technical stack and data infrastructure required to capture, store and analyse lifelong learning data at scale, including privacy and consent mechanisms.
The founding team’s depth of experience in education assessment, HR/recruitment, and enterprise software delivery, given the cross‑domain nature of the product.
Corporate structure across UK and Ireland and how IP, operations and future financing would be organised between entities.

Risks that stand out

High execution complexity in building a global, competency‑based profiling and learning system that accurately measures diverse forms of learning and behaviour while maintaining data quality.
Dependence on employer adoption for revenue, which may be challenging without clear proof that the system delivers better hiring outcomes than existing HR and recruitment solutions.
Regulatory and privacy risks associated with collecting and processing detailed individual learning and behavioural data across jurisdictions, potentially affecting scalability and trust.
Operational and continuity risk, given that the original UK and Irish corporate entities were dissolved within a few years, suggesting difficulties in sustaining the initial venture.

Questions this deck invites

What concrete pilots or proof‑of‑concepts had Vivagogy completed by late 2016, and what outcomes (e.g. recruitment cost savings, improved hiring accuracy) were demonstrated?
How exactly does Vivagogy’s competency measurement framework work—what data sources are used, how are informal learning and behaviours quantified, and how is reliability ensured across contexts?
Which employer segments (e.g. SMEs, large enterprises, specific industries) were targeted in the initial go‑to‑market, and what feedback or letters of intent had been secured?
How does Vivagogy address data protection, user consent and regulatory compliance when building a global database of learning and behaviour data, especially under EU and UK regulations?
What was the planned revenue model and unit economics for employer access (pricing tiers, expected ARPU, sales cycle length), and how were these validated with prospective customers?

What founders can take from the Vivagogy Ltd. deck

A tightly argued macro‑problem narrative (such as the global skills gap) can powerfully frame an EdTech/HRTech venture, but it must be complemented with concrete product progress and market validation to satisfy investors.
Complex, multi‑stakeholder platforms that aim to serve learners, employers, teachers and content providers benefit from clearly articulated value propositions and mechanisms for each stakeholder, as Vivagogy attempted by describing how each group would gain from competency‑based profiling.
Linking free access for learners to monetisation via employer data tools can create an appealing social impact story, but investors will scrutinise the robustness of employer demand and willingness to pay in the early stages.
Ambitious claims about disintermediating large established industries (like recruitment) require thorough competitive and regulatory analysis to be credible in a pitch deck.
Presenting a clear conceptual bridge between education outputs and employment inputs—such as competency measurement mapped to job requirements—can differentiate an EdTech venture from more generic learning platforms.
Early documentation and external materials (such as policy submissions and concept papers) that align with the pitch narrative can help demonstrate thought leadership, but they do not substitute for operational evidence and should be positioned accordingly.

Vivagogy Ltd. pitch deck: common questions

What did Vivagogy Ltd. set out to do?

Vivagogy Ltd. was an EdTech/HRTech company founded in 2016 that aimed to measure all forms of learning as competencies, link these to job requirements, and offer a unified platform for lifelong learning, profiling and recruitment to help close the skills gap between education and employment.

How did Vivagogy’s platform work according to the 2016 pitch?

Public information indicates that Vivagogy’s core concept was an online system capturing data on formal and informal learning, converting it into competency outputs, and building a global database of candidate profiles that employers could search and analyse using paid tools, while learners accessed educational content and assessment for free or low cost.

What is known about Vivagogy’s corporate history?

Companies House records show Vivagogy Ltd. was incorporated in the UK on 17 June 2016 and was dissolved on 4 December 2018. An associated Irish entity, Vivagogy Limited, was incorporated on 7 October 2016 and later dissolved in September 2019, suggesting the venture operated across the UK and Ireland during its active years.

What business model does the November 2016 pitch deck describe?

The November 2016 Slideshare pitch frames the business model around providing free learning tools to individuals while charging employers for access to profiling tools and candidate data, aiming to reduce employer recruitment and training costs and redistribute value away from traditional recruitment intermediaries.

Is there confirmed information about the specific fundraise associated with this deck?

Available public records and profiles list Vivagogy as an early‑stage company in 2016, but they do not provide verifiable details of any specific funding round tied to this deck—such as exact amounts, investors or valuation—so no confirmed round information can be stated.