Refer to the project brief and the additional resources before you begin this project!
(Go through them at least 3 times or till the time you don’t have a mind map in your brain)

Let’s begin

It's time to kickstart the project by taking a crack at building your Elevator pitch.

(Think of this as an introduction to your product- make it remarkable!)

​

Thought Process Behind the Avaz AAC Elevator Pitch :

When crafting this pitch for Avaz AAC, I made a deliberate choice to lead with emotion and human impact rather than technical features or marketing buzzwords. This is because of the social emotional nature of the audience.
Our target customers are families and individuals navigating life with complex communication needs.
This audience isn’t looking for sleek feature lists or productivity hacks.
They’re often overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and desperately searching for connection, relief, and hope.

--> Hence chose Resonance over Recall
--> Painting the impact before bringing the tech

Also questioning the "elevator" pitch in our product's case and considering it to be more of an across the table pitch - because it’s about their child so parents are not rushing through the elevator typically here, they are sitting down to listen

The Avaz AAC Pitch

Last month, 12 year old Aarav said ‘I love you’ for the very first time ever… His parents couldn’t stop crying.

Avaz AAC is an app that turns a tablet or phone into a powerful communication device for people with speech disabilities. Whether it’s a child with autism, a stroke survivor, or someone with cerebral palsy, Avaz helps them express their needs, feelings, jokes, even dreams, through pictures, symbols, or text-to-speech.

Avaz isn’t just about technology. It’s about moments.

It’s about the smile on a mom’s face when her little boy argued over what to wear to school.
It’s about the teenager who cracked a joke at dinner, and everyone laughed.
Over 200,000 people across 40+ countries use Avaz every day, not just to communicate, but to connect authentically and belong.

Unlike basic communication apps, Avaz is extremely adaptable and intuitive to each individual's unique needs and communication style, making communication feel more personalised and natural.

Download Avaz AAC today because when someone finds their voice, everything changes… Their first words might just be a tap away.”

User Interviews

Avaz is used by adults with speech difficulties, therapists and educators working with children with speech disabilities and parents.
For this segment of the project, though user interview calls were conducted for both professionals and parents, I am documenting only parent calls, considering they are our primary target segment, who make the final buying decision.

For gaining diverse perspectives and experiences we have picked parents based on the following criteria for conducting user interviews:

• Pro Active users / Product Advocates
• Parents who struggled to find product adoption
• Product adoption with support
• Product adoption without support

The below User interview call documentation table has basic patterns and observations with respect to certain aspects that will be required for different stages of this project :
Impact of Avaz, Where they spend their time, Sources of information, Motivation / Goal, Pain points, Product Adoption Experience

Top insights from the User Interview Calls

Parents :

• Parents experience emotional distress when they cannot interpret their child's communication attempts.
  Caregivers often describe the pain of witnessing their child try to communicate but being unable to understand them. This creates a sense of helplessness and urgency around finding a communication solution.
• Simply a tech tool is not sufficient for the promise being made by the product.
  "Otherwise it was just plainly like, it's an app. It has vocabulary. But how to do, how to use it for proper communication?" - Pragya
• Caregivers rely on informal online communities and peer recommendations to navigate their child’s communication needs.
  Rather than formal channels, most parents turn to social media, WhatsApp groups, and known contacts for information and support. These spaces serve as both educational resources and emotional lifelines. Hence word-of-mouth plays a huge role as an influencer cum blocker.
• The journey toward communication support is often long, exhausting, and filled with trial and error.
  Many parents express fatigue from managing multiple therapies, tools, and specialists, with no clear or immediate results. This prolonged uncertainty is emotionally and mentally draining.
• When children show signs of independent use of a communication tool, it marks a major emotional and functional milestone for the family.
  Moments where the child navigates the app alone or uses it to express themselves for the first time are seen as breakthroughs—often following years of silence or limited interaction.
• The need or pain point is real. But
  - impact of app varies hugely with every parent's perception, time availability and commitment for effort towards it.
  - need is fully established once child is above 5 years. As before that hope for typical speech is high.

Professionals :

• AAC implementation strategies is not something that can be learnt in a single go. Application and learning need to go hand in hand.
• Implementation strategies need to be personalised for the child's unique needs as well as personalised to the parent's routine, environment and culture.
• Irrespective of parent characteristics or child characteristics, consistency is the ultimate goal for success.
• Parents need bit sized mini goals
• Motivation and sustained support to parents is key for adoption success.

Understanding our ICP

Primarily considering 3 ICPs for my product which differentiate from each other in the aspects of Child's age, availability of time with the parent

ICP prioritisation table

ICP 3 and ICP 2 are ideally our first best bets

Avaz AAC

Problem the product is trying to solve

• Non-verbal and minimally verbal children struggle to express basic needs and emotions.
  Children with communication difficulties often lack a reliable way to convey what they want, feel, or think—leading to frustration, unmet needs, and social isolation.
• Parents face emotional distress and helplessness due to communication breakdowns.
  Caregivers experience a deep emotional toll when they are unable to understand their child’s attempts to communicate, often leading to guilt, burnout, and strained parent-child relationships.
• Households lack accessible, structured tools for developing communication skills.
  Families are often overwhelmed by fragmented resources—multiple therapies, devices, and professionals—with no cohesive system to support consistent communication development.
• Children’s behavioral challenges escalate due to unmet communication needs.
  Inability to express themselves leads many children to exhibit meltdowns, anxiety, or withdrawal, as a result of frustration and sensory overload from failed communication attempts.

Product Experience

• Avaz AAC is extremely intuitive — requiring no user manual or app training to get started. Navigation, feature discovery, and customization are self-explanatory and user-friendly, a major differentiator.
• Compared to AAC apps (competitors) in the US, which are often rigid, generic, and require professional onboarding, Avaz is self-customizable, empowering parents without constant dependency on speech therapists

Standout Features

• Rich expressive tones and GIF compatibility bring emotional nuance to communication, enabling self-advocacy and emotional expression. These features are uniquely designed for the end-user, not just professionals and hence helps users connect and respond to the app much faster.
• Vocabulary design is user-centric, with thoughtful inclusion of language supporting emotional expression and regulation, social interaction, and self advocacy in real-world contexts. This also gives ready to use ideas or examples for parents to start using the app with their child.
• Single click switch between picture mode and keyboard mode that seamlessly makes literacy learning accessible
• Tools that help you generate printable low tech boards instantly, helping increased access to communication even in absence of device.
• Multiple language support and ability to customise app based on personal and cultural contexts (record audio, click pictures etc)

Indian Market Context for the Product

• Avaz AAC is the only AAC app with any market presence in India. Here, the real competitors are traditional interventions like speech or behavioral therapy — not other tech tools.
• Due to it’s adaptability, the app is being used across a spectrum of use cases : visual schedules, transition support, literacy, academic learning, and social interaction.
• The app has potential to be used seamlessly across domains — speech therapy, ABA, OT, special education — any setting that supports children with complex communication needs (CCNs). But users are currently not aware of this (app not being positioned in that way) which is restricting the use cases and in turn exposure.
• Awareness gap among Indian parents about AAC tools and strategies remains a critical barrier to realizing this value.

High Learning Curve - Prerequisite for Product Adoption

• While the app is easy to operate, implementing it meaningfully with a child is the real challenge. Parents often struggle with “how to use” more than “how it works”.
• Success depends heavily on the parent’s motivation and persistence. Without early wins, many feel lost and abandon the tool prematurely.

Unclear Path to Product Adoption

• The journey to actual communication is nonlinear and often unclear, which leads to uncertainty. Parents don't know if the tool is "working" until it visibly does — making commitment fragile. The app currently does not give or draw any picture to the parent about the journey they can expect.
• Lack of visible progress often leads to disillusionment, especially if not reinforced by professionals or peer stories.

Blockers for Product Adoption

• Parents are often overwhelmed and exhausted, and lack the time to learn and implement AAC meaningfully. Delegation to therapists is common — but insufficient for adoption, as constant exposure is key. Hence failure to see results from therapy-led implementation often causes parents to give up on the tool entirely.
• Parents of younger children are often still hoping for natural speech, leading them to de prioritize AAC. The app doesn’t provide any clear, quick wins to keep them engaged before shifting to alternative interventions.

Catalysts for Product Adoption

• Hearing success stories from other parents creates hope and motivation. Social proof from the disability community serves as a powerful adoption lever.
• What excites parents most are creative ways to use the app (e.g., teaching academics) rather than specific product features.
• The need is for implementation ideas, not technical capabilities — this is where the product-community-education loop can be strengthened.

🏆 Brand Legacy & Trust

• Avaz has played a pioneering role in building AAC awareness in India — educating therapists, enabling schools, and equipping families.
• Over the past decade, it has earned the position of a trusted brand. In fact, "Avaz" is now synonymous with AAC in Indian disability communities.

​Understanding Core Value Proposition

Some mention worthy trends from the past 5 years directly related to the market we are addressing as well as willingness to address the challenges faced by the market :

1. Rising Prevalence and Diagnosis Rates

The prevalence of Autism in India has been steadily increasing. According to a 2021 study published in the Indian Journal of Pediatrics, the estimated prevalence of Autism in India is around 1 in 68 children.

2. Increasing Public Awareness

Awareness of speech and communication disorders has grown, particularly regarding autism. This rise is attributed to media coverage, educational initiatives, and advocacy efforts. However, challenges persist, especially in rural areas where awareness remains limited.

3. Enhanced Willingness to Seek Intervention

There is a notable shift in parents' and caregivers' attitudes, with increased proactive engagement in seeking assessments and therapies for children with communication challenges. This change is driven by reduced stigma and better access to information.

4. Emergence of Specialized Services and Market Growth

The demand for speech therapy and related services has led to the expansion of specialized clinics, teletherapy platforms, and educational programs. This growth is evident in both urban and semi-urban areas.

5. Challenges in Diagnosing Apraxia of Speech

Apraxia of speech remains underdiagnosed in India, often misidentified as other speech or neurological disorders. This misdiagnosis is due to limited awareness among healthcare providers and the complexity of accurate assessment.

Market Sizing

TAM = Total no. of potential customers x Average Revenue Per Customer (ARPU)
SAM = TAM x Target Market Segment (percentage of the total market)
SOM = SAM x Market Penetration/Share

Designing Acquisition Channel

​Considering, the stage being in pre PMF feedback is highest priority for us to move forward. Content loops and Referral program can be a better choice for acquisition.

Organic Channel

(Understand the existing organic channel strategy for your product and highlight the success and failure thereon.
Provide your suggestions and devise new strategies.)

Step 1 → Conduct keyword research on Google, Amazon, Youtube, Quora etc.
Step 2 → Collate all your insights from all your searches.

Content Loop

Understand your audience

The core audience for Avaz AAC—parents of children with disabilities—primarily engages in tight-knit digital communities like WhatsApp groups and Facebook groups. These platforms serve as emotional and informational lifelines, where three core needs drive their participation:

• Solutions to challenges they're facing
• Support during difficult moments
• Success stories for hope and inspiration

These groups function as "transactional communities" where parents actively:

• Motivate each other through encouragement
• Share learnings from their experiences
• Exchange information and resources
• Celebrate high moments together
• Support through low moments collectively

This creates a natural ecosystem for a content loop because :

• Success stories are actively sought and valued
• There's existing infrastructure for peer-to-peer motivation

Audience Perspective: Strategic Advantage

• Parents navigate an emotionally exhausting landscape of daily struggles, uncertainty, and often invisible progress in disability parenting. They frequently experience isolation, self-doubt, and the weight of being their child's primary advocate. In this challenging emotional terrain, a badge of progress or appreciation isn't just joy - it's a genuine dopamine hit. It provides rare moments of validation that their efforts are working, that progress is happening, and that they're doing something right. These postcards become powerful emotional fuel in what can often feel like an uphill battle.
• The content loop aims to taps into an established behavior pattern while addressing a deep emotional need. Parents desperately need moments of recognition and validation. The content loop can potentially provide parents with the emotional reinforcement that sustains them through the challenging journey of disability parenting.

Product Perspective: Strategic Advantage

• These parent groups act as direct, high-intent touchpoints to our core audience — no intermediary needed.
• Content shared here reaches the exact decision-makers who adopt, advocate, or abandon AAC tools.
• Because these groups are trust-driven and topic-specific, they offer organic distribution with higher engagement than traditional marketing channels.
• Every shared success story or milestone card can spark word-of-mouth, validate the product’s impact, and drive reactivation among dormant users.

Downside

• Along with positive feedback, even negative Word of Mouth catches fire very quickly in such groups! There is a risk element.
• if the negative feedback is seen as effective feedback collection then it works

The Content Loop : Transforming Data into Dopamine

Our content loop strategy leverages the natural sharing behavior within disability parent communities by transforming app usage analytics into celebratory, shareable milestone moments.

The Mechanism: When a child achieves specific usage milestones on Avaz (such as tapping 5 unique words), the app automatically generates a personalized postcard-style achievement insight. These postcards don't just present raw data - they translate what "5 unique word taps" actually means for the child's communication development journey, contextualizing the progress in meaningful terms that parents can understand and feel proud of.

Dual Recognition: Each postcard simultaneously celebrates the child's achievement while acknowledging the parent's dedication and effort that made this progress possible. This dual recognition addresses the often-overlooked emotional needs of parents who rarely receive validation for their intensive support work.

Scalable Personalization: The system utilizes pre-created templates mapped to specific usage analytics we're tracking, allowing for immediate personalization without manual intervention. As usage patterns emerge, new templates can be developed to capture different types of progress milestones.

Content Loop Architecture

The idea is deep empathy, rooted in real behavior. We’re not just creating a content loop, we're designing a self-reinforcing emotional engine around Avaz AAC, built on user joy, pride, and visibility.

Content Loop User Experience

Loop Extensions

Parent Appreciation Card

Headline :

“Dear Parent, You’re Crushing It.”

Tagline:

Not all heroes wear capes. Some carry iPads and never give up.
Your child’s progress is real, and you’ve made that happen. one tap at a time.
Avaz sees you.

Shoutout from Autistic AAC User

Headline:

“From One AAC User to Another: Keep Going!”

Tagline (from real or curated voice):

“Using a communication app helped me speak my truth. Your child is on that journey now. It works. It gets better.”
— An AAC User & Community Advocate

Shareable Caption Templates (Per Channel)

• WhatsApp / Facebook Parent Groups:
  Small Win, Big Joy!
  My child just used 5 unique words on Avaz AAC today.
  Got this adorable card from the app. Made my day.
  If you’re using Avaz too, try unlocking one for your child!
  #AvazMilestones #OurAACJourney
• Instagram:
  5 Words Closer to Their Voice
  Milestone moments like these keep me going as a parent.
  Sharing this because every tap matters.
  #AvazAAC #ProgressNotPerfection #ParentingWithPride
• Facebook Page/Feed:
  Sharing this proud parent moment —
  Today, my child used words from 3 new vocabulary categories on Avaz AAC!
  The app sent me this sweet milestone card, and it reminded me how far we’ve come.
  Small steps. Big change.
  #AACParenting #AvazAAC #MyChildMyHero

Keep it flexible

• Auto-card triggers: Pre-defined based on usage data (e.g., word count, categories used, time spent in app, phrase creation)
• Card variants: Shuffle visuals, themes, even seasonal or festive overlays
• Tagline slot: Pull from a dynamic bank of affirmations / user quotes
• Encourage feedback loop: “Want to share your moment? Tag us or drop a DM.”

​Avaz AAC - Referral Program

Customer Touchpoints

One of the biggest challenges we have been facing with retention is experiencing the Aha moment or experiencing the core value proposition of the product.

Why?

The core value proposition :

"For parents of children with complex communication needs who need a way to understand and talk to their children in the absence of verbal speech, our product is an Augmentative and Alternative Communication that gives children a voice by generating speech for them, which empowers them to express themselves independently, reducing daily frustration, and fostering deeper emotional connection with the people around them."

• The end promise being given (express themselves independently) in the core value proposition takes a long time to achieve and depends on several factors - modelling by parent, opportunities of exposure, sensory regulation, motor capabilities, medical comorbidities etc..
• Parents are reading the value but find it difficult to perceive. As parents (being neurotypical (majority)) are familiar to spoken language, they are able to perceive if set goals involve speech. As AAC is a completely alternate way, they don't know how to perceive success in it. This makes it difficult for parents to experience the core value proposition, because often small breakthrough moments might occur and parents might not even realise. For example : The child starts becoming tolerant towards the app and starts exploring the app by tapping on different words and playing with sound outputs. That is a super important milestone for us, as it resonates trust and ownership of the AAC voice as their own. But parents often see it as play or lack of progress. (because they are unaware of the impact).

Hence, for us to mark customer acquisition or even have an "aha moment", we will need to explicitly spell it out for the parent.

Proposal for tracking customer touch points :

• We track usage patterns to monitor and track progress and give back feedback to the parent when such an "aha moment occurs" or even a milestone is achieved.
• The end goal is far. So we create intermediate goal posts. This means you can have 2 variations in the progress journey. Small wins or aha sparks as well as notable goal post achievement.
• The first or secondary goal post should then reflect our marker for customer acquisition. (needs to be defined)

Brag worthy Element

• Similar to as mentioned in the content loop, for our target segment any progress (small or big) is "Brag worthy". Amidst everyday struggles and chaos of navigating "you cannot"s having a chance to experience a "you can" is something brag worthy.
• Compared to parents of typically developing children, who have several things to share about their kids - birthday parties, stage performances, sports achievements etc, parents of children with disabilities do not get much of this opportunity. The definition of progress for them is extremely unique. The top most being "Developmental milestone".
• Hence, an achieved goal post in their child's communication journey stands high in making them feel pride.

Platform Currency

DOPAMINE!!! DOPAMINE!! DOPAMINE!

The most ideal motivation to use an AAC app would be achieving another milestone. Much higher or much faster.

Exclusive Content Packs

• Unlock pre-built thematic vocabulary boards (e.g., "Festivals in India", "School Activities", "Story Time", etc.)
• Bonus: include printable AAC materials for offline reinforcement

Parent Implementation Toolkit

• Access to a curated pack of implementation resources:
• • Daily goal-setting cards
  • Usage habit templates
  • Scripts for modeling AAC at home
• Weekly Expert Tips for usage
• One off consultation with Avaz's in house therapists

COMMUNITY INFLUENCE - Social Capital Currency

Let them earn influence or credibility in their circles:

• Referral Leaderboard / Contribution Tracker
  Track how many others started using Avaz because of them
• Community Builder Badge
  Shareable graphic + name listing in a “Wall of Thanks” (website or app module)
• Parent Mentorship Role
  Invite top referrers to co-host peer webinars or community hangouts — a strong trust play

ACCESS PLEASE!

• Access to professional resources - Q&A sessions, closed group webinars
• Access to exclusive Parent guides
• Access to Beta features or apps from Avaz
• Access to priority support

Referral Flow

Step 1: Milestone Achieved

Trigger:

• Child crosses a communication milestone (e.g., navigation milestone - child is able to navigate inside and outside a folder to see a specific grid tile).

Step 2: Achievement Alert

Celebration Pop-Up :

• Child gets trophy and parent gets an excellence badge

“Aarav just hit a huge milestone — and your support made it happen!”
Let’s celebrate this moment together.

Step 3: Journey Map (Gamified Progress Tracker)

Screen :

• Visual timeline with milestone icons
• Child's current position highlighted (glowing or bouncing)

CTA at bottom:

• “Is this a moment you’d love to remember?”
• Buttons: Yes, I’m so happy! / Not now

Step 4: Referral Invitation (if “Yes” clicked)

Overlay prompt:

“We love that this brought you joy!
Want to help another parent feel the same?”

Glance of Platform Currency

• Card showing:
• • Refer 1 → Unlock special milestone card design
  • Refer 3 → Access premium template pack
  • Refer 5 → Get featured as a Community Builder

Step 5: Take Action – Refer a Friend

CTA Button:

Refer Now

Tapping opens:

• Options: WhatsApp | Facebook | Instagram
• Give preview of Referral message and glimpse to the currency the friend will receive on using this referral. For ex : Extended trial period of 2 weeks / 1 month free subscription
• Referral message to showcase child's AAC progress (goal post) For ex : "Achieved navigational skill on the app" + impact of the milestone on the child's development or communication journey

Step 6: Referral Completion & Continuation

After first referral is shared:

• Message: “Amazing! You’ve started your referral journey!”
• Tracker updated (e.g., “1 of 5 referrals completed”)
• Button: Track My Referrals

Step 7: Referral Tracker

Referral Tracker Page

• Shows:
• • No. of referrals sent, clicked, completed
  • Rewards unlocked
  • Next milestone preview

Also includes:

“Want to refer more?" Celebrate another moment or invite a friend anytime!”

​we hope this helped you break the cold start problem!

Reminder: This is not the only format to follow, feel free to edit it as you wish!