On the positive side, less travel means less carbon emission that is better for the environment and added savings on travel and boarding. However, to make remote work it’s important to build up a rapport with the startups much earlier on to understand their competencies and gaps. This means we got to spend more time on zoom so that we could pre-match the startups with the best mentors across the dimensions of product, market, business model, and advisory on investment strategy.

We made a lot of resources available like speakers from the past and pitches online through the DueDash community platform. And each week’s interactions were uploaded continuously online so that the founders can go back and view those sessions in their own time. Creating some personal content for the cohort for what’s upcoming or where their focus should be or what’s happening in the industry was a great way to connect and communicate with the founders.

In general, I changed many parts of the program to fit the new reality and cater to the individualized requirements of these startups.
A program success comes from trust and intimacy between the program team and the startups themselves. We got to know their biggest challenges and do our best to help them solve those issues.

Well, accelerator programs are known for their intense co-working and mentoring sessions that build founder bonds forever. Zoom obviously isn’t a perfect solution to build those relationships. But this is the next best solution in the time of the pandemic. While it’s easy to default to audio calls; maintaining a channel for video chat is essential for building relationships and bridge those geographical distances.

The other dimension is to talk openly about what’s happening in your town or city how things are evolving creating that space where people can feel safe is very important. It is an effort to manage some level of small talk and keeping it human while we’ll all have to talk business.

At the core of any success is the team that executes.

It was essential to create a structure that makes it easy for our own internal distributed team to work efficiently. Our own weekly check-ins, team meetings, online tracking of tasks and goals, participation and most importantly closing out feedback loops.

It’s all about communication at the end of the day – and in this case virtual day – which starts early and ends late on many days.

This was the most critical challenge for this program. How to support connective tissue without happy hours or any other in-person activity? Well, we planned for virtual coffee or lounge or games – our distinct time zones did not support it largely. We did an online beer/wine party which some of us attended and which was very cool because we discussed everything other than work and got to know each other better.

We started some traditions early on – which were largely based on creating a safe zone and belonging. We did an online icebreaker which essentially helped to keep things light and encourage connections by hobby or interests or business category.

Weekly one-on-ones and team meetings make a huge impact as you go along the program. Being more responsive to emails or slack is one aspect but creating a common visual space where interactions can take place openly adds another dimension where founders can connect, share-out, and help each other.

Well, this is a big showcase day. Startups that we’ve invested in and mentor for months now need to show the results of their labor. But how to go about creating a funky big bang remote event?

While Zoom still takes the lead here there are several other tools out there that are trying to disrupt the space of demo days. Investors are overwhelmed with the number of events they need to attend and associates usually fill that space for them.

We are looking to create a hybrid experience wherein case people who cannot travel can join us remotely and still connect with the people who will be present at the event venue.

Remote working is not a new concept. So many companies and organizations are working in a distributed format for a long time now. However, the technology infrastructure that we have to support that is almost 20 years old. The key distinction is whether an organization was created that can operate remotely versus that is built remotely.

The world has changed forever for all of us. I don’t know what the new normal will look like. But going forward I definitely feel accelerator programs will be run both in a combination of physical and digital interactions. A lot of activities like training people on pitching and storytelling can be done online. Mechanisms of fundraising, customer development, and engagement will be different, travel may look different, and I personally feel tools will change.

Another aspect that I feel will push deeper into the virtual operations is in terms of connecting the startups which are geographically dispersed. Many a times founders are unable to relocate for an accelerator program due to the limitation which is posed by the physical nature of the program. In a virtual operation setting, that limitation is completely removed. Of course, physical presence would be desired, and few travels can definitely be undertaken by the founders for those essential meetings, or Demo Days.

As we adjust to the new normal & shine – it’s not easy to say what the future will look like for accelerators and startups. Perhaps it could remain largely unchanged or more likely virtual communication and networking become more prominent. I do not, however, foresee virtual replacing physical setups in entirety.

Quake Europe: Our team consisted of Priscilla Pesci, Parul Madan, Michail Kosak, Rhea Patteri, Gautam Kumar supported by Kai Bühler and Quake USA.