Startup Accelerators Adapt to COVID
Responses from Y Combinator, IndieBio, Pear, & Petri on their plans to virtualize their programs
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Overview
Healthcare / life sciences accelerators find themselves in the unprecedented position of having to plan for a completely virtual batch of new companies. We feature responses from leading accelerators — Y Combinator, IndieBio, Pear, & Petri — to understand their plans to virtualize their programs. We reached out to their directors for comments, inquiring about how they anticipate programming will change, gain insight into ways that these accelerators will be fostering community, providing mentorship, and seek to understand how their perspectives on investing may change due to COVID-19.
1. Given that COVID-19 has moved operations virtually for the foreseeable future, could you give us a high-level overview of how your accelerator’s programming will change during this cycle for participating startups?
IndieBio: The ever-evolving global pandemic creates an opportunity for co-evolution. We’ve had to delay the use of our lab and in-person interactions with Zoom calls and other online platforms. We continue to model most of our talks, panel discussions, and office hours in a digital space. With the limited access to lab space, teams are relying more on contract research organizations (CROs) and finding new ways to validate their business models.
Pear: Pear has transitioned our winter accelerator batch to be virtual, and we are adapting our summer programming to be run online. Everything from meetings to office hours and events will be held virtually, and we’ve already seen increased engagement between our founders on Slack. Online communication channels are creating more opportunities for founders to engage with each other, the Pear team, and their expert mentors.
Petri: Virtualization has certainly changed our plans for 2020, as it has changed everyone’s, however the silver lining is that is has become frictionless to engage a national, even global, network of mentors, experts, partner companies, and peer founders.
YC: We have decided to run the S20 batch remotely, because amid the COVID-19 crises, the safety of founders and YC staff is our top priority. Interviews for the batch will be remote, and office hours, evening talks, and meetups throughout the batch will all take place over video conferencing, as well as on our online platform and forum for YC founders. We are confident we can produce a great remote batch. We have learned a lot from the final month of the W20 batch (which was entirely online) and from a large number of international teams over the years who have only been able to attend portions of YC in person. Interestingly, the S20 batch will be YC’s 15-year anniversary. If there’s one constant over the last 15 years, it is change; YC is constantly experimenting and evolving to adapt to founders’ needs. We’ll continue to adapt in the midst of COVID-19 and work hard to serve our S20 founders.
2. If the upcoming batch is virtual, why is joining an accelerator still a great idea?
IndieBio: Innovation can’t stop. In fact, COVID-19 has caused more attention to biological sciences than ever before. Beyond working on COIVD-19, there are still big problems in the world, like climate change, which will still need to be addressed. Companies joining accelerators now can learn to adapt even more rapidly in a changing world with the guidance and help of mentors and batch-mates.
Pear: Innovation does not stop in an economic downturn. Startup ideas and opportunities are created by changes in people’s behavior. Now is a time that affects changes in behavior from consumers and businesses due to the global crisis caused by the spread of COVID-19. As long as there are innovators and new startup ideas, strong accelerator programs can play a crucial role. Moving our accelerator to be virtual requires some adaptation, but has also brought new opportunities to reaching founders and investors who are not in the Bay Area.
Petri: Building a startup can be incredibly isolating. Now with us all facing physical isolation, it’s more valuable than ever to be part of a community of founders jointly pushing forward, and to have access to an expansive network of contacts across the industry.
3. What are some ways that you will continue to build a strong community between member company founders?
IndieBio: Community is built from the frequent interactions in between the formal sessions. We make sure there is time for companies to decompress and share challenges. Hence, we host virtual get-togethers and happy hours for the teams. Additionally, we have been hosting COVID-19 calls with our alumni to share resources and business strategies during this time.
Pear: Communities are not created top-down, they are formed by members. Part of the decision to keep Pear Accelerator small was the opportunity to have frequent communication and more opportunities for meaningful collaboration. We are choosing 10 teams out of hundreds of applications to those Pear found to be determined, thoughtful, and most talented in their fields. Pear investors conduct weekly group check-ins, connect founders help each other on their latest problems, facilitate Slack channels, and host virtual social events. Our founders do everything from act as models in each others’ photoshoots to introducing customers to revamping the recruiting process to joining each other’s teams.
Petri: We try to find ways to ease stress and remind ourselves of our humanity with socially distanced workouts, zoom call happy hours, and other ways of fueling our culture.
4. Are there any new initiatives that you will be implementing for this virtual cycle that you’re particularly excited about?
IndieBio: Virtualization requires more written communication, which can be presented more transparently across teams. This format was surprisingly helpful in keeping everyone on the same page and consolidating information.
Pear: Since the shelter-in-place order went into effect we have run six online speaker events and have focused more planned in the coming months (which you can sign up to attend on our website). Each speaker event focuses on hosting experts to discuss topics such as effective outbound sales, building a company during an economic downturn, marketing on a tight budget, and responses to COVID-19. These are events we have traditionally held in person for 50+ people, but given the new virtual format, we now draw hundreds of viewers each week and have no need to cap attendance size. We have already committed to our next demo day being held online. Additionally, many of our team members have been participating in external speaker events and have judged competitions virtually.
Petri: We are excited to launch Breakout — a free 6-week virtual program for people considering starting a company. The silver lining of forced virtualization is that location is no longer a barrier to engaging with great talent from all over the world.
5. Are you planning to make COVID-19 related investments? If so, what particular calls to action are you seeking?
IndieBio: Yes, we have made COVID-19 investments. Our announcement can be found here: https://indiebio.co/indiebio-covid-response/
Pear: We learn the most when founders teach us about the future they see rather than us looking at some broad industry trends. Many companies will be accelerated because of COVID-19, across sectors like health, remote work, and education technology (EdTech). That said, often we’re most excited by founders who find creative ways to adapt their business to these tremendous changes. Many of these adaptations are ones we haven’t even imagined or come across in an industry report.
Petri: COVID-19 will has undoubtedly changed the world irrevocably. We are interested to speak with founders who have a compelling vision of where the puck is going, and how we can change the world for the better, both in healthcare (infectious disease, healthcare delivery) or otherwise (biosecurity, ending factory farming, etc). In particular, we’re excited by a renewed focus on biosecurity, and new opportunities to protect the world from new pathogens.
YC: There are already a number of YC companies that are helping with the crisis, and we’re looking for more startups that, if successful, could alter the trajectory of COVID-19. We’re particularly interested in startups working on:
Tests / diagnostics
Treatments and vaccines
Equipment for hospitals
Monitoring and data infrastructure
We updated our Requests for Startups page, which are concepts we believe are important in the coming decades, to reflect the addition of this new RFS: Response to COVID-19.
6. If you have any other helpful references that you’d like to direct our readers to, please let us know!
Pear: Speaker Series (4 upcoming webinars) and Regional Pitch events, both of which can be found at pear.vc/speakers. The pitch events are set up so that founders can sign up to pitch and get live feedback from partners at top VC firms like Greylock, Sequoia, and more.
YC: More information on the new requests for startups: response to COVID-19 can be found here.
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Alix Ventures, by way of BIOS Community, is providing this content for general information purposes only. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, or its affiliates. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Views and opinions expressed by Alix Ventures employees are those of the employees and do not necessarily reflect the view of Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, affiliates, and content sponsors.
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