In March, we started offering virtual office hours at Remagine Ventures. Given the uncertainty about the funding environment, we wanted to offer entrepreneurs a way to engage, get feedback and ask any questions they may have about our space, both challenges and opportunities. (Also, the pace of seeing startups in lockdown was lower, and we love talking to founders, and thought this could be a neat, low-pressure way to do it).
We certainly didn’t invent the office hours format, and everyone is on Zoom anyway these days. But we are big fans. Office hours offer an opportunity to broaden the access to venture capital and, for VCs, to share best practices with entrepreneurs. After hosting 30 office hours meetings, here’s what we’ve noticed:
- Create serendipity – Self isolation and cancelled events mean fewer opportunities for random (or some might say serendipitous) meetings. By setting particular times for office hours, we ended up having “chance” interactions with founders that we likely weren’t otherwise likely to run into.
- Remove the red velvet rope – Office hours provide a good ‘excuse’ to get in touch. Some entrepreneurs find it daunting to connect without an intro (Don’t worry – a well written cold email will get a reply in most cases!).
- Take down the pressure – Office hours feel more relaxed than a pitch. We set the expectations at the start of every meeting, and focus on one key area the founders want to discuss. The ‘relaxed’ setting is not on the expense of content – because the meetings are purposely short, they tend to be intense!
- A relationship is built over interactions. Office hours offer a great way to get acquainted, and from there, grow the relationship.
- Great companies can come from anywhere. But being physically close to your investors, was until not long ago, a requirement, especially in Silicon Valley. With the ‘forced experiment’ of remote work and symbols like YCombinator going remote for their next batch, entrepreneurs will benefit from access to a wider pool of capital than the one in their back yard.
For founders, here is what we would suggest as a virtual office hours strategy:
- Find them – for most, remote office hours are a recent adaptation, and sign up can often take place via a short form. Take a look at who’s offering remote office hours. More and more are popping up, like this example in France, or this female founders office hours in the UK. If there’s a VC you want to connect with, you can also ask if they’re offering any form of office hours during these times.
- Have an agenda – what do you want from the meeting? It’s not a formal pitch, so preparing what you’d like to cover is in your interest.
- Make it a two-way conversation, not a speech. I generally recommend sending a short deck in advance, but not presenting slides during office hours (unless you’re specifically asking for feedback on your deck).
- Fit and industry focus – Think about what VC you’re talking to and how they fit your startup. What’s their particular focus? What perspective or content can they provide you? Are there any companies in their portfolio that might be relevant for you to connect with?
Want to talk more? Just sign up to our next office hours ;-)
I'm a former general partner at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google's first physical hub for startups.
I'm also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read. Since inception in 2012 we've built 11 schools and 50 libraries in the developing world.
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