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With only two weeks to go in our (online) Spring Incubation Program, it’s time for an update on the progress our startups are making.

On Monday May 11th, the first online incubation program ACE ever organized, kicked off. During a two hour teambuilding session, all 30 startup founders dipped their toes into their entrepreneurial journey. In the meantime, a lot has happened. Our new online mentoring platform #ACEBase emerged, our experts shared their knowledge in 27 sessions and our startups have been making promising steps.

Over the past couple of weeks, the 14 startups in our Spring cohort have been receiving 2 teambuilding sessions, 2 networking events, 2 founder fireside chats, 7 expert sessions and 14 growth sessions. In this article we’ll elaborate on the content of the sessions and the progress of the startups thus far.

In week 1, the startup founders got to know each other, the mentors and the program. The week started with a teambuilding session, followed by a founder fireside chat. During the weekly growth sessions, the founders got to share the progress they’ve been making and the challenges they were facing the week ahead. On the same day, the founders got the chance to meet all of the mentors in our network by means of a series of (online) speed dates.

Week 2, was a crucial week as well. During Service Provider’s Day on Wednesday May 18, the founders got acquainted with the service providers in the ACE network. ACE (alumni) startups have access to this variety of service providers, who offer financial, tax and legal advice, grant support and more. Amongst others, RVO, SurfSara and PNO were part of the online event to introduce the startups to their services. As per usual, the growth sessions and expert sessions took place in week two, as well.

Over the last few weeks the startups have been pivoting their business models, growing their teams and developing their MVPs. The last 2 weeks will be very exciting as two of the most crucial events will be taking place online. On Wednesday June 29, Corporate Day will take place to give the entrepreneurs a chance to discover the possibilities, the ACE corporate network has to offer. On Wednesday July 1st, Demo Day will take place, during which the startup will give their final pitch in front of our investor network. Stay tuned for the final results!

“One of the things we learned during these last weeks, is the importance of market segmentation. This process made us realize that we need to focus more on what the market needs at this moment, without losing Coryal Tech’s strong futuristic vision.” – Marco Valenti, Founder of Coryal Tech

About ACE Incubation Program
Are you a student, researcher or recent graduate with an inspiring startup idea? Our incubation program helps you develop your tech or science idea into a successful company. We cover all stages of starting a business and help you boost your entrepreneurial skills. Once you are accepted into the program, we guarantee two years of support. Amsterdam Center for Entrepreneurship (ACE) is the university incubator of UvA, VU, HvA and Amsterdam UMC.

The great news? Applications for our Fall Incubation Program just opened! The second program of this year will take place in November 2020 and promises to be a great edition in a hybrid form. More information regarding the upcoming program, can be found here. If you have any further questions about the program, please don’t hesitate to reach out to: office@ace-incubator.nl. We’re here to answer all your questions.