Create your own space for mentoring and office hours with Upframe
No more going back and forth between calendars, spreadsheets or timezone converters.
Office centricity is over. Companies like Twitter and Shopify announced they were moving to permanent work-from-home model and others followed suit. Thousands of people are moving back from Silicon Valley and adopting a remote-first lifestyle. This is also affecting the way people build companies. At Upframe we’ve been noticing more teams with people from different corners of the world coming together to build companies remotely.
Startup incubators and accelerators were affected in a major way because they usually operate offline and an important part of their appeal is their offer of a physical space from where entrepreneurs can work, network and attend events. Managing engagement remotely is a challenge but the good news is that the shift in behaviours is creating new opportunities for them to create more impact and become more effective at helping entrepreneurs grow their business.
Remote-first as a cultural norm means this organisations have access to a larger market that is growing. It’s easier to launch programs focused on super niche industries like cannatech or ‘community building’. Or to bring mentors and startups from the other side of the world. That’s where Upframe comes in.
We built a platform to connect mentors and startups over video call. Our intent when we launched the first version of our platform was to make the process of booking an office hour easier and stress-free.
Upon request, we started building pages with lists of mentors but we had to add new people manually and you couldn’t make any change on your own. We wanted to give you back all of the autonomy and control over what happens on your programs. Today, I’m proud to announce a better way to connect your network and manage your mentoring initiatives remotely.
Introducing Spaces
Spaces are a way to turn your network into knowledge and make your community more engaged. They are private clusters where members can find each other and book calls in minutes.
You can make a space yours by changing the cover, brand picture, description and URL. And you can let people join via URL.
Our goal was to free some of your attention and energy, so you can invest in high-level activities and leave the operational juggle of connecting people to us. No more going back and forth between calendars, spreadsheets or timezone converters.
👀 Get an overview of everyone
Lists would only let you see and interact with mentors. Now you can finally see founders and let mentors reach out to them. The search bar inside the people section makes finding people easier.
Community members are now able to see who the space owners are, so they can get in touch and know who to talk to if a problem arises.
You’re able to change the role of people within your community and turn a founder into a mentor or owner of a space.
Finally, you can also see the members who have received an invite to join the space via email but haven’t created an account yet.
⚡️ Invite people join with a link
Besides inviting people via email, now you’re able to send a URL to get people to join a space at Upframe more easily. The same link works for more than one person and you can disable it after having everyone on board.
🛰 Keep track of the changes
The activity log lets owners keep track of the changes that were made inside a space, along with a way to see when new members joined the space. This is especially important for bigger communities with multiple managers.
Our team is currently working on improving Upframe to let you understand how certain mentors add value and how teams are making use of it. If you’re a community manager, accelerator, incubator or university interested in creating impact and using the remote wave as an opportunity to grow, feel free to reach out! We’re always happy to grab coffee and help you find solutions that work for you.
