Wallifornia story: How the Wallifornia acceleration program Helped Remetrik land among the (Tech)stars
A week ago, we were happy to learn from Christopher Edmonds that Remetrik (Wallifornia Acceleration Program, Class of 2020) was selected to join the “Techstars Music 2021” program. An incredible journey that would have been “much less likely” without joining Wallifornia first, according to Christopher Edmonds, Remetrik’s CEO.
For Christopher, Wallifornia was first and foremost an incredible opportunity to learn how to communicate on his project: “I worked in the music business for 16 years and I am aware of the specificities of the industry. A lot of founders, including myself, love what they are doing and understand it, but they don’t always grasp that others don’t necessarily get it. Wallifornia helped me understand what I was doing better, which has a huge value. It also helped me realize why I wasn’t successful in other ventures.”
The type of heartwarming testimony that made us want to learn more about the challenges lying ahead of our alumnus.
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Why did you decide to join the Wallifornia Acceleration Programme last year?
I was working on my music-tech startup, but I was doing it by myself, with no feedback or advice. I wanted to join a program that would not only be able to help guide me on the business side, but would also understand the vertical (music) that I was focused on.
What did you learn during the program?
I learned a lot, but for me the most important thing was about communication – how to pitch better, how to successfully communicate to others what the company does, who are our customers, what is the opportunity, etc. The process of refining this messaging also helped me better understand these things, and caused my thinking on the company to evolve.
What did you enjoy the most?
Two things – the social aspect with the team and other founders, where lots of good feedback and positive reinforcement were exchanged, and the pitch coaching with Sudha and Thierry.
Would you recommend it?
Absolutely.
What did you think of having it virtual?
Obviously in person would be preferred, however, having it virtually allowed myself and others to participate from all over the world, so there is a lot of value in that. I would say it worked pretty well.
How did it help you go on with your project?
Again, being able to communicate better about my company allowed me to successfully attract a great co-founder, new strategic partners, and to get into other programs like Techstars.
Speaking about Techstar, why did you decide to join their music program?
Techstars has a great reputation of helping companies build successful businesses, and like Walliforna, the fact that in this case they’re also focused on the music vertical made them a great fit.
What are your expectations regarding that program?
The same as Walliforna actually: to come out at the end with a better company, a better solution for our customers, better poised for success.
What would be your advice to best prepare yourself to such a program?
All of these programs are very intense in terms of time and the psychological energy required. Be prepared to work very (VERY) hard, but more importantly, be prepared to accept and process feedback, criticism, and even failure at certain things, and then to use all of it to come out better on the other side. I think all founders have a strong emotional attachment to their start-up and what they do, but you have to be open to hearing some unpleasant, and often conflicting, truths and deciding how to respond.
Do you remember any anecdote from your participation last year?
Although the program was organized online, I had to deal with time zones. Everything was organized at 3:00am in my time zone. I sometimes had the feeling of being a zombie.
About the Wallifornia Acceleration Program
Register here to our 2021 class (deadline April 11th)
About Remetrik