Mantle Global Accelerator AMA Recap

With the kickoff of the Mantle Global Accelerator, we hosted an engaging AMA session featuring key experts from Mantle including Veer, Ben, and Kelly to introduce their 12-week program designed to support early-stage builders. The session covered an overview of the accelerator, highlighting $20K milestone-based funding, tailored mentorship, and Demo Day with 30+ VCs. The program structure includes weekly workshops on UI/UX design, community building, and growth strategies, alongside "mentor madness," where participants connect with industry experts. On mentorship and ecosystem support, Mantle emphasized its network of seasoned blockchain innovators and its commitment to helping teams tackle technical and operational challenges. Curriculum highlights featured practical topics like marketing, operations, and prototyping with AI tools. The AMA also explored grant requirements, which align funding with progress, and Mantle’s robust ecosystem, backed by a $200M fund and 270,000 ETH treasury. Finally, the panel detailed selection criteria, focusing on innovative, user-focused founders with strong distribution strategies, while emphasizing Mantle’s long-term commitment to fostering sustainable Web3 projects.

(Click here for the full AMA playback)

(Source: Medium)

Harry: Welcome everyone to the Mantle Global Accelerator AMA! I’m Harry, your moderator for today and co-founder of HackQuest. We’re excited to dive into Mantle’s innovative accelerator program. Let’s kick things off with introductions.

Veer: I’m Veer, Head of Business Development at Mantle. I’ve been part of this ecosystem even before it was called Mantle, back when we didn’t even have a Layer 2. My background spans product and market research, and I’ve been involved in the decentralized economy since 2017. Excited to share more about the accelerator program today.

Ben: Hi everyone, I’m Ben. I joined Mantle a year ago and primarily focus on engaging with upper-funnel teams—those new to Mantle or exploring the ecosystem. Recently, I’ve been particularly interested in accelerators, which aligns with our partnership with HackQuest. We’re here to identify and support the next big Web3 projects.

Kelly: Hello! I’m Kelly, the newest member of the Mantle team, joining just a few weeks ago. My focus is on supporting early-stage builders and strengthening the overall ecosystem. I’m thrilled to be part of this AMA to discuss how Mantle is empowering developers.

Harry: Let’s dive into today’s topic: the Mantle Global Accelerator. Veer, could you give us a high-level overview of the program?

Veer: The accelerator is designed to support early-stage builders through grants, workshops, and mentorship. Having done dozens and dozens of hackathons and various builder programs, hacker houses, and so on, we've seen that it's easy to have great ideas and build a quick prototype at a hackathon. But what happens after is something that nobody has a proper template that just works for everyone. So a lot of builders need is tons of support and effort from our side to keep the conversation going, give them some motivation, mentor them through various difficult questions. Maybe you are a smart developer and the most right-curve person ever, but you haven't built a startup before. And there's a lot of skills that you're missing, whether it's community building, marketing distribution, building your founder profile, fundraising, etc. There's a never-ending list of questions and difficult problems you need to solve. Perhaps your previous experience is not enough, so that's where a program like HackQuest comes in. I think we're just going to provide this white glove service for these builders who want to actually become a founder and build something that's real and sustainable.

We’re targeting 6–8 teams for this cohort, each receiving a $20K grant distributed in milestones—$10K upfront and $10K upon completion. At the end of the program, there’s a demo day with over 30 venture partners. The goal is to foster sustainable growth for projects within Mantle’s ecosystem. We're just here as a supporting hand and we're going to do anything we can in our power to make this a success for the builder.

Ben: Adding to that, we have the likes of Sozu Haus, which is a hacker house. And we realized, we've got so many builders that why not we try doing an accelerator? So this would be the first cohort of a global accelerator that we're doing. And we really want to be hands on.

This year, my plan is that I want to be around the builders and not so much the VCs or the investors out there, but just getting a bit more hands on, going for hackathons, going for different builder events and seeing what people can build in a span of three days, or If we do a 10 - 12 weeks program. Then it grows and it turns into an actual project or an actual startup. We'd like to be in the space where we can really support these teams.

Kelly: Exactly. When it comes to supporting builders, the Mantle team is absolutely hands-on and we treat builders like we were literally bowing down to the giga chads because we want to help them succeed. From a mental perspective, we're here for you. And that's why we do amazing activations like the Global Accelerator.

(Source: Accelerator)

Harry: 100% and for our audiences, always check out https://accelerator.hackquest.io/. This is the global Mantle Accelerator Cohort One landing page and you can find out more info here. At a high level, would you be able to help us walk through how is the 12 week program structured and what are some of the key milestones the founders should achieve by the end of each phase of the program?

Veer: The 12-week program will start with what we call mentor madness, the idea brought by HackQuest. Essentially, participants would come in and meet potential mentors. At this early stage, they start pitching their ideas to different mentors. As of now, we have about 30+, almost 40, and we are still looking for more mentors to join and be part of this accelerator. We’ve got teams, team leaders like HackQuest and of course, Mantle people.

We’ve got Eigenlayer and Wormhole also getting on board. These are just some of the teams already public. Essentially, during the 12-week program, every week will feature a different curriculum. Participants will learn how to do marketing, UI/UX design, how to update their decks when pitching to investors, and what problems they are trying to solve. They’ll also identify what support they need. Then we’ll come in and do workshops on the overall idea of what this accelerator is about and what their projects will be about.

We are targeting six to eight teams, and each will get a $20K grant from us. This will be split into two milestones: $10K upon joining the program and another $10K at the end of the program. At the end, there’ll be a demo day where teams present to judges. We’ll also bring in our 30+ venture partners for the demo day to see if they might give a check, either for a second investment or a first one. Ideally, participants will usually be in the pre-seed or seed stage when they join the accelerator. They’ll receive very hands-on support from the majority of the Mantle ecosystem team, including myself, Kelly, and Mark.

There’s another guy, John, who is part of the team as DevRel. We’ve also got Hannah, who’s in BD for the consumer sector, and Albright, who’s part of the community team. These are just some of the people involved. Of course, other team members like our engineers and marketing folks from Mantle will also be part of it. Once you’re part of the accelerator and you deploy on Mantle, you’ll receive very white-glove treatment from us because we genuinely want you to succeed.

The whole idea of the accelerator is for you—the builders. We’re here to create a holistic ecosystem and foster growth for your projects.

Harry: That's very exciting. Ben teased us with a cup of very big-name mentors getting onboarded and mentioned there will be more rolling out gradually week over week. Could you elaborate a little more on who are the mentors and how are they selected?

Ben: The mentors are basically teams who are building on Mantle, as well as teams that might not be on Mantle, like VCs. Some of these VCs are venture partners, also partners with HackQuest. LFJ, or the MerchantMall team, built on Mantle as a franchise project from Trader Joe. They’ve done really well on Mantle. Inner Capital, founded by Tasha, who was part of DeFi 1.0 with Alpha Finance, is also part of the mentors. We also have Eigenlayer, with whom we have a great relationship, and ThirdWeb, another strong partner. When we look for mentors, we focus on alignment with our vision as a chain or interest in what we are building. From the start, we’ve been building from zero to one, and these mentors are thought leaders in the space.

When people see our mentor list, they recognize that these individuals add real value. For example, Wormhole is very excited to work with us. They’re eager to dive into the EVM ecosystem, so we decided to collaborate. Everyone benefits—projects grow, mentors grow, and accelerator participants grow. When selecting mentors, we ensure they have the time to participate meaningfully, whether as workshop leaders, judges, or advisors. We have quick conversations with them, sharing our vision, and they align with it. Together, we aim for holistic growth in the space.

We’ve also made sure to cover all areas, from experienced founders who are years ahead of first-time founders to investors and domain experts in fields like design and marketing. For example, we have Justin Vogel from Safari Club and Phil, the founder of Airfoil. Some mentors might not be well-known thought leaders but are absolute "gigabrains" behind the scenes. These hidden rock stars are often the most helpful because they focus on getting things done rather than building their brand on crypto Twitter.

The Mantle Core team is also deeply involved, providing hands-on help through ecosystem and investment team members. Builders will receive a lot of support. One of the biggest pain points for early-stage builders in this industry is creating something genuinely cool but struggling to get responses from ecosystem teams. That lack of support can make or break a project.

At Mantle, we’re uniquely positioned to address this. We have a big team, a lot of passion, and a commitment to your success. We’re here to help you make it, and that’s what drives us.

(Source: Accelerator)

Harry: The incentive is super aligned. My next question is that would you walk us through the motivation behind finding those particular topics? Is there any example of interesting sessions that the founders can look forward to?

Veer: The topics we are focusing on and the curriculum are still being updated at this point. However, they include foundational areas like UI/UX design. For example, we emphasize UI/UX design because, personally and for most people, when you see a project on crypto Twitter or explore a new platform, you want the interface to be smooth and easy to navigate. If it’s a DEX, it should be clean and straightforward, with minimal steps required to complete a transaction. If it’s a game, it should incorporate elements that encourage player retention.

Overall, for any project to succeed, retention, effective marketing, and community building are key factors. We’ve seen projects with great ideas and products, but subpar UI/UX has held them back from taking off. Some of the topics in the program will address these issues, including how to pitch to a VC—what VCs want to hear and how to grab their attention. VCs often receive 30 to 40 decks daily from different projects, so standing out is crucial. Being part of the accelerator simplifies this process by connecting you directly with VC partners.

For instance, VC partners will host workshops to show what a strong deck looks like and outline what they look for in a project. At the end of the program, demo day gives you the chance to pitch to 20 to 30 VCs in a setting that’s like a mini Shark Tank. These VCs may potentially invest in your project. This setup not only makes fundraising easier but also helps you prepare for scaling—from going from zero to one, and then from one to one hundred. You’ll also learn how to sustain your project for five, ten, or even twenty years, shifting from short-term thinking to long-term goals.

Building and maintaining a strong community around your project is another key aspect. How do you ensure the community feels heard? How does the team respond to community questions? If there’s FUD, how do you handle it effectively? These are some of the critical areas covered in the program.

On the technical side, the program includes technical documentation, knowledge sharing, and support for security, growth, and scaling. This is where our Dev Rels, engineers, and technical experts come in. Additionally, partners like Alchemy and ThirdWeb, with their infrastructure expertise, will guide you through these processes.

Ben: A couple of sessions stood out to me during discussions with the team. I was particularly looking forward to topics like banking, invoicing, and operations. These are incredibly valuable, especially for early-stage founders, yet they often get overlooked. There was also a session about social media for founders, and another one on prototyping with AI tools, aimed at both content creators and technical founders. These sessions cover a wide range of topics that you don’t usually find in everyday accelerators, but they’re thoughtfully planned by the team to benefit founders and their teams significantly.

Simple but critical topics like setting up a business were also included. For example, as someone who’s not a founder, if I were to join an accelerator, I’d want to know the steps for setting up a business account, where to register it, and the legal documentation needed for safety and security. It’s not just about having everything on-chain; ensuring legal and operational safeguards is essential.

Then there are operational concerns like paying team members, managing salaries, and other details that many people don’t initially think about. Sure, on-chain solutions are great, but it’s often better to handle these things with proper legal and operational infrastructure in place. For smaller teams or solo founders, these nitty-gritty details can be overwhelming. Being part of an accelerator provides clarity, support, and actionable steps to address these challenges effectively.

Veer: One more thing, aside from all the amazing workshops and funding, is the role of the mentors, who we call program managers and thought partners. Program managers are essentially integral members of the project team. They host one-on-one check-ins and act as the primary point of contact for everything during the program period.

Thought partners, on the other hand, are specialized experts and subject matter experts (SMEs) in functional areas like legal, operations, and design. They work closely with the teams in one-on-one sessions and host rotating office hours every Friday. Each week, the topic and SME focus shift to address different aspects that can truly accelerate the growth of the projects.

Another key feature of this accelerator is that it’s a Mantle-specific accelerator. Building on Mantle is straightforward, with a robust infrastructure in place. However, one of the questions we often get is about the kind of technical support provided for projects building on or integrating with Mantle.

For those who haven’t built on Mantle before, there’s good news: the developer experience is nearly identical to any other EVM chain, including Ethereum itself. If you have experience building on EVM chains, hackathons, and similar environments, you should find the process familiar and seamless.

We do have a Dev Rel team and an engineering team available for consultations. They can hop on calls and provide hands-on support as needed. However, we assume that participants accepted into the accelerator already have a solid familiarity with the EVM ecosystem. For first-time EVM builders, getting accepted into the program might be a bit more challenging.

That said, if you’ve built on any EVM chain, you should have no issues building on Mantle. If you need introductions to infrastructure partners or insights on ecosystem discounts and resources, we’re here to assist. But overall, building on Mantle is just as smooth as working on any other EVM-based chain, especially one built on the OP Stack. No need to worry—it's designed to be developer-friendly.

Harry: That's amazing. What conditions for milestones must be met by the team to receive the 20K grant?

Ben: The grant is a $20K grant in MNT. Initially, each team will receive $10K upfront upon joining the program. The remaining $10K is distributed upon completion of the 12-week program and meeting the agreed-upon milestones. These milestones vary depending on the team's project and focus within the Mantle ecosystem.

Each team works closely with the Mantle team to define achievable milestones over the 12 weeks. The grant is designed to help bootstrap projects or businesses, ensuring teams have the resources to get started and progress. At the end of the program, teams may qualify for additional grants or investments. This could mean a larger milestone-based grant or an investment from Mantle, a partner like Mirana Ventures, or other venture firms in the ecosystem.

Adding to this, Mantle offers various levels of grants and ecosystem support. Beyond the accelerator program, there’s the Sprinter Program, which focuses on user acquisition, growth strategies, and retention. This initiative helps teams thrive and scale by leveraging Mantle’s extensive ecosystem resources. Early-stage builders have found significant value in these growth-oriented strategies.

Occasionally, Mantle provides liquidity support directly from its treasury—the most liquid treasury among L2 and decentralized ecosystems, powered by 270,000 ETH. However, this level of support has a high bar and is typically geared toward projects with a more advanced stage of development. For early-stage projects facing liquidity challenges, Mantle collaborates with market makers to solve the "cold start" problem, offering a critical advantage over other ecosystems.

On the investment side, Mantle’s $200 million ecosystem fund and 30+ strategic venture partners, including Dragonfly and Pantera, provide ample fundraising opportunities. This robust support framework ensures a seamless journey for builders, from grants to strategic investments and ecosystem collaborations.

From an external perspective, Mantle’s pipeline is highly valuable. Unlike many ecosystems lacking end-to-end support, Mantle offers hackathons, grants, scouting programs, accelerators, and investment opportunities, creating a complete journey for builders. Once a team starts on this journey, whether through the accelerator or another entry point, Mantle provides continuous support to help projects achieve product-market fit and traction.

It’s worth highlighting that Mantle’s ecosystem is uniquely self-sustaining. While other ecosystems rely on unsustainable token emissions or sequencer revenue models, Mantle operates with a long-term vision. The ecosystem is backed by a liquid staking protocol—METH—built on its treasury, ensuring perpetual sustainability. As long as Ethereum thrives, Mantle will continue to grow, making it a standout player in the L2 space. This strategic advantage secures Mantle’s position as a leader in the blockchain ecosystem.

Veer: We have the largest treasury—what does this really mean? It means we can create an exceptionally strong foundation to ensure the longevity of this ecosystem. As a founder choosing an ecosystem to build on, this is one of the most critical questions to consider: Will this chain still be here in five years? Ten years?

If you're only focused on short-term gains, perhaps this isn't the right fit. But if you're building for the long term, thinking about your legacy, and aiming to create a product that will thrive for years to come, this is a crucial topic that not many L2s or ecosystems address.

(Source: Accelerator)

Harry: What projects and really who exactly are you looking for? What's the program thesis now for Mantle?

Ben: When it comes to looking for projects, ideally, we see if maybe this person could have been a founder previously, or even if they’re a new founder, what they are building and how it adds value to the whole Web3 ecosystem. We like innovation, something new and not just a fork of a fork. It’s more about asking: What are you doing, or what are you building, that could potentially get people really interested?

Also some sort of credibility is important, and you definitely have to at least KYC with us internally so we know who you are. Unless you are someone really big in the industry who’s never doxxed yourself but can prove your identity—for example, let’s say you’re Zyrex or GMR—those big names actually don’t even need an accelerator.

But essentially, it’s really about finding those who are hungry, those who strive to build something that adds value not just to our ecosystem but to multiple ecosystems. What are you building that is different? It doesn’t have to be DeFi alone. It could be DeFi, infrastructure, consumer, social, or NFT infrastructure. What are you doing that’s going to be different? And what are you building that will genuinely pique the interest of a lot of people? I’ll admit, I’m quite easily intrigued, so I might not be the toughest person to impress, but if you can impress people like Kelly and Veer, it means you’re building something really, really cool.

It’s about intuition. For me, the most important thing is the founder themselves. The product idea may change, especially at an early stage, like in an accelerator program. As a founder, you may pivot several times.

We want to invest in and commit to these founders, no matter what direction they decide to take. Maybe the problem you’re solving right now with your product isn’t actually a problem at all, and you realize that after going to market. Then you pivot a few times—that’s completely normal. This happens with even some of the most famous and successful products on earth. Most of them pivoted along the way and continue to pivot. That’s why, especially with early-stage products, I’m mostly looking at the founder’s profile. Do they have grit? Are they able to excite me? Are they a good leader and a good person, while also being someone who is incredibly ambitious and not afraid of doing the hard work? That’s number one.

The product idea itself is incredibly important. We’re looking at prototypes, MVPs, and so on. Even if it’s just an idea, it’s still interesting. The primary question is: Are you building something real? Are you solving real problems for real people? This is an ongoing question for all products, including existing ones on Mantle.

Product-market fit, in other words, is a big question. Do we have conviction that this has the potential to reach PMF? Also, there’s the question of product-ecosystem fit. On the DeFi side, we already have some core primitives. If you’re building the 40th Uniswap fork, maybe it’s not so interesting. But if you’re creating something unique that hasn’t existed yet and fits into the ecosystem, that’s very interesting.

You need to have conviction. You need to be an expert in a certain problem area and have a strong belief that what you’re building will solve critical pain points for users. Please don’t come to us asking what to build; it’s not a good sign for a founder. And believe me, this happens often—sometimes daily, especially during hackathons, when developers and builders come to us asking for ideas. Don’t do that.

Lastly, and perhaps this is part of the founder profile or maybe more about the team, distribution ability is critical. There are many high-caliber builders out there, but are you going to be able to get users for your product? That’s a big question. How will you get your first 100 users? If you don’t have an answer to that, I don’t know what to tell you. You need to think about your users, how to acquire them, how to do distribution, and how to build your profile as a founder.

One of my favorite recent stories is about Elon, the founder of Pump.Fun. Whatever you think about Pump.Fun, we can discuss that separately, but Elon, when he built Pump.Fun, manually DMed over 3,000 people—not just copy-pasting, but sending personalized messages to different people in the industry. He’d say, “Hey, have you checked out Pump.Fun yet? Here’s a link; you should take a look,” with a quick description of what it is. That kind of hustle, directly reaching out to people he knew he needed as users, is what made it work.

This kind of activity is something I find really inspiring, and I think it’s something early-stage builders and founders need to learn from. Don’t outsource your growth to an ecosystem team on an L2. My God, if you knew how many requests we get for main channel amplification—it’s literally impossible for us to retweet every single tweet you create. And honestly, retweeting your tweet isn’t going to bring you a lot of users. It’s your responsibility to acquire users and get them excited. If it requires manual DMing, then so be it.

The third thing I’m really focused on is: Do I have conviction that this builder is able to acquire users? How will they do it, at least for the first 100 users? That’s something super interesting to me. That’s the secret sauce.

Veer: I can't agree with everything that's been said so far more. I remember there's a quote I really like from Alex Rample from A6 Insights writing. He once said, "The battle between every startup and incumbent comes down to whether the startup gets distribution before the incumbent gets innovation." And distribution is really, really king and so critical, especially when we think about its relevance to crypto. In this space, the incumbent advantages don't exist as much as we tend to think.

Another thing that resonates strongly with me was when I was working at another large accelerator. The MD made a couple of investments that we were all pretty puzzled by. We asked, "Why?" The projects didn't have traction, and their metrics didn't fall into the traditional category.

But then he said, "I know these people will succeed eventually." He even told the team, "I don’t think your current idea is going to fly or take off immediately. It probably requires, as they say in Silicon Valley, seven pivots. But I really believe in you guys. This team will get somewhere."

A few years later, the team had indeed gone through a couple of pivots. I admit, I also lost my conviction at one point. But because of what the MD said, I continued to support them. That team became an "Apple Apple" today—they raised a couple of rounds and are still alive. At one point, they were one of the most popular apps in their category.

So I think the thesis is right: it takes a team that always hustles. Even if the idea isn’t right the first time, it can totally turn around in the span of three months.

Kelly: One thing I wanted to say here that I just remembered: Nikita Bier, obviously a master in distribution, user acquisition, and growth—maybe hacks, but things that actually result in real success for products. A few months ago, Nikita Bier tweeted something about what he looks for in new products and the two most important qualities for founders.

He tweeted this: an academic obsession with psychology and product design. Like this absolute obsession—something you think about nonstop. What is the psychology of the product design? What problems are you solving? How can you create not just a product that’s 10 times better than your competitor’s but 100 times better? Interviewing users, getting obsessed with how the product can be better than anything out there. I love the word "obsession" here—academic obsession with psychology and product design.

And then the second was a love for money. You have to be realistic, right? Not every product can thrive without thinking about revenue. We’re not in the business of charity here. Even the most successful businesses prioritize being revenue-generating and profitable. That’s just reality. It’s not the most romantic answer, but a love for making money is important as a business.

I retweeted it and screenshotted it. But he immediately deleted the tweet. I loved the way he put it because you don’t often see these two qualities formalized like that. Kelly, I’m curious about your thoughts.

Harry: Can you give one piece of advice from your perspective to the teams and projects founders interested and maybe even those who already applied to the program?

Veer: Just be real, just be authentic. When we chat with you and review your application, we’ll look at your product, and ideally, we’d love to meet the team. If you have a great product and a great team, that’s perfect. If it’s a great team but the product is questionable, we can have a back-and-forth conversation to see how you can build better.

If you’re easy to work with, share the vision with us, and have thoughts on how Mantle can improve, grow, or address its gaps—and if you believe your product or project on Mantle can boost our ecosystem while we support you in return—go ahead and apply. We’d love to have a chat with you. Our DMs are open, and we’re always eager to see what you’re building. You might be five years ahead of your time, and we wouldn’t even know it. You could be a gigabrain, and we’d love to meet you. Just be authentic—we look forward to seeing some innovation.

OK, I have three pieces of advice. First, show us that you’re an expert in the problem you’re solving. Make us believe that you understand this problem better than anyone else in the world. It’s not just about throwing up the typical Sequoia pitch deck template slide with a one-liner about the current market problem. You need to study the problem deeply and become a domain expert. This expertise will stay with you even if the product pivots—you’ll likely remain in the same problem area. Again, demonstrate that you’re an expert in your problem.

Second, show us your clear plan for acquiring your first 100 loyal users. Remember, “if you build it, they may not come.” You need a clear strategy and growth roadmap. Don’t get overly ambitious; focus on being tactical. Your goal is to get those first 100 users. For instance, Aave has many users, but its daily active users are just a few hundred. Similarly, Crypto the Game was incredibly successful with just a few hundred users, ultimately leading to a Uniswap acquisition—a fantastic success story. Don’t overreach; just convince us that you know how to tactically acquire those first users beyond the usual token-shilling or basic growth tactics.

Finally, show us what you’ve built. Your MVP or prototype is critical. If you haven’t built one yet, that’s potentially a red flag. With today’s AI tools, going from 0 to 0.1 is easier than ever. I used to code basic experiments as a beginner developer and had some fun, but I haven’t done it in years. Recently, I attended an AI tooling workshop led by Jean-Luc and Trevor, two talented builders from Sozu Haus, and within 40 minutes, I built four prototypes. If I can do it, you can too. Build a quick prototype over the weekend and show us what you’ve got—that’s the minimum requirement in my view.

Those are my three pieces of advice: be an expert in your problem, have a clear plan for acquiring your first 100 users, and show us your prototype or MVP.

Kelly: My background is heavily rooted in marketing, and later I transitioned into Dev Rel. So storytelling has always been a key focus for me. If you can tell the story—the “why” behind what you’re building, why it should be you building it, where you’ve come from, and what has influenced your decision to devote a significant portion of your life to this—it will automatically grab my attention.

Secondly, to echo what Ben and Mark have already emphasized: sell us the dream, but also show us how you’re going to get there. The dream is inspiring and exciting to hear, but without a clear plan for execution, that’s where our decision-making comes in—figuring out where along this journey we can step in and support you.

Ben: Product-founder-market fit and execution are both super critical. My advice is to apply now. Check out the page accelerator.hackquest.io for more information. If you have any questions, I’ve shared my Calendly link, so feel free to book a 15–30 minute call with me directly. I’ve already spoken with a few of you from across the globe, and I’m excited about connecting with more of you. Hopefully, we can set up a call after this AMA.

If you’d like to learn more about the program, the selection process, or the support you’ll receive, feel free to DM any of us or schedule a call. We’re always happy to help. Just a reminder: applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis, and the deadline is December 31st. You still have a couple of weeks, but we recommend submitting early since most folks tend to apply at the last minute. Submitting earlier increases your chances of hearing back sooner, which is an advantage if you’re competing for limited spots.

Harry: From my side, I echo those sentiments—apply now, ASAP. Even if you're unsure about the program, it never hurts to apply. In fact, it can actually help you clarify what you're building. So yeah, just go for it. You can make the final decision later when and if you're accepted. Don’t overthink it.

Veer: HackQuest has been one of my favorite teams in this industry for a few years now. It’s been a wonderful partnership—thanks for being such great "husbands" to us!