This kinda sucks, but as someone who was in China for Chinese New Year (when all large gatherings were banned), I understand the reasoning.

That being said, I think we at Wanderlog (W19) would've needed much longer to raise if not for a chance in person meeting at Demo Day.

We were encouraged to cold-pitch investors in person in the halls during breaks at Demo Day. For one of those pitches, I found an awesome investor who'd heard of us through a friend. While he'd thought there was a gap in travel planning tools before, this chance encounter gave me the chance to sell the company a lot more than we got from the super-brief Demo Day presentation. We had a handshake deal 3 days after that.

We wrote more about the lead-up to experience in our blog at https://wanderlog.com and my conclusion is: it's harder to forge that quick trust and connection anywhere other than in person.

That being said, I do realize we were very lucky. This change could be good for some companies and worse for others, as it rewards solid businesses more than charismatic pitchers. I'm looking forward to seeing the Demo Day pitches for this batch!