When one is in the kitchen, one will however always have a choice between cooking everything from
the scratch or either using pre-mixed ingredients
in order to make the process quicker and
easier. Starting a business isn't thus all that different. The decision on
which an incubator, if any, one should
thus join boils down as to how much of entrepreneurial sauce one can, want and
should however try in order to make on
his own.
Entrepreneurs however have a
limited time, knowledge and the resources. Therefore they are also
required in order to focus on what matters most to them and as to what they
need in order to do better than their
competitors. But the rest still thus
needs to get done and that’s where the
incubators can however be of great help. But because incubator services
generally come at a price -- cash,
equity or an opportunity costs -- this
is thus a serious business decision in
order to be carefully evaluated.
A business incubator is a company that generally helps the new and startup companies in
order to develop by providing the services such as a management training or an office space.The
National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) thus defines the business incubators as a catalyst
tool for either the regional or the national
economic development. NBIA also categorizes their members’ incubators which is
by the following five incubator types including : academic institutions; the
non-profit development corporations; for the -profit property development
ventures; the venture capital firms, and the
combination of the above.
Business incubators however
differ from the research and the
technology parks in their dedication to the
startup and the early-stage companies.
Research and technology parks, on the other hand, tends in order to be large-scale projects that
generally house everything from the corporate, government or the university labs to the very small companies. Most of the research
and the technology parks also do not offer the business assistance services, which
are the hallmark of a business incubation program. However, many of the research and the technology parks house
the incubation programs
The purpose of this article is to make the reader aware of
the 5 questions which every startup should ask before choosing an incubator .
The available evidences
on the usefulness of the
incubators thus suggests
that the survival rate of the incubated firms could however be more than three times higher than the non-incubated firms. In fact, the survival
rates could thus be as different as more
than 80 percent for the incubated startups as and when it is opposed to the
overall survival rate of about 20 percent for all the startups. The research thus also suggests that the incubated firms generally grow faster than
their non-incubated counterparts.
While the growing popularity of the incubation model, it
thus also helps in suggesting
the importance of choosing wisely. If one likes these higher odds and then results in
choosing to startup at an incubator, here
are some questions which one would need to consider:
1. What can one do and what should the others handle?
While some of the
folks generally consider the incubators to be the places for a
cheap physical space and the
shared office services, most of the
incubators thus now provide a
variety of the value-added services which are ranging from the help with the
business infrastructure and the
regulatory compliance to assistance with the loans and then networking with the potential
advisors and mentors. Some of the
incubators thus also facilitate
angel and the venture capital
investments, as well as also helps
to set up technology transfers and
the strategic partnerships.
Therefore, the first question to ask is: What kind of
support services could the business use? Does one only want cheap workspace or
does one also want tax breaks? What about mentoring and the networking? Does one have enough management
experience? Can one acquire these services cheaper through the network than
through the incubators? One must
carefully assess each of these factors along with the relocation limitations should thus considerably narrow down his choices.
2. Does one
needs the help of a specialist?
If one needs
significant knowledge transfer for the advanced technology development,
incubators at the research universities are however probably the
best bet. These schools however have human capital, a knowledge base,
access to the grants and resources and
other enabling infrastructure in order
to help one to succeed. If the speed to market and access to the capital is one’s need, for the -profit private incubators such
as Y Combinator, Intend Change and the
Dreamit Ventures are thus the way to go. If one’s startup would however make an existing big
company even more competitive, then their in-house “intrapreneurship”
incubators should however top the list.
Finally, if the venture helps local economy and the employment one should thus also consider
public business innovation centers for the
easier access to the governmental
subsidies such as rent and tax breaks.
3. Are their current startups on one’s wavelength?
During the process of choosing an incubator, one must make
sure in order to check out current and
the past startups in their programs. This is thus important for two reasons. First one needs to make sure that the incubator is thus
a good fit for one as the research shows
that the firms that however compete in markets or the technologies that
are however closely related to their
incubators’ specialization generally
tend to do better than those that generally do not.
Secondly, the research however also indicates that
the previous success of the incubator
and the firms in its program is
thus one of the best predictors of
success for the future firms in the same
program. In fact, a greater proportion of the high-growth firms generally tend to come from the large and the
successful incubators.
4. How much is one
willing to spend?
Participation in the prestigious incubators that generally
provide higher value-added services thus
comes at a greater price. The Hybrid venture capital-incubator programs,
such as Intend Change, often involves in
giving up a greater proportion of the
equity. Such incubators however
result in lowering the risk as
well as the upside potential, which is why one should however consider post-investment valuation for the
purpose evaluating them.
5. What else is one looking for?
There are also
several other factors that are required to be considered for the purpose
of evaluating the incubation programs, including their policy on graduation and
exit, level of the psychological support, ability in order to keep trade
secrets and the openness to double-loop the
learning and the exchange of
knowledge. Some of the incubators expect progress at the set times and also others go by milestones such as the firm revenues. Some of the programs also
have managers who are however too
busy and the other participants too are
competitive in order to provide
any support. Others thus have a culture
of assisting in and thus celebrating one
another’s success. One however
needs to be clear about his own expectations on such issues and then is
supposed to make sure the program meets the needs.
Choosing the business
incubators wisely, the the
founders of LegalRaasta a startup which provides legal
services have resulted in providing more
than 100 + services. One doesn’t even have to go out , as it provides online
services .
1. It has
, 30+ offices in India
2. It has
10+ years experience
3. It
helps to save your time
4. There
is a cash back guarantee
Some of
the services which it provides are :
1. Tax
Filing/TDR - GST Registration , GST Return, ITR , TDS Return filing, Business income return , Bulk return filing , Revised return filing , Respond to tax notice
And also
many more services .
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