Business incubators provide specially designed programs to help young companies innovate, grow, and realize their vision. These programs provide access to financial and technical services that result in numerous benefits to the owners of such a company.
For one, office space may be offered at below-market rates. Experts can also provide advice on business or marketing plans and give entrepreneurs access to a network of investors and other professional services such as accountants and lawyers.
Most companies utilize the services of a business incubator for around two years. During this time, multiple start-ups with a similar focus work in a shared area to reduce operating costs.
It’s important to note that not all business incubators are created equal. Many specialize in a particular industry and some have a more rigorous application process than others. In most cases, however, the start-up will be required to submit a detailed businessplan and disclose all business-related activities. Once accepted, it must commit to undertaking the necessary training and be prepared to report to the business incubator’s management.
What does the business incubator expect in return?
Business incubators do not accept every application – no matter how detailed a businessplan may be.
Ultimately, they seek a return on investment and will take an equity stake in the business in exchange for services rendered. The shareholding is typically in the region of 2% to 10%. Alternatively, some may choose to charge a flat fee. Some incubators – including research organizations and educational institutions – may take a percentage of earnings from any resultant innovations.
While capital is useful to any start-up company, the amount of capital it receives from a business incubator may pale in comparison to how much that equity is worth over the long term. Entrepreneurs should note that while the incubator is invested in their success to some extent, they are nonetheless paying to be part of an incubator program where the incubator may take profits at the earliest opportunity.
Four types of business incubator
Though every business incubator shares the common goal of facilitating growth, they can nevertheless be broadly categorized into four types:
Non-profit development incubators
These are non-profit or government agencies designed to stimulate economic development. Many of these business incubators work with companies with a focus on public welfare or the improvement of society.
Corporate incubators
Whose primary objective is to enhance the entrepreneurial skillset of a start-up and help it remain competitive relative to its peers. Corporate incubators focus on internal and external company projects.
Private investor incubators
These incubators assist high-potential businesses by taking a stake in the company and selling at some point in the future. Many tech start-ups enter into this sort of arrangement.
Academic incubators
In response to increasingly dynamic and competitive markets, universities foster strategic partnerships between academia and industry to help graduates develop relevant, long-term skills.
Key takeaways:
A business incubator is an organization that helps start-up companies or entrepreneurs develop their businesses. Assistance usually takes the form of dedicated office space, management training, and venture capital funding.
In exchange for providing assistance, the business incubator takes an equity stake in the start-up of between 2% and 10%. Research and educational incubators may opt to take a percentage of the earnings resulting from any innovative products.
There are four broad types of business incubators: non-profit development, corporate, private investor, and academic. All share the common goal of facilitating growth.
An angel investor is usually a high net-worth individual who invests in early-stage start-ups in exchange for equity in the company. Angel investors are wealthy private investors focused on financing small business ventures in exchange for an equity stake. Unlike a venture capital firm, an angel investor invests their own capital during the early stages of a start-up when the risk of failure is relatively high, yet it might in the long-term unlock higher rates of return.
A venture capitalist generally invests in companies and startups which are still in a stage where their business model needs to be proved viable, or they need resources to scale up. Thus, those companies present high risks, but the potential for exponential growth. Therefore, venture capitalists look for startups that can bring a high ROI and high valuation multiples.
Economic or market moats represent the long-term business defensibility. Or how long a business can retain its competitive advantage in the marketplace over the years. Warren Buffet who popularized the term “moat” referred to it as a share of mind, opposite to market share, as such it is the characteristic that all valuable brands have.
Meme stocks are securities that go viral online and attract the attention of the younger generation of retail investors. Meme investing, therefore, is a bottom-up, community-driven approach to investing that positions itself as the antonym to Wall Street investing. Also, meme investing often looks at attractive opportunities with lower liquidity that might be easier to overtake, thus enabling wide speculation, as “meme investors” often look for disproportionate short-term returns.
Payment for order flow consists of a “kickback” or commission that the broker routing customers to a market maker (in charge of enabling the bid and ask price) will pay a commission to the broker as a sort of market-making fee.
A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) is a company with no commercial operations that are created to raise capital through an IPO to acquire another company. The SPAC is also called for that reason a “blank check company” as it will use the money provided by investors to enable private companies to go public via the SPAC.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about three million business students, executives, and aspiring entrepreneurs in 2021 alone | He is also Head of Enterprise Sales for a high-tech startup, which he helped grow at a double-digit rate since the onset | In 2012 Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
