What makes a great incubator?

 



An entrepreneur is a person who dares to do the impossible. He invents new approaches and rounds up rare resources to explore new business opportunities. In such a difficult journey, the ecosystem around the entrepreneur plays a crucial role. This ecosystem is composed of everyone from the government and universities to corporate veterans. One of the most important components of a startup ecosystem is incubators. Incubators connect founders with mentors who can guide them throughout their journey. It is where entrepreneurs’ understanding of startups is shaped up. Here they can learn about funding, equity and other essential fundamental of running a company. An incubator can be an academic facility, an investment firm’s initiative or simply a group of angel investors.

Lately, India has been advancing in the startup world and incubators/accelerators have a major role to play. They handhold new entrepreneurs and support them when they need it the most. They provide the much-needed technical support, help founders generate funds. So, you can see how important these incubators are for a nation looking forward to encourage entrepreneurship among youth. But are all incubators equal? Unfortunately, no! Similar to colleges, incubators too are of different qualities. Some are known to create the best of entrepreneurs while others can do more harm than good. Most of the incubators have been observed to fail owing to lack of good-quality mentors. A good incubator has characteristics like a solid alumni program, top-rated mentors, well-crafted coursework and strategic location. Here we are discussing some other crucial factors that distinguish a great incubator from commoners.

 

  • Survival Rates: It is one of the simplest yet the most effective factor to judge an incubator. If an incubator has a good number of startups still functioning after a year then it is an indicator of a well-managed incubator.

  • Valuations and Exits: Good incubators can also have an impact on a startup’s valuation. The higher the valuation of a venture coming out of an incubator, the better the place.

  • Fundraising Rounds: Although, fund-raising is never a measure of a business’s success. However it can be a good indicator of the brilliance of a startup’s core business. If after the incubation program, a startup can achieve their funding goal, it means that it is a good incubator.
  • Networking Opportunities: One of the major benefits that must come from an incubation program is the opportunity to connect with some top-rated mentors. The incubator must have people that can assess and predict a trend and pass on the benefits to entrepreneurs.

  • Community Approach:
    Not every incubator is willing to invest their time and efforts in creating a community of founders. However, the ones that go through this create an ecosystem that is supportive of entrepreneurs, both old and new.
  • Multiple Mentors:
    While this can be a tricky one, multiple mentors can actually benefit a founder in the long run. Having different perspectives, which too from bona fide experts, can help founders dodge a bullet or two.
  • The main facilitator: An incubator is as good as its main facilitator. This facilitator can do wonders when it comes to arranging resources for the newly founded ventures.

These are some of the most prominent factors that can tell a great incubator from the crowd. Aligned with a well-defined goal, shared by all the participants, these factors can ensure an incubator like no other.

Inter College Innovation Challenge – An incubator in the form of a startup contest

Who can run an incubator better than a conglomerate that started as a startup? Rajan Nanda Innovation Lab, backed by India’s top agri-tech company, is working towards empowering the innovators of tomorrow with its Inter College Innovation Challenge. In this challenge, college students from all over India can participate with their best innovative ideas in rail-tech, agri-tech and infra-tech. The startup ideas that have the potential to disrupt the abovementioned field will win seed funding of Rs. 50 lakhs. The more information about the contest and its process is available on its website.

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