What is the difference between an incubator and a seed accelerator or startup accelerator?
Where these models differ is largely in how much equity they take in the participating companies, and how each model makes money. You’ll find commentary from a lot of venture capitalists and others today saying that conventional business incubators have a bad name in the new age of bootstrapped tech startups. We see a conventional incubator as basically a program run by a business development organization, chamber of commerce, or as a for-profit entity. They’re pay-for-space programs that basically toss a bunch of early-stage companies into a building, charge pretty high rates for rent, and may have some kind of business services available. Business incubators generally do not take equity in their start-ups, whereas so called seed accelerators, startup accelerators or micro seed accelerators generally do take equity in their startups. While the incubators are typically run as non-profits and charge startups for rent/facilities/services, start-up and business accelerators are typically
