Incubator

An incubator provides early-stage startups with resources to develop their businesses — office space, administrative support, mentorship, and sometimes seed funding. Unlike accelerators (which have fixed cohort programs and demo days), incubators are longer-term, more flexible engagements. University incubators (connected to research institutions) help academics commercialize their work. Corporate incubators (run by large companies) explore adjacent business opportunities. The line between incubators and accelerators has blurred significantly. Famous incubator examples: Idealab (Bill Gross), MIT's The Engine (focused on deep tech). Incubators typically take equity ranging from 0-10% depending on how much they provide. Many companies in incubators are pre-product or even pre-team.