Incubator = || ≠ New Enlightenment
After a hectic month of houseguests and entertaining visitors, I finally have some time to sit down and write a blog post. Between MicroBrews For The Environment and a visit from Destroyak, it has been an exhausting/interesting month. However, through all the ‘noise,’ I was able to find a very interesting article on Lemnos Labs. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Lemnos, they are essentially applying the software incubator model (e.g. TechStars , Y-Combinator, etc.) to hardware. This made me think… “What if all industries were as ‘open’ as software (and now hardware) incubators?”
First, let me explain what I mean by ‘open’. What makes these incubators amazing for both innovation and the entrepreneurs involved isn’t a single factor of talent aggregation, funding resources, mentors, or PR but an amalgamation of all these.
Talent is willing to ‘open’ their cognitive bank to help be part of a truly unique experience, participate in innovative startups and potentially become a team member for one of these startups.
VCs are more willing to ‘open’ their actual bank accounts and fund these startups at an expedited pace which increases the pace of innovation. (Of course there are a number of reasons for VCs doing this but the result is what matters here not their motivations).
Mentors are willing to ‘open’ both their cognitive bank and rolodex to help the startup do more faster. It is never more evident than when you try to start a company whom you know becomes increasingly important. Also, helping entrepreneurs avoid common pitfalls can help save time and money, and in some cases also the company.
Publications are willing to ‘open’ their audience to these startups, which helps these companies gain a much-needed early user base. The only other form of marketing more influential than PR is WOM. A well-placed article could easily help propel your startup to stardom.
With the success of this model in the technical space, it seems quite amazing to me that other industries whether it be entertainment, agriculture, or whatever haven’t or are just beginning to apply this model to their industry.
With the pace of innovation that has occurred in tech in the past 5-7 years alone (Y-Combinator, the first tech startup incubator, started in 2005), imagining the possibilities the incubator model could bring to other industries is almost unimaginable. I dare say it could even potentially lead to a new age of enlightenment.
What do you think? Are incubators here to stay or just a fad? What industry would you like to see an incubator for?