What are incubators? Are they important for entrepreneurs?

Incubators are places specially "designed" to help entrepeneurs to develop their business ideas or their business. 

Mainly are supported by companies, universities, comercial/empresarial associations, and so on, and they provide for the entrepeneurs all help needed for a better guidance to develop those new ideas/business.

 

If they are important? Ye,s no doubt. Beside all this support they can also provide facilities to settle the business and potentiate partnerships, studies, etc etc.

Business incubators are organizations geared toward speeding up the growth and success of startup and early stage companies. They’re often a good path to capital from angel investors, state governments, economic-development coalitions and other investors.

Business incubators important to entrepreneurs because they support the development of start-ups by providing them with advisory and administrative support services. According to the National Business Incubation Association, an incubator's primary objective is to produce successful and financially viable firms that can survive on their own. Early incubators focused on technology companies or on a combination of industrial and service companies, but newer incubators work with companies from diverse industries.Incubators help start-ups save on operating costs. The companies that are part of an incubator can share the same facilities and share on overhead expenses, such as utilities, office equipment rentals, and receptionist services. Start-ups can also take advantage of lower lease rates if the incubator is located in low-rent industrial parks. Incubators may also help start-ups with their financing needs by referring them to angel investors and venture capitalists, and helping them with presentations. Start-ups may have better luck securing financing if they have the stamp of approval of incubator programs.In addition to financial help, start-ups also need guidance on how to compete successfully with established industry players. Incubators can tap into their networks of experienced entrepreneurs and retired executives, who can provide management guidance and operational assistance. For example, a biotechnology start-up would benefit from the counsel of retired pharmaceutical executives who have first-hand experience of the drug development and clinical approval process. Similarly, a restaurant entrepreneur could learn about the difficulties of overseas expansion from retired hospitality-industry executives. Start-ups usually benefit from having respected individuals on their boards of directors and scientific advisory panels, because these individuals bring invaluable connections and experience to the table.

Business incubator programs are designed to support the development and success of start-up companies by providing them with a range of support resources and services designed and managed by the management of the incubator, which either by providing them with the babysitter for emerging companies, either directly or through a network of relations. Business Incubators differ from each other in the way that you provide start-up companies and support services.

 

The most common services provided by business incubators :: 1. assist in marketing and accounting and financial management 2. communicate with allies Astratejan market 3. communicate with investors and with the capital risk investors 4. Provide advisory and supervisory staff 5. Intellectual Property Management 6. facilitate borrowing from banks In previous studies found that 87% of start-up companies that have benefited from the support of incubators successfully continued in the market - and in turn, the success of emerging companies that do not receive support from business incubators rate was about 44% and it proves how important business incubators.

I agree with Mr Pedro answers, thanks for the invitation. ..

For many entrepreneurs in the tech space, being part of something larger has helped them get their businesses off the ground more quickly and smoothly. Ultimately, an incubator can be the perfect bridge to make the big step from idea to execution. Here’s why: 1. Fewer mundane tasks, more product development. Incubators, which are taking root across the world, offer startups guidance and resources. In essence, incubators are home to angel investors, venture capitalists, and others who are able to mentor entrepreneurs. Many also offer tangible resources such as accounting assistance, office space and legal guidance. Having this business infrastructure in place allows the startup to focus on what matters most—the core business (and not the mundane, day-to-day administrative responsibilities). As a member of a specialized incubator myself, I’ve reaped many benefits. My company is a spinoff of two European online advertising agencies, and we’re both part of the same business accelerator. (A note on accelerators vs. incubators: Although incubators and accelerators both help businesses grow, incubators assist companies in their infancy, whereas accelerators guide organizations through future expansion and development.) 2. Access to "mover and shaker" networks. One of the biggest benefits of being part of an incubator is the ability to tap into a strong network of business partners. In my case, I can say with certainty that several of our current media and tech partners wouldn’t have worked with us if we had just been out there on our own. Some required large financial commitments, while others considered it too risky to work with a 1-month-old startup. However, we were able to overcome those obstacles since we were part of an incubator. A powerhouse network can also be beneficial from a public relations perspective. There is only so much you can do as a startup with a limited marketing and PR budget, but, for us, being part of a group of companies has helped us gain traction and step into the spotlight. This, in turn, has also strengthened our ability to scout leads and opportunities. 3. You can scratch each others’ backs. As a technology company, it is important for us to frequently release new analytics and optimization capabilities. It’s even more important that we learn from client feedback to make our platform better. Our direct access to two other agencies within our accelerator has proved to be extremely beneficial and enabled us to do more aggressive product development and rigorous testing—something that would have been more difficult and time consuming if not for the incubator. As any entrepreneur will attest, there are a lot of lessons that he or she has learned the hard way. Making errors and learning from mistakes is something startup founders own. However, imagine being part of a support system where you could learn from the mistakes of others before you made them yourself. 4. Support from mentors with street cred. Our mentors have been entrepreneurs themselves and, as such, have been able to challenge and help further define our vision, strategy and roadmap. They weren’t able to do this because of a business school degree earned at an Ivy League school, but thanks to their personal experience in the trenches. Of course, there will still be times when, despite the incubator, you will have to learn on your own. In our case, we were the first company in our program to consider international expansion. Ties to other tech startups in San Francisco or New York City didn’t exist and we found ourselves in unchartered territory. That said, any knowledge we acquire we can then use to benefit others within the incubator. Being part of an incubator or accelerator can play a huge role in growing your startup. For us, it has jump-started our company and brought us to where we are today. We are now in the position to fly solo, yet we know we didn’t get here alone. The value that our mentors have brought to us has been instrumental to our success, and we look forward to helping other new startups succeed in the future.

Thanks

Totally agree with the answer given by Mr. Pedro

Thanks for the invite ............................ Leave an answer for the owners of expertise

I will be wait more experts answer

agree with ms. ghada

                           .

Fully agree with Pedro Brites

Business incubators are usually governmental hubs set up to host small businesses that can't afford to have their own business set up costs. They provide basic services to the businesses like a physical location with a mailing address, internet connection, phone line, fax, and other basic utilities. Some incubators also provide networking events for entrepreneurs and both online and physical directories of other businesses hosted by them.