One way for early stage companies to become reputable is to join a startup incubator.
Incubators are popping up all over the country, with Y-Combinator on the west coast and TechStars in Boulder, Boston, Seattle and New York.
Inc put together a list of the 10 best startup incubators to watch.
You should watch the companies coming out of them too. Some have gone on to have billion-dollar valuations.
TechStars
Founded in 2006, TechStars is one of the country's most prestigious incubators.
Its four locations in Boston, Boulder, New York City, and Seattle, host 10 teams for three months of the year on rotation, funding each team member between $6,000 and $18,000. More than 600 teams applied last year, making TechStars one of the country's most competitive incubators.
This summer, more than 1,000 startups applied to the program. Here's a list of the companies and founders who were accepted.
TechStars focuses on technology companies with transnational appeal, and requires a 6 percent equity stake in any new companies that are funded. Each program ends with a pitch event with venture capitalists and other investors.
Y-Combinator
Since 2005, Y-Combinator has set the standard for technology incubators.
Founded by tech entrepreneur Paul Graham, the Silicon Valley-based paradise for coders with an entrepreneurial streak hosts teams in two rotations from January to March and from June to August of each year.
Y-Combinator invests about $18,000 per company for the session, and asks an equity stake that averages about 6 percent. Roughly 300 companies have received funding to date, among them Scribd, WePay, and Reddit.
Summer@Highland
Michael Gaiss, a senior vice president at Highland Capital Partners, decided in 2007 that an in-house incubator might be an ideal way for investors to acquaint themselves with next-generation entrepreneurs.
The program took a hiatus last year, but has returned this summer to host 11 teams spread across locations in Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area. The incubator has accepted applications from companies with a variety of different ideas in past years, but decided to narrow its scope to technology companies this round.
Teams of two-to-four members receive $15,000, along with office accommodations from early June through the end of August.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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See Also:
- "DON'T Do A Startup, You Will FAIL"
- Y Combinator Company Frid.ge is Shutting Down
- The 14 Hot L.A. Startups You Need To Watch
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