How To Innovate an Incubator

I recently had the chance to read about Capital Factory out of Austin, a startup incubator that helps get those entrepreneurs off the ground.

What’s interesting about this setup versus your ordinary incubator was the fact that it took the experience of established entrepreneurs or serial entrepreneurs and placed them at the disposal of the startup for a period of time. You not only got seed money begin, but you also gained the knowledge base of people that have made it and more importantly, people that you could trust to tell you what NOT to do.

And it got me thinking… there are two business incubators here in the Triad. There is the Babcock Demon Incubator, and the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship. While both of these have started out with the initial thought of business incubation, the beauty of Capital Factory lies in the experience that you attain from the mentors. It’s almost like setting up your Board of Directors right off the bat with people that have been through what you are about to go through.

The greatest help a startup could achieve in the hardest times are managing to wade through the drudge of business operations where some decisions could make or break the company. Every corporation makes these mistakes, and few survive to talk about it. But the goal is to be one of the few and those mentors could establish a great positioning for these businesses.

It’s not good enough just to have a business, but to have someone understand how to drive your business to success. I truly believe that draws the definitive line between the mediocre business people and the great ones.