Business Incubator

Thanks to my experience living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area my exposure to Silicon Valley based firms and talent, I have a very expanded view of Start-Up. As a person raised in New York, the way a business starts up is very different from the models derived out of universities and as of late out of Silicon Valley. These are models based on the selling of software and technology which is very different from a retail business model or a corporate model.

Business Incuabor (Wiki):

Business incubators are programs designed to accelerate the successful development of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services, developed and orchestrated by incubator management and offered both in the incubator and through its network of contacts. Incubators vary in the way they deliver their services, in their organizational structure, and in the types of clients they serve. Successful completion of a business incubation program increases the likelihood that a start-up company will stay in business for the long term: Historically, 87% of incubator graduates stay in business.[1]

Incubators differ from research and technology parks in their dedication to start-up and early-stage companies. Research and technology parks, on the other hand, tend to be large-scale projects that house everything from corporate, government or university labs to very small companies. Most research and technology parks do not offer business assistance services, which are the hallmark of a business incubation program. However, many research and technology parks house incubation programs.

Incubators also differ from the U.S. Small Business Administration's Small Business Development Centers (and similar business support programs) in that they serve only selected clients. SBDCs are required by law to offer general business assistance to any company that contacts them for help. In addition, SBDCs do not target start-up and early-stage companies; they work with any small business at any stage of development. Many business incubation programs partner with their local SBDC to create a "one-stop shop" for entrepreneurial support.

In 2005 alone, North American incubation programs assisted more than 27,000 companies that provided employment for more than 100,000 workers and generated annual revenues of $17 billion.[2]

Soho Incubator: Small Office Home Office Incubator

Soho Incubator is part of a larger project that focuses on the issues that are relevant to start-up and small business. I have been part of the start-up and small business world for the past fifteen years (15) and it just amazes me how little has changed. The current economic is an incredible opportunity to frame the dialogue on the state of start-up and small business in the United States and to create viable and reseasonable and actionable solutions towards solving many problems that exist in this arena.

I read a post from David Gass Founder of Business Credit Services, Inc. and he was right on when he wrote that "Small Business Lenders are Clueless" Business Credit News All of this time and all of the rhetoric around the need to lend to small business and still start-ups and small business owners are suffering with relatively limited access to capital.

In the article, Gass mentioned that JPMorgan Chase is to add $4 billion in small business loans and Bank of America extends nearly $78 billion in small business credit in 3rd quarter. Let's see what success they bring to small business market. Has anyone tried getting a loan from these institutions lately? Are they working with community based banks and or small business banks, micro-finance organizations in order execute some of these loans or are they sitting behind their desks running spreadsheets all day.

In the same breath, President Obama announced that he'll host a White House summit next month on combating the chronic joblessness that continues to be a drag on a struggling economy. No offense, but it's a no brainer, find and or devise concrete ways for the larger banks (the one's that received taxpayer bailout funds) to give to the smaller banks so that those banks can in turn lend to start-up and small business and or at least create viable, trackable systems and co-partnerships with entrepreneurial ventures to execute lines of credit and other funding support.

Soho Incubator has risen out of the goal to service the small office home office start-up and the need to have more centralized, but informal networked and affordable incubator solutions for start-up entrepreneurs and small business. Soho Incubator runs informal weekly classes, seminars and networking groups in the New York/New Jersey area and the San Francisco Bay area. If you would like to start an incubator in your area, let us know. sohoincubator@gmail.com