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The U.S. Small Business Administration has a very comprehensive website that can quickly answer many entrepreneurs' questions.

 SBA - Women In Business 

Business incubators are programs designed to support 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 startup company will stay in business for the long term: older studies found 87% of incubator graduates stayed in business,^[1] in contrast to 44% of all firms.^[2]

Incubators differ from research and technology parks in their dedication to startup 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 work with any small business at any stage of development, not only startup companies. 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 

Seed accelerators are a modern, for-profit type of startup incubator, with an open application process, taking in classes of startups consisting of small teams, supporting them with funding, mentoring, training and events for a definite period (usually three months), in exchange for equity. While traditional business incubators are often government-funded, generally take no equity, and focus on biotech, medical technology, clean tech or product-centric companies, accelerators are privately-funded and focused on mobile/Internet startups.

The main differences from business incubators are:^[1]

1. The application process is open to anyone, but highly competitive. Y Combinator and TechStars have application acceptance rates between 1% and 3%.
2. A seed investment in the startups is usually made, in exchange for equity. Typically, the investment is between US$35,000 and US$50,000 (or GB£10000 and GB£50000 in Europe^[2]) but often under US$20,000, as with Y Combinator and TechStars^[2].
3. The focus is on small teams, not on individual founders. Accelerators consider that one person is insufficient to handle all the work associated with a startup.
4. The startups must "graduate" by a given deadline, typically after 3 months. During this meantime, they receive intensive mentoring and training, and are expected to iterate rapidly. Virtually all accelerators end their programs with a "Demo Day", where the startups present to investors.^[3]
5. Startups are accepted and supported in cohort batches or classes (the accelerator isn't an on-demand resource^[4]). The peer support and feedback that the classes provide is an important advantage. If the accelerator doesn't offer a common workspace, the teams will meet periodically.

The primary value to the entrepreneur is derived from the mentoring, connections, and the recognition of being chosen to be a part of the accelerator. The business model is based on generatingventure style returns, not rent, or fees for services.

Seed accelerators do not necessarily need to include a physical space, but many do. The process that startups go through in the accelerator can be separated into five distinct phases: awareness, application, program, demo day, post demo day. 

© 2012 SGB Media Group