Researchers at the Kauffman Foundation recently analyzed more than 35 academic articles about business incubators—including a review paper that systematically examined 38 studies—and found some important takeaways from the literature. Yas Motoyama, director of research and policy at Kauffman and his research assistant, Emily Fetsch, found that despite the hype around incubators about the help they give startups, they may not be doing any better at launching successful businesses than entrepreneurs outside of incubators. “The research hasn’t proven that businesses are more successful if they come out of an incubator,” says Fetsch. Incubators promise a lot of resources to startups, like office space, printers, paper, events, networking, assistance connecting startup founders to funders, help with presentations and many other services, says Fetsch. “But the average incubator actually has less than two full-time staff and 25 businesses. That’s a lot of service to provide for two people. So are they really providing all the services they say? It seems unlikely,” she says.
