A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend to go public, startups are new businesses that intend to grow large beyond the solo-founder. During the beginning, startups face high uncertainty and have high rates of failure, but a minority of them do go on to become successful and influential.
A business incubator is an organization that helps startup companies and individual entrepreneurs to develop their businesses by providing a fullscale range of services, starting with management training and office space, and ending with venture capital financing. The National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) defines business incubators as a catalyst tool for either regional or national economic development. NBIA categorizes its members' incubators by the following five incubator types: academic institutions; non-profit development corporations; for-profit property development ventures; venture capital firms, and a combination of the above.
Techstars is a pre-seed investor that provides access to capital, mentorship, and other support for early-stage entrepreneurs. It was founded in 2006 in Boulder, Colorado. As of January 2024, the company had accepted over 4,100 companies into its accelerator programs with a combined market capitalization of $106bn USD. Techstars operates accelerator programs in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
A technology business incubator is a type of business incubator focused on organizations that help startup companies and individual entrepreneurs which use modern technologies as the primary means of innovation to develop their businesses by providing a range of services, including training, brokering and financing. In several countries, including India, China, and the Philippines there have been government initiatives to support TBIs. Organizations under the title of technology business incubator often receive funding or other forms of support from the national government.
The Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) is an Africa-wide technology entrepreneur training program, seed fund, and incubator headquartered in Accra, Ghana. The three-phased institution was founded in 2008 to provide training, investment, and mentoring for aspiring technology entrepreneurs with the goal of creating globally successful companies that create wealth and jobs locally in Africa.
An entrepreneurial ecosystem or entrepreneurship ecosystems are peculiar systems of interdependent actors and relations directly or indirectly supporting the creation and growth of new ventures.
Jane Marie Chen is the co-founder of Embrace, a social enterprise that invented and distributes a low-cost infant warmer, that gives premature and low-birth-weight infants a better chance at survival. The Embrace infant warmers / incubators have now helped to save over 700,000 babies in 25 countries. Jane served as the first CEO of Embrace, the non-profit arm of the organization, before stepping into the chief executive officer (CEO) role of Embrace Innovations, the for-profit social enterprise that was spun off in 2012.
SendGrid is a Denver, Colorado-based customer communication platform for transactional and marketing email. The company was founded by Isaac Saldana, Jose Lopez, and Tim Jenkins in 2009, and incubated through the Techstars accelerator program. As of 2017, SendGrid has raised over $81 million and has offices in Denver, Colorado; Boulder, Colorado; Irvine, California; Redwood City, California; and London.
The Portland Incubator Experiment, often abbreviated as PIE or PIE PDX or stylized as Pie, is a business incubator based in Portland, Oregon that provides mentorship and resources to select startup companies. Co-founded by Renny Gleeson and Rick Turoczy, PIE is run by the Portland-based advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy (W+K). The program was informally launched in 2009 before converting to a formal structure in 2011. PIE participants are chosen by a selection committee, following an application process. Startups receive seed money and spend three months developing their businesses with support from W+K and participating mentors. Companies that have provided financial assistance and mentorship include The Coca-Cola Company, Google, Intel, Nike, Inc. and Target Corporation.
The Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) is the support and investment arm of the Israeli government, in charge of planning and executing the country’s innovation policy, promoting technological innovation and Research and Development (R&D) in the State of Israel.
Neverware Inc was a New York–based technology company and a subsidiary of Google.
The Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Bombay, also known as E-Cell, IIT Bombay, is the primary entrepreneurship promoting body of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, managed and run completely by the students of the institute. It organizes initiatives like the annual business plan competition Eureka! and the flagship event, The Entrepreneurship Summit (E-Summit) in January each year, which receives a footfall of over 30,000 people who include students, investors, corporates, mentors, celebrities and the most important; Entrepreneurs.
A startup studio, also known as a startup factory, or a startup foundry, or a venture studio, is a studio-like company that aims at building several startup companies in succession. This style of business building is referred to as "parallel entrepreneurship".
Brian Watson is an American entrepreneur, author, politician, and Forbes Real Estate Council Member and published contributor. He has worked as a commercial real estate owner and is the founder and CEO of Northstar Commercial Partners. Watson won the 2018 Republican primary for Colorado State Treasurer, beating two other candidates, and lost to Democrat Dave Young in the general election in November 2018.
Silicon Mountain, also known as the "Silicon Flatirons" is a nickname given to the tech hub in the Denver, Colorado metropolitan area and Colorado Springs, Colorado metropolitan area. The name is analogous to Silicon Valley, but refers to the Rocky Mountains beyond the skyline. Denver startups raised $401 million in 2015, and Boulder startups raised $183 million in 2015.
Philip Jacob Weiser is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the 39th Attorney General of Colorado since 2019. He is the Hatfield Professor of Law and Telecommunications, executive director and Founder of the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship, and Dean Emeritus at the University of Colorado Law School. He previously served in the Obama and Clinton Administrations in the White House and Justice Department. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Attorney General for the State of Colorado in the 2018 election, defeating Republican George Brauchler on November 6, 2018. He was re-elected in 2022.
York Entrepreneurship Development Institute (YEDI) is a venture fund, startup accelerator, incubator and entrepreneurial community located within York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. YEDI facilitates collaboration between students, alumni, and academic and business leaders. The organization was founded in 2013 by businessman Dr. Marat Ressin, a native of Russia with close ties to the Jewish community in Canada.
Icehouse Ventures is a New Zealand-based venture capital firm. The firm is headquartered in Auckland and mainly focuses on the technology industry and has backed 200 companies. The firm also operates a variety of angel groups networks such as Ice Angels and Arc Angels. Icehouse Ventures was formally founded in 2019 as a separate company but had operated as part of the Icehouse group since 2001. In 2019, the founding CEO of the Icehouse stepped down as CEO and joined the board of directors of Icehouse Ventures.
CIIE.CO is an Indian startup accelerator and incubator that supports early-stage startups located at IIM Ahmedabad in Ahmedabad, India. It was founded in 2002 to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in India. It is a Center of excellence set up at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad with support from the Government of India's Department of Science and Technology and the Government of Gujarat.
