Incubators, accelerators, and venture studios...what's the difference?
With examples in the quantum tech ecosystem
Earlier this month, it was Waterloo Tech Week, and I got to attend some really cool events. At one of them, I was chatting with someone from a venture studio, who brought up that one of the challenges with recruitment was that most people weren’t sure about the difference between incubators, accelerators, and venture studios. I thought it would be a good topic to touch on as we try to wrap our heads around the quantum tech ecosystem.
As with everything, there is nuance and blurry edges in practice, but I think they key differences are that:
Incubators are primarily spaces (and usually for very early stage startups)
Accelerators are primarily structured programs (and usually for companies that are already formed)
Venture Studios are companies that build startups from scratch
Let’s dig in a little more.
Incubators
Incubators tend to be spaces that are tied to a particular company or university. As the name suggests, incubators are for startups in the very early stages. The founders might have just an idea that is still forming, and the company might not even be established yet.
Incubators provide office or lab space, they give startups access to shared tools and facilities, and they let you hang out with other startups.
Incubators provide mentorship, networking opportunities, and resources, but typically they don’t invest money in startups.
Examples in the quantum tech space (with deviations from the description above noted in brackets) include:
DistriQ in Sherbrooke, Canada (with other ecosystem support beyond incubation)
Quantino in Quebec, Canada
NQCC/QuBIC (Quantum Business Incubation Centre) in Oxfordshire, UK (also gives small grants and vouchers)
Accelerators
Accelerators are limited-term programs that usually last several months. They are typically for startups that already have a founding team and a core product. As the name suggests, the point is to accelerate the company to the next stage of growth.
Startups go through the program with a cohort of other startups, receive structured mentorship, hit various milestones along the way, and participate in activities like demo days.
Accelerators often invest capital in the company in exchange for equity.
Examples in the quantum tech space (with deviations from the description above noted in brackets) include:
Duality Accelerator in Chicago, USA (doesn’t take equity)
QAI Ventures Accelerator Program in Arlesheim, Switzerland, with a subsidiary in Calgary, Canada in collab with Quantum City
ACET Quantum Startups Program in Sherbrooke, Canada (doesn’t take equity)
CDL Quantum Steam in Toronto, Canada (doesn’t take equity, doesn’t give funding, accepts pre-incorporation teams)
Venture Studios
Venture studios are companies that create and launch startups. You can join a venture studio as a potential founder without a startup idea in mind, and the studio helps you build the company from ideation all the way to product and market.
The venture studio might pair you with another founder (e.g. bringing together one technical and one non-technical founder), and the studio itself becomes a co-founder too (the “third” founder model).
They profit primarily from equity in successful companies, similar to VCs, but with deeper involvement and due diligence.
Examples in the quantum tech space (with deviations from the description above noted in brackets) include:
QV Studio in Sherbrooke, Canada (with accelerator-like [structured program] and incubator-like [lab space] elements)
Roadrunner Venture Studios in Albuquerque, USA (with accelerator-like [accept formed companies] and incubator-like [lab space] elements)
QAI Ventures Venture Building Program in Arlesheim, Switzerland
What should you do?
Some decisions you might want to make are between an incubator, accelerator, or venture studio. That will depend largely on the stage of your company and your reasons for wanting to be a startup founder. You might want to decide between one that specializes in quantum tech or deep tech more broadly, or even one that’s more general. If you need lab space and facilities, then probably something more specialized might make sense. But I think these aren’t decisions you can make in the abstract, for at least two reasons.
The first is that these programs vary the same way that schools and universities do. Some will be genuinely helpful and guide you in building a solid company while others will be more about “startup theatre”. Even though I’ve chatted with many people who run and have participated in these programs, I’m not yet as deeply familiar with each of them to comment on which is which. If there are some programs that look interesting to you, find out who has gone through them. Usually the companies are listed on their websites, and you can find the founders of those companies through LinkedIn. Get in touch with them and ask if they can share their experience with you. I think the important decision is between specific programs not categories of programs.
The second is your reason for wanting to join one in the first place. If your reason is that you have some vague idea that you want to commercialize your technology or start a company, but you don’t know what you don’t know, then it might not be the best idea to join any of them just yet. I would invest in getting to know people in the startup community first and learning more about what you don’t know. Once you know what you don’t know, you can make a better decision about whether one of these programs will help you fill those gaps, and whether what you give up is worth it (it very well might be, but you should know what you’re getting into).
The valley of death in deep tech is real, and accelerators, incubators, and venture studios can help quantum tech startups traverse this valley. They provide startups with resources and infrastructure that they wouldn’t otherwise have access to. I know many quantum founders whose companies would not be where they are today without the support from one these programs.
But as you’re doing your homework, also track down companies that have taken different routes. Get to know the entrepreneurial community around you, both where you live and in the industry you care about. Building a peer network of entrepreneurs will give you a better sense of what paths make sense for you, whether it’s a formal program or something less structured (👋 Builders Club!).
What about you?
If you’ve participated in one of these programs or are involved in running one, I’d love to hear about your experience. Let me know how it went in the comments, or get in touch with me if you want to chat about it off-line.
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