Accelerator or business incubator?

The last RIW hosted the UPSTART CONF conference, where, in particular, a round table was held on the development of accelerators and business incubators. And the question of the differences between these two formats of support for start-ups has become one of the most discussed. Hot on the heels, we decided to bring to your attention a brief overview of the differences between the accelerator and the business incubator. Since both models originated in the West and are just beginning to actively develop in Russia, American and European organizations will be presented as examples, although there will be Russian ones. It should be remembered that pure “ideal types” do not occur in nature, and the assignment of certain organizations to different models, to a certain extent, arbitrarily.
From the background
The development of the business incubation system was based on the principle of adding new services to the preferential lease. The first generations of Business Incubators (1980s) offered simply more affordable offices. Then consultations, trainings, mentoring and other services for business (1990s) were added, but the “office + services” model was maintained. In the 2000s (especially in the second half), many fundamentally new models appeared, which formed the modern system of start-up development. So there were virtual incubators, incubators for international projects (Soft Landing) and even agro-industrial business incubators, as well as other types of project support. In particular, the infrastructure to support start-ups was formed at the earliest stages of development.
Modern startup ecosystem  
As a result of the processes highlighted above, a whole ecosystem of support was built around early-stage projects:

	Type of	Example	Chip
one	Startup weends	Startup Weekend, Launch48, Garage48	Project in 48 hours
2	Investment Marketplace	AngelList, SeedSummit, CrowdCube	Open community of startups and investors
3	Startup school	Founder Institute, School for Startups, Startups @ Techhub	5-6 weeks prepare projects for the accelerator
four	Meetups	MiniBar, OpenCoffee, Silicon Roubdabout Social Club	Meeting like-minded people
five	Hackdays	Music Hackday, History Hackday, Home Camp	Dedicated to the development of software, tools, etc.
6	Office & Co-working Spaces for startups	TechHub, Plug & Play, Classic Business Incubators	“Hub”, playground + community
7	Venture Incubators	White Bear Yard, Betaworks	Something average between the Hub and Accelerator: there is a close work with mentors, but there is no program, development timeframes and recruitment cycles
eight	Accelerators	YCombinator, TechStars	Financing + development under the program under the guidance of mentors (6 months)

Accelerator and business incubator: what are the differences?

So, it is appropriate to consider both the accelerator and the business incubator as part of a large system, the most large-scale elements of which they are. Consider them in more detail:

	Accelerator	Business Incubator Hub
The essence of the model in one slogan	“ The fastest way to implement a project” (Farminers tagline) Do more faster by joining forces (Techstars)	Facilities, utilites, great people (slogan Aalto Venture Garage) Silicon Valley in a Box (P & P Techcenter) “Investors, mentors, clients, talents” ( “Ingria” )
Prototype	YCombinator	Plug & play
Examples in the world	SeedCamp, TechStars, 500 startups, Springboard, DreamITVentures, Bootcamp	Aalto Venture Garage, Startup Garage Sweden, RocketSpace, US Market Access Center, TechHub
Examples in Russia	Farminers, Glavstart, Startup Magic, Texdrive, Synergy of Innovations, Accelerator in InCube, Business Catalyst, iDeal Machine, Spanish Village, etc.	Ingria , Digital October, Greenfield Project, InCube, Realogic, BI Skolkovo, BI HSE, IT-Park Kazan, etc.
Founders	As a rule, entrepreneurs are "stars", they also act as mentors State, universities, companies, etc.	State, universities, companies, etc.
Resident selection	Mostly internet projects As a rule, narrow specialization: for example, “online Internet projects accessible from mobile devices”, etc. As a rule, you need to submit your project at a special event. Broad specialization As a rule, you need to submit an application, without a personal presentation.	Broad specialization As a rule, you need to submit an application, without a personal presentation.
Number of residents	On average, up to 10; maximum 20 On average 25, but maybe up to 100 or more	On average 25, but maybe up to 100 or more
Income	Share in company in exchange for investment Wide range: rent, subsidies, consulting services, etc.	Wide range: rent, subsidies, consulting services, etc.
Assistance in business development	Investments, mentors, offices and in general all-all necessary ') "Mentors, Investment, Community" (Springboard tagline)	The focus is on the organization of interaction, communication and relationships: mentors, events, start-ups, investors At the same time, premises and infrastructure of different levels can be even without subsidies. In technological incubators - prototyping centers, etc.
Development program	As a rule, there is a specific program ending with a project presentation or the like, such as “5 steps to a business model”, “7 steps to a startup”, etc. The list of services is more variable and does not imply a specific program.	The list of services is more variable and does not imply a specific program.
Community communication	May be limited Active communication	Active communication
Incubator time	3-6 months (rarely more) Up to 3 years	Up to 3 years
Project level	Early stage, some have a requirement that there should be no investment in the project before them Different	Different

Summarizing:
Accelerator model, example - Ycombinator: “star” mentor, hard selection of startups, small investments (on average, $ 15,000), a clear development program for 3-6 months under the guidance of a mentor, specialization, as a rule, on Internet projects.
The business incubator model (“hub”, community + site), for example - Plug & PLay: a large community of “in the subject” - investors, mentors, startups - is gathered in one place and regularly interact with each other.
Note that we are not talking about comparing "better - worse." For the normal development of a start-up development system, a variety of support models should be presented in it. After all, startups are different: someone is a “sprinter” and the pace and prompt attraction of an investor is important for him, and someone is a “stayer” and wants to calmly develop a product and test a business model (or perhaps he has already attracted investment). For the first, there are accelerators, for the second - business incubators.