What is Wrong with Incubators and Why We Are Starting a New One?

In the early days of the internet boom, in 1996, when Bill Gross founded Idealabin, the idea of startup incubators was somewhat novel. Research and tech parks are not the same as incubators. Startups are the only focus of incubators. The majority of tech parks don’t provide any services to help businesses.

Our economy has often benefited from business incubation. Incubators and accelerators have now proliferated and can be found worldwide. More than 6000 accelerators and incubators are in operation, and they perform admirably, according to the most current count.

An incubator that is flourishing in our local market is 1871. It is a source of pride for the startup community and the city of Chicago. It contributed to the Flyover County’s transformation into a startup destination.

Incubators advise entrepreneurs on how to build a startup. In most cases, they need help in planning and very specific items. Advice is useful, but more importantly, a helping hand goes a long way. So we decided to start an incubator that actually builds startups instead of advising.

All of these incubators are accelerators that target startups with an existing team. Recruiting the right team is the biggest challenge for a first-time entrepreneur.

So the main question becomes, how do you recruit a tech co-founder when you have only an idea? If you are able to find funding or paying customers, you might be able to recruit a quality tech co-founder. But, this is a catch 22.

You have a couple of options.

You can look on Craigslist, find a freelancer, or try to hire a developer from a nearby development company. These don’t do well most of the time. The main reason for this is that your developer constructs precisely what you design. I am unsure about your qualifications for the architecture and whether you possess the advanced skill set required, unless you have spent years developing applications.

We created CodeVentures as a mix of a development agency and an incubator. It is our mission to build startup companies, not just apps or products. It is our goal to help you build a lasting business. We would like you to think ahead and not only come up with an application or product but determine if you can build a business. Are there multiple products that you will be able to launch?

For the startups we select, I will serve as a tech co-founder. In order to develop your startup idea and make it a reality, I will also collaborate closely with our developers. Naturally, we’ll make use of the best technology stack out there. For a minority stock stake in the startup, we take this action.

How do I choose which startups to partner with?

We want to choose businesses with a lot of promise because we are equity partners in startups. Our success is your success. We ask ourselves, “What is the likelihood of receiving VC funding if we build a great product and are able to gain some traction in 6-12 months?” or, at the very least, substantial angel investment to expand the company?

Since we work in the Chicago area, we would want to collaborate with team members that we can periodically see in person.

When we first get in touch, I would like the following questions to be addressed:

-Have you validated the customer need? If not, how can we validate it without spending an entire year building the product?
-How much research you have done so far on the pain points? Also, how are existing solutions addressing it, if there are any existing solutions?
-Once we build the product or MVP, what is your exact plan to acquire customers? Who will call the potential customers and sit down with them?

With over 10 years of business experience, over 60 engineers, over 2000 projects delivered, and greater than 10000 successful clients, my team have become a leading hybrid agency. We normally deal with web applications, marketplaces, social applications, SaaS, mobile apps, wearable tech, enterprise applications, and IoT. We might not be the most optimal fit for mobile or web games including animation.

So, if you have a startup concept to make this world a better place and all you are missing is a solid tech partner, CodeVentures may be the solution that you are searching for. Let’s talk.