How Startup Incubators Can Help Your Startup Soar : TBI MSMF

Imagine you are walking down an unknown road in the dark. You don’t have a torch or coverage on your phone, and the road has no streetlights. You are lost, afraid, and clueless about how to get where you need to.

Then someone comes along, with a simple lantern, guiding you to your destination. How safe and reassured will you feel? That’s precisely what startup incubators do for your startup.

Running a startup is a challenge in itself. The fear of failure engulfs most entrepreneurs. Startup incubation helps a startup beat this. But one of the most significant benefits of startup incubators is that they make you feel confident about your journey to success. This goes a long way in making sure your dreams turn into a reality.

What is a Startup Incubator Company?

Startup incubators are companies that step in during the nascent stage of the startup and help them succeed. Startup incubation equips new entrepreneurs to deal with everyday problems that they encounter during the running of the startup. Startup incubators also provide much-needed solutions such as helping with seed funding, mentoring, marketing assistance, networking, workforce training, etc.

Here’s a cool fact. While we may think that startup incubation is a new concept — it has been around since 1959! A startup incubator company, named ‘The Batavia Industrial Center’ was established to reduce Batavia’s high unemployment rate, by attracting jobs in a vacant industrial unit.

From 1959 to today, startup incubators have survived the test of time. They are most needed in the healthcare industry. Why? Because the benefits of startup incubators are multifold.

Truly Useful Benefits of Startup Incubators

Having a startup incubator on your side is like getting a headstart, especially in the healthcare sector. Let’s have a look at the amazing benefits of startup incubators.

1. Much-Need Mentorship

Much like a teacher in a school or a football coach, a startup incubator is a mentor you need. Startup incubators are mentors who have a wealth of industry knowledge you can tap into. They can also help you solve problems creatively and prepare to develop a vision for the future, especially in healthcare, where innovation is dynamic.

They can offer valuable market insights, identify opportunities for digitisation in healthcare, help with optimal resource allocation and generation of alternative sources of revenue, etc.

2. Access to Capital Sources

What is the one thing that most entrepreneurs struggle with? Capital. But a startup incubator can help you find a potential source to obtain finance from or connect you with an investor. In an industry like healthcare that is innovation-powered, the significance of capital is massive.

You can also get help in securing funding directly and benefit from the relationship that the incubator maintains with the funding agencies. They can also help you create an impactful business plan that can improve your chances of entering into a profitable partnership.

3. Maximising Networking Opportunities

With a startup incubator by your side, there are fewer closed doors. They have a wide number of connections across multiple avenues. Be it for strategic partnerships, landing commercial pilot programs, important leads or anything else, a startup incubator’s contacts are yours. Which first-time entrepreneur has relevant contacts to get things moving? They can connect you with accountable care organisations (ACOs), hospitals and other healthcare professionals who are otherwise inaccessible.

Another great thing about incubation is referrals. When a known and respected startup incubator recommends your business, it can pull a lot of weight. It adds legitimacy to your brand name. Above all, they help you get noticed.

4. Training & More

Assisting the entrepreneurs with technical training and guidance is another important benefit. In case of HealthTech enterprises, receiving validation from clinician and doctors, understanding the hospital eco-system for doing business with them and access the state-of-the-art laboratories or infrastructure are added advantage:

- Clinical validation for clinical research.
- Healthcare regulatory compliance.
- Develop best practices, improve care.
- Improving affordability for healthcare devices, drugs and other innovations.
- Harnessing state-of-the-art health tech.
- Disrupting constant market disruptions.

And more.

Thrive, Not Just Survive

One of the most humane benefits of startup incubators is that someone always has your back. Often, for an entrepreneur, a startup is a dream. It is a journey that took a lot of courage to embark upon. There is also a lot of pressure to succeed, compete and stand out. When you are working in the healthcare sector, you cannot go wrong because it impacts lives directly. But when you know you have someone to turn to, nothing can stop you!

Startup incubators are the superheroes dressed in plain clothes that the startup industry needs. If you are struggling to make your mark in the startup ecosystem of India by becoming an entrepreneur, you know what to do.

Subscribe to Newsletter

One Comment

Poongothai Ramaswamy says:

October 30, 2020 at 12:46 pm

Wow! wonderful reading and real empowerment for the healthcare start-ups. Thanks again for such a well crafted article, so informative and handholding message. It has given some ray of hope for people like me who is into medical device start-up based out of Hyderabad.