What is an Incubator for?

It is recognized, even internationally, that Portugal is experiencing an exciting moment in everything related to entrepreneurship and the startup movement. WebSummit brought visibility to our ecosystem. So much so that there is a before WebSummit and a after WebSummit. Portugal has defined a strategy to position itself as a Startup Nation. The Government elected the theme as a national priority. The theme has sex appeal and the media amplifies success stories with the more than 10 existing unicorns, twice as many as our neighbors. 

With the overwhelming drop in the birth rate in Portugal and the decrease in the number of students in mandatory schooling, city councils took advantage of many of the available infrastructures to reconvert them into “incubators”. The result is that “incubators” pop up all over the country like mushrooms after a spring rainy night and some startups collect incubation and acceleration programs as if they were nerds. 

This leads us to another reflection: what, then, should an incubator should  be?

Incubation should be a process embodied in a training program for startups that focuses on crucial topics such as (i) validating the business idea and market, and then developing marketing and branding strategies, (ii) legal structuring, (iii) intellectual property, (iv) the importance of partnerships, and (v) the process of raising capital.

Acceleration, in turn, should be a process that helps transform the idea into a business, for which the accelerators should provide all the above support in a perspective of achievement and market validation or, alternatively, accompany the startups by mature companies in complementary or related areas of activity of the accelerated startups – the so-called open innovation programs, which are still underdeveloped in Portugal. 

This integration enables much faster product and market validation, allows established companies to “open doors” to startups, and enables faster and more efficient time to market.

Truly speaking a Softlanding program is a mix of both Incubation and Acceleration Programs. All this are embodied in a Program with our unique methodology (3 steps approach):  Assessment,  Readiness level, Action Plan and  Roadmap. 

Would you like more information about our Softlanding Program? Get in touch TODAY and we will drive into the opportunities available in Portugal for startups like the Startup Voucher!! Enrol here.