Incubators differ from Accelerators in that they they are not focused on proven businesses looking for next stage of growth. However, it is important to shop around to ensure the incubator meets your needs as a new startup. You can get tunnel vision if you are still in the formulation stages of your idea and not consider wider opportunity. Incubators can also help you pivot as you get the mentorship and access to the local network available to you to bounce your idea, business case and investment planning off experts.

Once you have the idea decided, bounce it off some of your network first and get a wireframe plan together on how you think you should proceed. You will then have a better idea of the type of incubator you need based on the vertical, geographic location and group of mentors available.

If you choose to build the product ahead of time then you should also consider accelerators which help you move to the next stage of growth.