Our Experience with Incubators, Accelerators and Coworking Spaces

It's now the holiday season and with that often comes the holiday parties with kin, kith and colleagues. Yesterday, I was at the Seeds Hub holiday party for programme staff, current participants, alumni and others who share the coworking space; and we happen to be alumni. The six-month programme at Seeds Hub is the first programme we have participated in as Strides Insights and it reminded me that I have to make use of the fact that we also have access to the coworking space for a few months right now as alumni, now that it's opened up after some redevelopment to the building (and it's not too far from where I live).

Not an actual coworking space - just a visual!

For those of you who are looking at joining a business development programme next year for your organisation (nonprofits and charities also can benefit from such programmes!), here is a quick rundown of the types of support you can access:

1) Startup incubators: think of your business like a baby and you get the idea of a startup incubator is to nurture your ideas and business over a longer period of time. This is great for organisations who need the basic fundamentals, including professionals who are now pivoting from the corporate world and exploring entrepreneurship. These can be in person or online. If you're in London, try places like Seeds Hub in Wembley 2) Accelerators: unlike incubators, accelerators focus on scaling existing businesses and taking them to the next level. These programmes tend to be shorter than incubator programmes; for example, Seeds Hub's accelerator programme is three months long, in comparison to their six month incubator programme. 3) Coworking spaces: coworking offices provide space and community, and may or may not have an incubator or accelerator programme attached. These are flexible and you pay a fee to use usually (monthly or pay as you go) but their focus is otherwise not on the development of the businesses or organisations they host. Rather, they are interested in servicing your business space needs so they provide working desks, a kitchen with some basics (mugs, coffee and tea, etc.), WiFi, meeting rooms, and the like so that multiple businesses can share resources and space more efficiently. This works well for small businesses who want space and community: having a coworking space allows them to get out of their home offices and to have some feeling of community as they grow. There are also bootcamps available . If this is inspiring you to look for one in your area, Google "startup incubators or accelerators" and your location (all without quotes) or take a look at these lists if you're in London or Toronto:

• London, UK - check out this list from Hubble or use the Invest in Women Hub's search function. I'll also share my experience with CatalyseHer's Impact track programme in a future post but if that's of interest, message me if you'd like my personal take on the programme.

• Greater Toronto Area, Canada - use the City of Toronto's Accelerators, Incubators & Coworking Spaces map or this list for York Region startup and innovation ecosystem. I used to work for a startup from 2012-2014 that was based out of the Digital Media Zone at Toronto Metropolitan University (previously known as Ryerson University) and the space as evolved brilliantly over the years.

And don't forget that you've got two more resources on your side: 4) most local municipalities and councils have a local economic development or business development service or office to help too. Call up your local council or municipal office because your business or nonprofit success is their success too because it adds economic growth and vibrancy to the area.

5) we are here to help - and we provide free 30 minute consultations so call us today.