A New Take on Incubators

The traditional quasi-governmental technology incubator model certainly has it's place in creating jobs and economic wealth (and its tax base) - I work for the largest one in Texas, the Houston Technology Center (http://www.houstontech.org). The new style of regional, mentor-driven, self-funded incubators, generically dubbed 'Seed Combinators' in a nod to the originator of the model, YCombinator - is starting to take hold for purely software based businesses. This new model, like the one I'm involved with in Austin, (http://www.capitalfactory.com) is designed to rapidly accelerate early-stage companies through an intensive mentorship program and highly targeted service partnerships that specifically benefit these types of ventures. Here is a Google Map of the known Seed Combinators that are following the Seed Combinator model: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=h&msa=0&msid=112855557233451857050.00046658b0725db4e7e42&ll=35.424868,-79.980469&spn=16.800555,39.550781&z=5

Marc Nathan of TX 1:39PM May 09, 2009