Are incubators worth it for startups?

New research suggests that incubators don't significantly assist startups.

Building a startup? Thinking about signing up for an incubator? You might want to think twice:

Although incubated businesses have slightly higher employment, growth and sales, they also have slightly lower survival rates after they graduate. Overall, say the researchers, the difference in performance between incubated and unincubated businesses is marginal. One research paper Fetsch examined found no significant difference between incubated and non-incubated businesses.

The research explored in the piece is new, and it’s only a single piece. But it does raise some interesting questions about the growth in incubators.