Latina Entrepreneurs Growing and Powerful
Here are 20 incubators and accelerator programs in the US. This list is in no particular order or ranking.
1. Astia offers programs for women run high-growth start-ups.
2. Women 2.0 Pitch, not a traditional incubator.
3. West Enterprise Center, Albuquerque, N.M.
4. Mi Kitchen es su Kitchen, New York, N.Y. focused on food businesses.
5. DreamIt Ventures, Philadelphia, PA
6. Georgia Techs Advanced Technology Development Center, Atlanta, GA
7. Launch Pad Ignition, New Orleans, LA
8. SENO Social entrepreneurship, New Orleans, LA
9. TechStars, accelerators (Boston, Boulder, New York City, and Seattle)
10. MassChallenge, Boston, MA
11. Y Combinator, Silicon Valley, CA
12. NYC SeedStart, New York, NY
13. Santa Fe Business Incubator, Santa Fe, NM
14. Accelerator Corp., Seattle, WA biotech startups
15. Long Island High Technology Incubator, Stony Brook, NY
16. The Shoals Entrepreneurial Center – Florence, AL
17. Innovation Depot, Birmingham, AL
18. LaunchBox Digital, Washington, DC
19. Metro Tech, Oklahoma City, OK For Latino entrepreneurs.
20. Plug and Play Tech Center, Sunnyvale, CA
In order to figure out the best fit for your business, do your research and talk to people about their experiences during the program and ask for:
- Success rates
- Funding figures for the overall program
- What will their stake be in your company
- How will they help you with management and future growth
As it is becoming increasingly competitive to secure traditional Venture capital, incubator and accelerators hold the promise of growing new Hispanic Business.
Other options for you start-up may be Angel investors, while the focus of these investors is generally for smaller amounts (below $1 million), they offer many of the same advantages as larger VC firms, you can locate them at the Angel Capital Association they also have a great Q&A section on their website.
The best thing you can do to successfully launch a business is to become educated in everything that pertains to starting your business – and that includes planning for the pitfalls (and there are many) and very important – funding. As a Latina entrepreneur who has bootstrapped 2 ventures, I can tell you it is hard work, long hours and dogged determination that will get you started, then comes the really hard work of making it through the first 3 years, but the rewards are economic independence and an amazing sense of satisfaction that makes it all worth it.
With few answers on how to turn this economic mess around, we must consider how to foster the Hispanic entrepreneurial sector, specifically the huge untapped economics of Latina entrepreneurs.
