
Some Fear a Glut in Tech 'Incubators' - goatcurious
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203935604577065030293530806.html
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tryitnow
From the article:

"Incubators are "no more a waste of resources than going to business school,"
said Paul Graham.

I laughed when I read that. Was that a joke?

Business schools are a waste for many, if not most students. However, for the
right person at the right school it's a golden opportunity. I have an MBA and
it was the right thing for me, but for a lot of MBA students it's just not
useful. They're better served by gaining experience on the job or ad hoc
training like seminars and the occasional evening class.

Comparing incubators to business schools is not very flattering to incubators.
There's definitely a glut of business schools and way too many MBAs.

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rosenthall
Overall, I think incubators (tech or not) have a looooong way to go before
there's truly a glut. My guess is there are for more smart people couped up in
non-entrepreneurial ventures than is socially optimal.

Certainly some are higher quality than others, but I still think the incubator
business model has a lot of in roads to make.

Ideally, they'd start to form in areas besides tech.

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dmk23
We are safe for now since no incubator has _yet_ deigned to incubate
incubators.

EDIT: Do you guys realize that "rebuttal" link is April Fools?

~~~
moocow01
[http://vator.tv/news/2011-04-01-super-angels-create-
incubato...](http://vator.tv/news/2011-04-01-super-angels-create-incubator-
for-incubators)

~~~
moocow01
;)

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fourspace
There's certainly not a glut of incubators when you consider geography. Not
everyone is a 22-year-old with no roots and willing to move to SF or NY for 3
months.

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pault
I don't get all these tech bubble articles. If you could prevent a bubble by
blogging about it, there would be no bubbles.

Seriously, if you are making a programmer's salary and tomorrow the bottom
falls out of the jobs market and you find yourself with no savings or backup
plan, you're doing it wrong (I know this because that's exactly what I did in
the last bubble :).

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ianso
Is it me or have there been at least three relatively fact-free, anecdote-
based articles recently (2 WSJ, 1 NYT IIRC) talking about the angel/startup
bubble and generally trying to spread FUD about silicon valley? Where is this
coming from?

~~~
ilamont
Part of it is pattern-matching. Lots of people getting excited about startups
reminds journalists and VCs of the late 1990s, therefore it's a bubble.

I think people/organizations that have something to lose are also more likely
to criticize. Levchin complains about "too much competition for talent" -- it
would be a lot easier and cheaper if developers worked for him instead of
striking out on their own.

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fedd
i like the notion of 'increasing risk'. maybe this would lead to less fast
websites prototypes, and to more projects that are not just small innovative
features, but projects that are making some big innovative things (like the
one i used to have :)

