Interesting that the piece calls YC an incubator as well. I think for the lack of a better word, the definition of an incubator has changed considerably since the late '90s. Neither YC nor Betaworks are incubators in the same sense that Idealab was (no sharing of people, or HR, or accounting) but more sharing of wisdom, ideas, technology (in the form of APIs).

Overall, it seems like a decent way to "incubate" startups which are otherwise long, lonely journeys of massive highs and lows.

I just started interning at one of BetaWorks startups (JumpPost), so i'm by no means an expert. But, I do think that there are a few global designers / developers that float between companies. The atmosphere is such that there is a lot of loose collaboration at least for the companies that are in house.

It's definitely an inspiring setup.

I've seen a change from people saying "incubator" to people saying "seed accelerator."

I'm calling these Lean Incubators. You may attend my conference next year for only $4500 per ticket.

Bootup Labs in vancouver is very critical of this term. They adamantly stick to the word 'accelerator'. {try telling that to their last round of investments}

"Betaworks, he said, will focus on five to 10 companies a year. The company has taken on some investors, most recently raising $20 million. The New York Times Company invested in that round of financing."

Good call. I'll delete my post.

Don't delete posts. This thread now makes no sense, though I assume you were commenting on the conflict of interest.

calling idealabs an incubator is the same as Mcdonalds trying out McPizza in the canadian markets. idealabs does not take in outside ideas/entrepreneurs.

Yeah I applied for a job there once, it appeared like they run a dozen little startups with one set of funding. Didn't seem like an incubator.