I don't think it would be smart to include hosting in an incubator. We made a conscious choice not to.
(a) Economically hosting is a commodity. It's not an area where we can add any special value. We don't do hosting for the same reason we don't supply office or living space: it's better for founders just to buy these on the open market.
(b) Hosting is a technical problem, which it's good for founders to have to solve. We're happy to deal with all the paperwork of incorporation, because you really don't have to know about that stuff to run a company. (I haven't read half our legal documents myself.) But startups do have to understand how to manage servers.
Comments
I don't think it would be smart to include hosting in an incubator. We made a conscious choice not to.
(a) Economically hosting is a commodity. It's not an area where we can add any special value. We don't do hosting for the same reason we don't supply office or living space: it's better for founders just to buy these on the open market.
(b) Hosting is a technical problem, which it's good for founders to have to solve. We're happy to deal with all the paperwork of incorporation, because you really don't have to know about that stuff to run a company. (I haven't read half our legal documents myself.) But startups do have to understand how to manage servers.