Incubators and Accelerators: Interviewing Kate & Julia

Darshan: Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of DarshanTalks. We have a two for one, we have two amazing, amazing guests, and we are going to be discussing incubators, accelerators and how the world of growing your startup is changing. Narrator: This is the Darshan Talks podcast. Regulatory guy, irregular podcast with host Darshan Kulkarni. You can find the show on Twitter @darshantalks or the show's website at darshantalks.com. Darshan: We have Kate Merton and Julia, and we'll let Kate go first and then have Julia go next to introduce themselves. Kate: Hello, my name is Kate Merton. I'm the staff VP in digital care delivery at Anthem. Prior experience, I've worked at JLabs, which is Johnson & Johnson's incubator, and I have a background in healthcare discovery in the commercial. Darshan: Very cool. And Julia? Julia: Hi everyone. I'm Julia [inaudible 00:00:59]. I am currently at Anthem as well. Previous to Anthem, I was at Johnson & Johnson. I hopped around their innovation group, their innovation centers, and then also at JLabs as well. Happy to be here. Darshan: Awesome. I'm excited to have both of you on. So we're going to keep this tight, Kate and Julia. Let's start with a basic question. What is the difference between an incubator and an accelerator and does it matter the practical level? Kate: So I'll start off and then ask Julia to weigh in. I think the definition of both is, I don't think anyone's actually put it in a dictionary, but from my perspective, an incubator is an organization which has pulled together different tools and resources in order for entrepreneurs to build up their business and find a path to market. Whereas an accelerator, I often see as part of an incubator because it is a time defined program that brings a company and puts it through a very clear curriculum of what they need to get done, but they are kind of like brought in and then pushed out a certain time. Whereas an incubator isn't necessarily time defined, but they may provide the same resources. Darshan: So, Julia, do you have anything to add there? Julia: My only comment is I feel for incubators, there tends to be more of a one-on-one approach with the companies, just on how they incubate and companies supporting them individually. Whereas I feel accelerators tend to be a little bit more for a group perspective, but the growth, everything Kate said. Darshan: So if that's true, if I am a brilliant scientist, I've come up with a brand new drug or biologic and I'm going, "I want to bring it to market." And I'm trying to choose between, do I go with a big pharma incubator or go with someone like Anthem? How I'm making these decisions? What considerations do I have as I'm doing this? Kate: That's a really good question because how you set it up actually kind of pre-defines how you're going to answer it. If you are a startup with a molecule that lands in the pharma world, you are probably going to want to go to an incubator, just for what Julia said, which is a more one-on-one high touch experience, because we all know that developing a drug is inherently difficult and problematic. You are not going to be able to get in an accelerator, which is a little bit more like preformed, exactly how you have to navigate. Developing a product, it goes beyond, I think what you could get out of an accelerator. They might be able to give you like a start of how to run a company, but the actual process of how to work with your product and get it through approvals, everything else. That's going to be more suitable for an incubator. So whether you go in an incubator versus an accelerator, I believe very much depends upon the products that you are selling.