I think the most important component of an incubator is the mentors. The right mentors will attract entrepreneurs and will have a large social network that they can leverage to get the word out.

If someone asked me how they should pick between incubators, I'd recommend that they look at the list of mentors and identify which ones could help them the most. The ideal mentor has worked in another business with many similarities and who knows customers and partners in the industry.

Disclaimer – I'm a mentor at Capital Factory, an incubator in Austin, Texas. http://www.capitalfactory.com

franzg – Thank you for sharing the data on Germany's incubators. Sandra focuses predominantly in the U.S. market.

All – We asked Sandra to provide more stats and she was kind enough to give us an elaborate response:

“Every business incubator is unique and the amount of community support varies widely based upon many factors, including source of outside support, type of incubator, geographic location, and program mission.”

“According to the most recent research study conducted by the National Business Incubation Association in 2006, the average percent of revenue an incubator generates from rent and client fees is 59%. The NBIA 2006 State of the Industry report was based upon responses from 218 business incubators.”

“In addition, operating subsidy as a percentage of overall incubator revenues has dropped steadily, from 57.2% in 1989 to 15% in 2006.”

“At the same time, the average number of clients per program has risen from 11.5 in 1989 to 25 in 2006. So incubators are serving a larger number of clients with less operating subsidy than ever.”

we in Munich/Bavaria are making 80 % revenue and 20 % from subsidaries of the state.

I totally disagree. Rent and client fees? Most of the money come from outside sources, not these.