Episode Details

This is part one of a two-part series. Part two (the six questions we ask people trying to incubate new organizations) is coming out on Monday.

“Incubator” is a very vague term. It tells you very little about what the organization actually does. All it tells you is that they cause new projects to exist. But that's the outcome. The activities that get you there can vary enormously.

This is a framework for people who want more good organisations to exist. When trying to get a particular type of impactful project to exist, we recommend asking: What blocks these projects from existing? Then build the thing that removes those blockers.

What blocks the projects from existing?

Historically, AIM's Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program (CEIP) has been built around the following roughly ranked list of things that unblock founders (with a lot of detail and nuance within each of them): (1) a well-researched charity idea, (2) an excellent co-founder, (3) permission to do it [founding is scary, and sometimes we can give them the confidence that they’re a good fit], (4) training and mentorship, (5) funding, (6) support with operational hurdles.

The list will differ based on the target audience of [...]

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Outline:

(00:55) What blocks the projects from existing?

(02:06) What kind of incubator best removes those blockers?

(02:11) How deep, and how standardized?

(02:40) 1. One-size-fits-all and deep

(03:15) 2. One-size-fits-all and shallow

(03:52) 3. Made-to-measure and shallow

(04:48) 4. Made-to-measure and deep

(05:37) What kind of inputs? Generalists vs. specialists

(08:17) AIM has learnings from our forays into all four quadrants:

(11:40) How the two 2x2s intersect

(13:38) Conclusion

The original text contained 3 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:
September 18th, 2026

Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/QBNmrqXHizNuQTrMu/what-even-is-an-incubator

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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