From Incubators to Infrastructure: Why Entrepreneur Support Needs a System Redesign

In the early 2010s, startup incubators were the holy grail of innovation. Accelerators, pitch competitions, hackathons these were the gateways to credibility, capital, and community. But a decade later, the playbook feels out of sync with the reality most new founders face.

Despite more support programmes than ever, most founders still feel unsupported.

The Limits of Episodic Support

Incubators are built around sprints: fixed timelines, short-term mentorship, and pitch-day deadlines. They reward acceleration, not incubation. For some, this format works. But for most early-stage founders, the need isn’t speed it’s structure.

When 90% of startups fail, and over 60% of founders report feeling isolated or overwhelmed within the first year, thequestion isn’t whether support exists. It’s whether it’s designed for the reality of building.

According to Nesta UK, nearly half of entrepreneurs drop out of accelerator programmes before completion. Not because they lack grit but because the programmes weren’t designed around their actual stage, life context, or needs.

Startup Support Still Thinks in Batches

You apply, you wait, you’re selected (or not), and you enter a “cohort.” This model assumes a linear progression that doesn’t reflect how ideas actually evolve. Inspiration doesn’t wait for application cycles. And momentum doesn’t build on someone else’s schedule.

We’ve industrialised support but not personalised it.

Founders Need On-Demand, Not Onboarding

The modern entrepreneur doesn’t need a five-month programme. They need a system that meets them where they are, whether that’s validating a first idea at midnight or solving a go-to-market challenge in real time.

This isn’t about removing human guidance it’s about embedding smarter infrastructure. Modular. Contextual. Accessible without pitching, posturing, or fitting into someone else’s idea of what “founder readiness” looks like.

We Need to Build the Infrastructure, Not Just the Stage

It’s time to move beyond founder showcases and towards founder scaffolding. Real innovation support looks less like a competition and more like a utility: invisible when it works, essential when needed.

That means more than mentorship. It means better decision systems, faster access to micro-capital, clearer paths to execution, and intelligent defaults for the repetitive tasks that stall progress.

Because the next wave of founders won’t come from pitch decks. They’ll come from platforms. Not hand-picked, but self-started.

Not filtered by gatekeepers, but unlocked by systems designed to keep them moving.