What It Actually Takes to Rank No. 1 on TIME America's Top Incubators and Accelerators 2026

Techstars ranked first on TIME and Statista’s list of America’s Best Incubators & Accelerators for 2026. They evaluated 80 programs. I care less about where we landed than about how the score got built.

Founders decided almost all of it. People who went through these programs supplied 85% of the score.

The biggest piece, 40%, came from one question: would you recommend this program, on a scale of 0 to 10? A founder answering that has nothing to gain from being polite. They lived the program and they know what it did for them.

Another 45 percent came from founders rating six things they received: mentoring and training, facilities, legal help, access to funding, network, and business advice. A program can claim whatever it wants in its marketing. The founders were asked what actually showed up.

The remainder went to outcomes. The track record of each program’s top companies counted for 10 points. The only reputation input counted for five, and it came from investors and experienced entrepreneurs naming programs they rate highly. Founders drove everything else.

More than 2,000 alumni from the 2020 through 2025 cohorts answered the survey, which ran from January through early May. Programs had to be based in the U.S. and running since 2022 or earlier.

A ranking built on name recognition would have come out differently. This one went to the only people qualified to say whether a program helps you build a company.

We try to earn that answer every day, long before anyone publishes a list. Our programs run for three months, and our support keeps going after that. Our mentors show up because someone once showed up for them. Give First is the reason founders answer the recommendation question the way they do.

Read more about the ranking from TIME.