I’m not surprised The Garage at Northwestern University was just named the #1 university incubator in the country. And after spending time with their founders, I think I understand one of the reasons why.
They’re not afraid to bring in an outside perspective.
When The Garage invited me to come in and lead a workshop, they weren’t looking for someone to come in and tell founders what they wanted to hear. They wanted their founders to hear something different. That matters.
When you’re building an incubator, accelerator, university program, or any kind of founder community, it can be tempting to believe the value you provide has to come entirely from inside your organization.
I think the opposite is true. The best programs know when to bring someone else into the room. Someone who has seen the problem from a different angle. Someone who has sat on the other side of the table. Someone who can challenge the assumptions founders have been making and give them a perspective they might not otherwise get.
That was my experience at The Garage.
I got to spend several hours with a room full of ambitious founders, talking about the things that often don’t get taught in the traditional entrepreneurship curriculum… the psychology of fundraising, how investors actually evaluate founders, what happens in the room when you’re pitching, and all of the little signals that can influence whether an investor leans in or checks out.
But what stood out to me wasn’t just the founders. It was the willingness of The Garage to say, “Our founders could benefit from hearing this.” That takes confidence. And it tells me a lot about the culture they’re building.
Being a great incubator isn’t about having every answer. It’s about creating an environment where founders can find the answers. Sometimes that comes from a mentor. Sometimes it’s another founder. Sometimes it’s an investor. And sometimes it’s someone from outside your ecosystem who can walk into the room and challenge everyone to look at the problem differently.
The Garage was willing to do that. And honestly, that’s exactly the kind of thinking I’d expect from the #1 university incubator in the country.
Congratulations to everyone at The Garage and Northwestern. The ranking is well deserved. And I’m grateful I got to spend some time in the room with the founders who are going to make that ranking even harder to take away next year.
Keep bringing different perspectives into the room. Your founders will be better for it.
Clarence
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