The goal of The Incubator is to bring the greatest possible range of assistance and resources to science and technology-based companies at the earliest stage in their growth. A typical entering business may be pre-market, pre-money, pre-employee. On their own, such companies are too small to establish strong relationships with banks, angels, venture capitalists, business consultants or other business development resources. The Incubator community makes entrepreneurs part of something larger without sacrificing their independence, giving them access to all of these resources and providing flexible work space under terms that are designed to minimize cash flow pressures and facilitate rapid growth.

Typical milestones achieved while at The Incubator include development or expansion of a business plan, creating a core management team, establishing a customer base, developing a product or service, raising seed or first round capital, establishing a network of professional service providers, and conducting a first round of hiring. The Incubator leverages a business network encompassing a full range of professional support services, an alliance with Northwestern University and its world class pool of technical and management talent, and an internal management team that mobilizes these and other resources to meet the unique needs of each tenant.