A National Recognition for Central Florida’s Startup Ecosystem
We’re proud to share exciting news: StarterStudio has been named #73 on TIME’s inaugural 2026 list of America’s Best Incubators & Accelerators.
Out of more than 5,000 organizations across the United States supporting entrepreneurs and startups, just 80 programs earned recognition on this year’s list.
To be included is an incredible milestone. To be ranked #73 in the nation is something we are deeply proud of.
This recognition is not just about StarterStudio. It represents the founders who have trusted us with their ideas, their businesses, and their entrepreneurial journeys. It reflects the mentors, coaches, investors, partners, supporters, and community members who have helped build a stronger foundation for startup success in Central Florida and beyond.
The full ranking was developed by TIME in partnership with Statista, incorporating organizational information, feedback from program alumni, and input from startup ecosystem professionals. More than 2,000 alumni were surveyed as part of the research behind the inaugural ranking.
Putting #73 Into Perspective
There are thousands of organizations across the country dedicated to helping entrepreneurs turn ideas into companies and companies into scalable businesses.
Only 80 were ultimately recognized on TIME’s 2026 list.
That puts StarterStudio among a small group of organizations nationally recognized for the work they do to support founders.
But rankings are only part of the story.
What matters most is what happens because of that support.
A founder gains the confidence to take the first step. An early idea becomes a validated business opportunity. A startup finds its first customer. A founder learns how to build, pitch, raise capital, or scale.
Those moments create momentum.
And momentum creates impact.
More Than a Decade of Building Founders
Since 2015, StarterStudio has supported more than 410 startups through educational programming, coaching, networking, mentorship, and accelerator programs designed specifically for early-stage tech and tech-enabled founders. Today, StarterStudio is Central Florida’s only 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on accelerating tech and tech-enabled startups.
Our approach is designed to meet founders where they are.
Through our Idea Stage, Build Stage, and Pre-Seed Stage Accelerators, founders can move from identifying and validating a problem to building a sustainable business and preparing for investment and growth.
Over the year, StarterStudio has:
- Supported 410+ startups
- Run 60 accelerator programs
- Helped create 750+ jobs
- Invested more than $1.6 million in alumni companies
- Supported companies with a combined $2 billion+ total valuation
- Maintained a 76% startup survival rate among the business we have helped support
These numbers are important because behind every one of them is a founder, a team, an idea, and a company working to create something new.
We Build Starters
At StarterStudio, our mission has always been bigger than helping companies launch.
Starters build businesses. We build Starters.
Entrepreneurship can be challenging, uncertain, and often lonely. Founders are asked to make important decisions with limited resources and, in many cases, limited experience.
That is why access to education, mentorship, community, and the right resources matters.
Our work is focused on helping founders develop the skills, knowledge, confidence, and networks they need to move forward. Whether someone is exploring an idea, building early traction, or preparing to pursue investment, StarterStudio exists to help make that journey more accessible.
As a nonprofit, our success is tied directly to the success of the founders we serve. We are mission-driven and supported by the community because we believe great entrepreneurial support should be accessible to the people working to build what comes next.
A Win for Florida’s Growing Startup Community
This recognition is especially meaningful because StarterStudio was not alone.
Several Florida organizations were recognized among TIME’s top 80 programs, including fellow ecosystem builders and organizations working every day to support entrepreneurship across the state.
It was especially exciting to see so many of our important local partners included on the list as well. These are organizations we collaborate with, learn from, and work alongside to support founders and strengthen the startup community across Central Florida and beyond.
Seeing familiar names and valued partners recognized on the same national list is a reminder that strong startup ecosystems are not built by one organization alone.
They are built through collaboration.
Founders, accelerators, incubators, universities, investors, corporations, mentors, government partners, and community organizations all play an important role in creating the conditions that help entrepreneurs succeed.
As Dawn Haynes, CEO of StarterStudio shared:
“This recognition means a great deal, not just to StarterStudio, but also to the hundreds of founders who put their trust in us to support them as they learn how to lead and grow their startups; to our partners on and off this list who work diligently with us to strengthen our region’s tech and innovation community, and to our local government economic development teams and corporate sponsors who continue to champion and fund the work we do. This is recognition of the power of collaboration!”
Every successful startup strengthens the network around it. Every founder who stays and grows in Florida contributes to the next generation of companies, jobs, investment, and innovation.
Florida’s startup ecosystem is gaining momentum, and seeing multiple organizations from across the state – including so many of our own local partners – represented on a national list reinforces the important work happening here.
We are proud to stand alongside our Florida peers, partners, and fellow ecosystem builders and celebrate this recognition as a win not only for individual organizations, but for the ecosystem we are building together.
This Recognition Belongs to Our Founders
Most importantly, this milestone belongs to our founder community.
The TIME ranking incorporates feedback from alumni, making the voices and experiences of founders an important part of the evaluation process.
To every founder who has participated in a StarterStudio program, attended a workshop, worked with a mentor, pitched at Demo Day, shared feedback, introduced another entrepreneur to our community, or trusted us to be part of their journey:
Thank you.
You are the reason we do this work.
Your companies, your ideas, your pivots, your success, and even the challenges you have worked through are what make this community what it is.
We are incredibly proud of what our founders have accomplished – and even more excited about what they will accomplish next.
From Recognition to Impact
We are proud to be names #73 on TIME’s 2026 list of America’s Best Incubators & Accelerators.
We are proud to be one of only 80 programs recognized nationwide.
And we are proud to be part of a growing Florida startup ecosystem filled with organizations and people committed to helping entrepreneurs succeed.
But this milestone is not the finish line.
It is another reminder of what is possible when a community invests in its founders.
The real opportunity is what we do next.
How do we reach more entrepreneurs?
How do we make startup education and support more accessible?
How do we help more founders build companies that create jobs, solve meaningful problems, generate economic opportunity, and strengthen our communities?
Those are the questions that continue to drive us.
Since 2015, StarterStudio has been working to help founders start, build, grow and stay in Central Florida. Today, with more than 410 startups supported and a growing community of alumni, partners, mentors, and supporters, we are more energized than ever about the road ahead.
To our founders, alumni, mentors, partners, funders, and supporters: thank you for being part of this journey.
We are proud of how far we have come.
We are proud of the ecosystem we are helping build.
And we are just getting started.
Read the Full TIME Ranking