Like it or not, in today’s startup environment, capital efficiency is the norm. At the seed stage, investors except life science startups to choose a small, reasonably priced laboratory in which to prove the concept. A founder’s vision of larger quarters will have to wait until their startup is ready to scale.

But a Darwinian reality faces Boston area startups: There’s more space to grow into than to emerge from. Even sublease lab space has dried to a trickle after steady interest chewed up the best sites. Startups might be able to find a thousand square feet in an older building, but they end up paying for more than they need, and have to deal with all of the other costs like hazardous waste disposal, etc., which quickly mount.

We think Boston should be friendlier to life science startups. While the region actively works to recruit and retain new medium and large biotech companies, it must also invest in new company creation and catalyze further growth. That’s why we created the Venture Development Center. It offers the only small, reasonably priced, ready-equipped startup laboratory space in the Boston area. Need just a few benches? No problem. No compromises either. Its state-of-the-art.

We think San Francisco has got it right. QB3 Garage, an incubator in San Francisco associated with the University of California, rents micro amounts of laboratory space. This program already has helped four biotech startups close Series A financing. And now, with the Venture Development Center, Boston is starting to get it right, too. 

The Venture Development Center is Boston’s leading startup incubator for technology and life science companies.