It is far from necessary, and Vancouver has a good enough community of start-ups and industry people that you can probably get much of the aid you need/want wit

It is far from necessary, and Vancouver has a good enough community of start-ups and industry people that you can probably get much of the aid you need/want without going the incubator route. If you're looking to bootstrap, you may not be an ideal candidate for an incubator. Their 10% equity is based on the idea that you likely want to bring in investors and sell your company for 100x total investments. Incubators and accelerators are very good at getting you ready to take investment. That's what they're all about. Sure, there is some stuff in there about helping you make a product, but I think you'll find a lot of that direction is often about "it will show investor x,y,z". If you aren't thinking about bringing on investors in the first two years of the company, I'd say you don't want to do it. If you want to bring in investors, then I'd say incubators are an option. I know the guys at Mover.io went through GrowLabs after Start-up Chile. Great bunch of really smart guys, and Mike Edwards (GrowLabs Founder & Principal) is also a great guy. They've got a solid team in there, so if you're going with anybody in the neighbourhood, they're the right ones to pitch.