
Plunging loonie may be a blessing in disguise for Canadian startups - kspaans
http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/plunging-loonie-may-be-a-blessing-in-disguise-for-local-startups-1.2744989
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tempestn
Forget "in disguise". It's awesome for most Canadian startups, period. The
majority of sales for many, if not most, online businesses (and even many
hardware startups) are going to be in the US, so you basically earn more while
your costs remain the same.

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anonbanker
I'm seeing nothing but benefits from my startup[0] due to the low loonie.
We've seen more customers since the drop. Legalization is happening (sooner
than anyone believes), and, while the government is talking down the revenue,
all estimates point to over 100 billion in sales.

However, I'd disagree about funding. All the American VC's I've talked to are
hesitant to join in before the end of prohibition. And now that the VC's are
starting to get burnt by the unicorns, they're pulling out of everything that
isn't a sure thing. And we aren't a sure thing yet. We can make money hand-
over-fist, but good luck getting investment capital before Trudeau rubber-
stamps legalization.

0\. [http://medicalcannab.is](http://medicalcannab.is)

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jedberg
I'm advising a company right now based on Toronto who is fundraising, and it
is definitely easier for them. The CEO tells me that investors will literally
say, "I get 50% more for every dollar I put in!".

It's totally true -- American investors love Canadian companies right now.

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eigenvector
I appreciate that labour costs are lower in general in Canada, but as CAD
falls and Canadian talent begins to look south of the border, won't everyone
start to demand a commensurate increase in salary? Every Canadian programmer
is a skip, a hop and a TN visa away from a USD$100k job. Taking less money to
stay home in Canada was one thing with the dollar at parity, but all of a
sudden the pay differential from the employee's perspective is pushing 100%.
Canadian companies already want people worth USD$100k in the US to take
CAD$80k in Vancouver or Toronto. That's now just USD$55k.

The biggest struggle I've heard from a lot of Canadian companies is the
difficulty of holding onto talent given the proximity of the US and the fact
that Canadians are blessed with a far simpler visa process than other
foreigners. Doesn't that effect become even worse as CAD drops relative to USD
if employers in Canada don't make up the difference?

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mahyarm
It also depends on the cost of living. Your rent doesn't change much when the
Canadian dollar goes down. Your medical care is still free, some utility bills
stay the same. Buying things are more expensive now although.

For example, that $2000/mo USD rent is now $2900/mo CAD instead of the $2000
CAD it used to be. Your $900/mo rent in Canada is now $600/mo USD!

So you have to look at the total profit margin to make more sense of it. It's
definitely a great time to start paying your Canadian student loans and to
work in the USA! It's also really good to work remotely and still live in
Canada.

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derefr
> It's also really good to work remotely and still live in Canada.

You'd think, but every bigcorp I've suggested this arrangement to says it
would want to put me on the payroll of their Canadian subcorporation, paid out
in CAD at a 1:1 conversion of the USD rate. Kind of a lousy bargain, all told
(though one I'm currently taking anyway from IBM.)

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mahyarm
Yup they will all do that. The key is to not work with bigcorp.

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cperciva
I have to say, I love this exchange rate. But I have to keep reminding myself
that the Canadian dollar will be going back up eventually so I can't just sit
back and enjoy the boost in profits.

