

Why You Should Bootstrap in Montreal or Join Startup Chile - volandovengo
http://nextmontreal.com/naysawn-naderi-art-sumo-start-up-chile/

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acangiano
There are several reasons why you generally have a huge disadvantage when
doing a startup in Canada, and it's not just about taxes and laws.

Want to use that cool new service (e.g., Stripe)? Sorry, not available in
Canada.

Want to start a service that ships anything in the mail? Prohibitively
expensive.

Want funds? Banks won't lend you anything and investors are very few and risk
averse. $20-50K investments in web startups are rare and big news when they
happen.

I love Canada and I'm not moving from it. But Canadian entrepreneurs have much
lower chances of succeeding than American ones.

Can you make millions in Canada? Sure, but it's a much less likely occurrence.
And if you do, it will generally be still less than what American startups can
make.

This is why it makes no sense to start a company like Twitter in Canada. You
can't sustain it. The best approach for Canadian startups is to bootstrap by
charging money from day one.

So you can get a lot of nice "Italian restaurants on the web" doing SaaS and
making good money, but don't expect groundbreaking innovation a la Google from
Canada.

With that said, those who are already in Canada, like me, have no free pass.
If you don't succeed, you can only blame yourself.

"In Silicon Valley they hand out money like candy" is not a good excuse for
never achieving your dreams in Canada.

~~~
nkassis
I sorta agree with you about the hurdles but there has a been a bunch of very
sucessful startups in Canada. I can't name you a google but Softimage,
Ubisoft, Bioware, RIM, ATI, Desire2Learn... and on the non tech side Cirque Du
Soleil(Founder just went to space last year) All pretty big successes. For
1/10 the population as the US you can't expect the same level of output.

On the talent side, Montreal and the Toronto area are pretty big recruiting
grounds for Microsoft Google and other tech companies. Tons of Game companies
have established themselves in Montreal to draw on that pool. There is a lot
of talent here and a lot of people would want to stay here instead of working
in the US.Montreal's 2 english universities and a lot of French ones around
help keep replenishing the supplies. Toronto has some very good schools too
(Waterloo being one of the best Comp Sci program in the world).

There are a bunch of ways to get government money but it does involve some
major red tape. It be cool to find someone who's gone through it and could
make a writeup on it.

EDIT: I should also mention that there are other good cities in Cananda ;p I
did not mention Vancouver

~~~
ramchip
For the record, though, Ubisoft is a French company, not a Canadian start-up.

~~~
nkassis
Ah man you are right, sorry for the error (they've had offices here forever
but I should have know that).

~~~
ramchip
No problem - a lot of Montrealers have this impression, probably because the
Montreal offices are by far the largest.

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joelrunyon
Pretty cool, but Chile is hardly in the tropics. South America isn't
automatically warm just because it's "south" :).

That said, it looks like a killer opportunity. I've looked at this before and
it's really going to be interesting to see the different experiences that
these startups have come through over the coming months.

~~~
fduran
The weather in Santiago and Central Chile is Mediterranean (wine, fruit), arid
in the north and temperate in the south, plus mountainous regions (and polar
climate if you count their claimed Antarctica territories) so basically they
have all the climates _except_ for tropical.

~~~
rbonvall
Easter Island has tropical climate. So yeah, we got 'em all.

~~~
fduran
I stand corrected.

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jot
Other recent HN posts and discussions about Start-Up Chile:

154 Startups Selected in Start-Up Chile's 2nd Round of 2011
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3031349>

Start-Up Chile is a Great Experience But Be Careful Too
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3055534>

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zmitri
As someone who lived in Montreal for 4 years, it gets old pretty quick. I now
live in Brooklyn for comparable prices to what I paid in Montreal (rent is a
bit more, but food is dirt cheap in NY) and like it much more.

~~~
hugacow
I can't see how doing a startup in Canada in general is a good idea. Policies
there are a lot more restrictive than the states. It's a great place to visit,
though.

~~~
jleyank
Health coverage.

~~~
nkassis
I have to say this is a big one for me. It gives a lot more freedom and it's
one less thing to stress about.

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santiagoooooo
This sounds like a fantastic opportunity. I like the Startup Chile project
because they offer a great combination of non-equity funds, lots of government
support for networking and an opportunity to explore a new place in the world.
Congratulations and best of luck with this.

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vsl2
Not much information about other requirements for Startup Chile in the
article.

Through Startup Chile's website: Teams must also give workshops, attend events
etc., which hopefully won't be too big of a hassle. Not sure if you have to
keep your business in Chile for a certain amount of time afterwards.

Government support and involvement: Possibly good or bad.

~~~
iamelgringo
I've been talking with a number of directors at length about the program, and
we've been promoting it at Hackers & Founders.

There is no requirement after the 6 months. And, the government support is all
about walking you through the legal loop holes, and then generally getting out
of the way.

~~~
vsl2
Thanks for the additional information. It sounds like really interesting
opportunity, particularly for those wanting to learn about a new culture.

And on second thought, the workshops and events are probably a good thing in
that you're forced to step outside your intense startup focus to meet new
people and maybe find prospective friends/users/employees/investors.

I really liked Santiago when there for study abroad - nice people and very
modern city. Only complaint would be the air pollution because of the
"containment" effect of the surrounding Andes mountains.

~~~
iamelgringo
My pleasure. As far as I'm concerned, Startup Chile is one of the best sources
of early money around for startups.

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monkeygus
Does anyone have any more info on these government grants available in Canada
that are mentioned ?

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chocoheadfred
Actually, won't it be summer in both?

~~~
xutopia
Yes it would and if you know anything about winter in Canada you'll know that
it would be awesome to be in Chile instead of the cold north.

~~~
stan_rogers
Depending on where you live and work in Montréal, though, venturing outdoors
in winter can be almost completely optional. That can be both a blessing and a
curse. I lived a workaholic life there for a while and I hear the city's very
nice -- but since both my apartment and my office (and the grocery store,
restaurants, etc.) were connected to the Metro, I've never actually seen it.

~~~
nkassis
Yeah the underground city is pretty awesome and useful. There are days when
you might have to carry a shovel with you(don't think I'm kidding it's not an
uncommon sight) when walking outside in the winter but last few winters have
been pretty mild (ok last year had a good amount of snow). Global warming's
helping ;p

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Cy
wow - 40k of free money to go enjoy Santiago and build a company. Sounds like
a dream!

~~~
olliesaunders
Probably is

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aespinoza
I pretty much agree with the "location, location, location" idea.

I am sure there are advantages to doing a startup in Chile and in Montreal.
But I still think that to make it big, you have to do it in Silicon Valley.

The concentration of talented and smart people is greater in Silicon Valley
than in any other place.

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dustineichler
This sounds pretty cool. I'd go to Chile if not for a little travel and to
escape the Bay Area bubble in lieu of a broader life experience. Wonder once
you finish the 'program' what the terms are. I suspect they'd want you to stay
wherever they're funding you. I also suspect developing countries (PIGS) are
going to be a hot bed of innovative startups. Tangible problems beget real
solutions, e.g. - successful companies?

