

Canadian Startups kick ass - jsatok
http://rypple.com/blog/canada-kicks-enterprise-ass-eh/

======
9oliYQjP
The Canadian startup scene is an interesting and enjoyable one. But let's
please allow the numbers to speak for themselves. If there's one thing I
dislike about the past few years of the startup scene, it has been this circle
jerk echo chamber of "we're great, let's all go for a drink to celebrate".

Canada has a broken VC industry. Our telecom industry is indeed backwater.
People are getting into startups because there's no other option for them, and
the startup jobs offer lower pay with fewer benefits. This would be a great
tradeoff if Canadian startups actually thrived to the point where early
employees could make back their investment. But the track record is fairly
poor there. Government grants and funds prop up a large percentage of Canadian
startups for the 5 years or so that they manage to survive.

These are problems we face today with solutions that will require long term
thinking to resolve. I think we have the right attitude at all levels in this
country. All levels of government across the political spectrum are on the
entrepreneurship bandwagon, and there is no longer a stigma to starting a
business. It is actually quite trendy to the point that everybody and their
brother is doing it. But let's please improve our track record by staying in
business, and in fact thriving as a startup as opposed to flaming out after a
year or two when the government grants and initial investment are burned
through.

~~~
imack
"Government grants and funds prop up a large percentage of Canadian startups
for the 5 years or so that they manage to survive."

I used to work for one of these. Being greentech is a great way to have a the
government be your VC. I remember one of the "signs to leave" was when the CEO
popped a champagne cork when we got a couple million in funding from the feds.

The best part was that the CEO used to be senior aide to an environment
minister. He popped a champagne cork because he best navigated the bureaucracy
he helped setup.

Any company that can get those funds can usually also get some kind of private
funding, but why bother when the feds won't ask for equity? It really distorts
things though, as VCs care about your company making money, whereas the
government cares about you hiring as many people as possible.

~~~
igrekel
Right and that is also reflected on grants based on salaries you paid the
previous year, not exactly straightforward when you are just a few founders
and not much cash yet.

------
RBr
"Smart companies — including Rypple — are happily relocating their cosmetics,
er, marketing budgets into product development."

I don't think that redirecting a marketing budget into product development is
a great idea. A unique or revolutionary product can stand by itself. However,
even products that are breaking new ground still need to get the word out that
they exist and importantly what problems they're solving.

I'm Canadian and I completely agree that Canadian companies are in a unique
position to kick ass. However, we still have a bit of an uphill battle to
face. From financing to taxes it's important for us to clearly announce what
products we're making, what problems they're solving and importantly what
products we're selling.

Viva la Canada - just don't dismiss marketing - no matter how unconventional
it may be.

~~~
jman73
Totally agree about having to still sell and marketing. The point was that a
great product, supported by web-based, social strategies for selling and
marketing are more cost effective and more amenable to Canadians.

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amichail
I'm Canadian but I wouldn't want to associate myself with any such
stereotypes.

We live in a world where a single individual can do more than ever before
product-wise and location is not that important. Let's focus on that instead.

------
strebler
I can't help but disagree with the claim of how much it supposedly "kicks ass"
to be a Canadian startup. I founded a Canadian company a few years ago (still
going) and am friends with a few of the founders of those other startups
listed there. We're mostly on the same page: we're started here because we
lived here, but being in Canada isn't exactly a hub for innovation.

One thing Canadian tech companies are good at is growing to 20-30 employees
and selling out to a US company. But that's very different - the innovation is
sucked out in those circumstances.

I feel that the "Revenue? We'll worry about that later" attitude is somehow
important for innovation. Investors in Canada are really not one for high
risk, high returns.

I mean, it's not horrible here or anything, but I really don't think our
startup environment holds a flame to the US.

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Eugene3v
A major problem in Canada in my humble opinion is a lack of or alternatively a
very poor startup ecosystem... unfortunately Canadian society is still very
much conservative in that regard and it is not very welcoming towards startups
and in turn startups have a somewhat negative connotation. That's a shame of
course... we have lots talent and very intelligent folks around here..

~~~
xal
hmm never encountered this. What city?

~~~
Eugene3v
Toronto... perhaps things are different in Ottawa.. in fact I hope they are !
:)

~~~
noarchy
In Ottawa the challenge is to find a company that isn't totally tied into the
government. I mean this even for the private sector. When navigating the job
market here, having a security clearance (ever-important when working with/for
the gov't) almost seems as important as competence. Ok, maybe not really, but
the ubiquity of government contracts is probably far different than many other
places in Canada.

~~~
xal
Shopify is always hiring. Lack of permanent damage from working for the
government or nortel is a big plus...

~~~
AgentConundrum
I suddenly wish I knew Ruby (and was otherwise even remotely qualified), if
for no other reason than I really want to come home _.

_ \- Home is actually Kingston, but anywhere in non-BFN Ontario is acceptable
to me. Halifax is far to far from home.

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mgrouchy
Not getting caught up in the stereotypes here, thats a great list of Canadian
Startups, as a Canadian I hope they all do well.

~~~
amichail
_...as a Canadian I hope they all do well._

Why?

Isn't that kind of like saying as a member of the same race/gender, I hope
they do well?

~~~
mgrouchy
No, because I feel a kinship with other Canadians, which I think is a fairly
common Canadian trait(once again, I don't want to sterotype here, maybe I have
a unique set of a friends and associates). I'm from Newfoundland, Canada and I
feel a kinship with other Newfoundlanders as well.

I can't speak to where you are from or what value set you have, but I feel it
is important to support my country at all times, not just during the Olympics.
I appreciate seeing other Canadians succeed and feel that it is good for
Canada as a whole for them to do so.

Edit: Because I can't respond to the comment below, Im just going to follow up
with the fact that if thats how you feel then you obviously don't have the
same value set, or even understand what I am talking about. Which is totally
fine, but I would guess that you don't care about someone you don't know
succeeding or not, whether it has merit or not(which is also totally fine,
just not how I feel).

~~~
amichail
I'm definitely not like that.

I'm more interested in seeing people succeed based on merit -- not based on
where they are from or any other irrelevant factor.

~~~
jasonlotito
> I'm definitely not like that.

That's fine. On the other hand, most people will continue to wish their family
and friends well and hope they succeed.

