Globe and Mail, one of Canada's leading newspapers, published an article today on the declining state of the venture capital ecosystem in Canada, featuring interviews from some prominent local entrepreneurs and investors. This is something which we have talked about in detail previously here on Techvibes, noting how much the decline has been (worst in 12 years) and also reporting on other woes facing the Canadian tech entrepreneur when it comes to raising venture funding. Some interesting quotes from the article:
“As an entrepreneur, the odds are already stacked against you..By being in Canada, the odds are even worse ... that's not to say that there isn't great talent here, there's just a lot of great talent that gives up and they relocate.” - Albert Lai, successful entrepreneur who has dealt with both Canadian and US-based investors. Founder of Kontagent.
“We have very few domestic VC firms that have capital available to invest today ”, and on the flip side, “Our university students go to school with the thought process of exiting and getting a job somewhere, not doing a startup.” - Kevin Talbot, Managing partner with RBC Venture Partners and the BlackBerry Partners Fund.
“The country doesn't embrace failure...Somebody doesn't say, ‘This person started these things and they made mistakes, but now they're experienced, so let's try something again.' It starts from there. There's a natural tendency not to take a shot and see what comes out of it.” - Rick Segal, Partner, JLA Ventures.
What do you think ? What has your experience been ?
JLA Ventures invests more than just capital. Like you, we are committed entrepreneurs working hard to transform brilliant ideas into successful,... [more]
The BlackBerry Partners Fund™ is a $150 million venture capital fund focused on applications and services including mobile commerce (payments,... [more]
Kontagent is the leading viral analytics platform for social network application developers. The Kontagent platform has been built from the ground... [more]
I generally agree with the article - in my opinion, we need to do 3 things:
- Canadian VC's need to look beyond the country and try to position themselves as best-in-breed in a certain vertical as the Canadian marketplace is simply too small
- We all need to start working hard on attracting experienced entrepreneurs to this country that can help build more successful start-ups with the local talent
- We need to focus our energy on a few sectors where we already have critical mass.
It won't be an easy ride but at the same time I am encouraged every day by the talent and energy I see around here.
As a Canadian who went to both a Canadian and American University, I can say that the attitude bread in students are completely different.
In Canada, I was seen as an outsider seeing that I was not interested in getting a job with Company X. In the States, I was completely motivated and challenged by others to go out and try to build things that will change the world.
Coming back to Canada from the Silicon Valley I can say that it is not easy finding people with similar attitudes, but there is talent and those with the characteristics that would make great start-up team members. It is a matter of evangelizing the concept to these people and showing them that there is a much more exciting career for them than working for that big company.
The two things that I have not seen since being back is:
-some big successes that gives the start-up community exposure (at least in Edmonton)
-entrepreneurs that have the talent and drive to build successful companie
There are some people who have had success, but most stumbled into it and they have not been able, or even tried, to replicate it. We need embrace those that have the potential to be great entrepreneurs and allow them to take a run at things, more than once.
I think the main roadblock we currently face is perfectly highlighted by Rick Segal above; when I tell people what I am doing, and what to continue doing, they think I am crazy. I am glad that I still have a bunch of friends back in California that I can look to for support. Along with a small community here as well :)
