On: Canada's Start-up Visa

[scott_karana]

Ask yourself this: if you've never heard of startup culture in Canada, what is that indicative of? :)

(Saying this sadly, as I'm a Canadian)

[usmanbashir → scott_karana]

It's not that Canada lacks a startup culture, it's just a smaller playground then SF or NYC.

But besides all this, there are popular and noteworthy startups based in Canada, like HootSuite, Shopify, 500px, UrtheCast and Freshbooks.

[jrn → usmanbashir]

Jobber, is doing fairly well out of edmonton.

[bwertz → usmanbashir]

Agreed. Other very successful start-ups include: Wattpad, Frank & Oak, Indochino, Clio, Unbounce, Top Hat.

[scott_karana → usmanbashir]

I wonder if that's proportional per capita.

I get the impression that it is not, though I have a small sample size.

[randomdata → scott_karana]

The nearly 500 tech startups in Waterloo was pretty big news a year or two ago, even on HN. Startup success seems to be the problem in Canada. I'm not sure I could name a single one of those companies, even after considerable time has passed since that media exposure.

It will be interesting to see if bringing in new cultural perspectives can change that.

[aren55555 → randomdata]

How about:

Vidyard (http://www.vidyard.com/), Pebble (http://getpebble.com/), BufferBox (https://www.bufferbox.com/), Couple (formerly Pair) (http://couple.me/), or Thalmic Labs (https://www.thalmic.com/myo/)

All the above are also YC alumni.

[potatolicious → aren55555]

- Pebble is in the Valley, after going through YC.

- Couple is in San Francisco.

- Vidyard is based in KW.

- BufferBox is based in KW, and got acquired by Google.

- Thalmic is in KW.

So two out of five have Canadian founders who left for the Bay Area. Three out of the five stayed, one of which has succesfully exited.

Vidyard's first round of financing came from exclusively American sources. Canadian investors did not join until they were well underway.

Thalmic's first round of funding came from angels that I can't find any info on, their series A came from exclusively American sources.

I'm not sure if these companies really support the notion that Canadian VC firms are ready to create success and nurture extremely early-stage startups.

[randomdata → aren55555]

Pebble is the only one I've heard of on the list and their website claims they are in Silicon Valley, so I guess that reenforces my point?

Additionally, I think it is quite reasonable to argue that Kickstarter is the source of their success, but Kickstarter is still not yet available to Canadians. Not until later this summer.

[aren55555 → randomdata]

I was just trying to point out some of the big name startups that came from the Waterloo area (Disclosure: I am part of BufferBox and live in KW).

[randomdata → aren55555]

I live out in the country, but KW is nearby, which is why I find it so interesting that I cannot really name a single startup operating within. I feel like I have a closer connection to Silicon Valley, even though I've never been there. Is there something like HN for local startups?

[jrn → randomdata]

techvibes.com for canadian startup news.

[randomdata → jrn]

Thanks!

[karamdeep → aren55555]

We (iNovia) funded Vidyard and Bufferbox as part of their seed round.

[jonny_eh → randomdata]

Shopify, which is headquartered in Ottawa with an extra office in Toronto, is doing really really well.

There's also Freshbooks in Toronto.

[speeder → scott_karana]

You people forgot the games industry in Canada...

Beside canadians participating in some large game jams and having cool events there, Quebec state is the second largest games producer in the world (behind US, and above the entire Japan)

[obstacle1 → speeder]

Maybe pedantic, but Quebec is a province, not a state. A lot of game development happens in Montreal especially.

[MrDOS → obstacle1]

Or just call it Quebecistan. Nobody will bat an eye.

[bdamm → scott_karana]

Ever heard of Flickr?

They did quite well.

[oulous → scott_karana]

Shopify