Read on Twitter
1/ Everyone keeps asking me what I think of this. Here goes.
First, kudos @Alex_Danco for writing an articulate and well thought out essay. There is much to agree with here.
Rather than rebut or confirm each point, I will focus on just a few. https://twitter.com/Alex_Danco/status/1348732232614240267
First, kudos @Alex_Danco for writing an articulate and well thought out essay. There is much to agree with here.
Rather than rebut or confirm each point, I will focus on just a few. https://twitter.com/Alex_Danco/status/1348732232614240267
2/ First, the best and worst thing about the Canadian startup ecosystem is its proximity to the US. No one in Israel or Germany as an example makes so frequent comparisons to the valley as we do. Comparison is the thief of joy and prevents us from appreciating what we have here
3/ I fucking hate this "Silicon Valley North" BS. We are not that. There is one Silicon Valley in the world. It's a unique thing. There is much we can learn from it. Let's not waste time flagellating ourselves because we are not it.
4/ The reason why startups die is because they run out of money. There are underlying root causes, but you can keep screwing up till you get it right, if you have money.
It's fictional and irresponsible to think infinitely from day 1 when you have a very finite $
It's fictional and irresponsible to think infinitely from day 1 when you have a very finite $
5/ I completely agree that the infinite mindset and approach is (infinitely) better. But sometimes we have to crawl before we walk and run.
Again, because we are not and never will be the valley, we don't have the seemingly infinite talent and $ that are there
Again, because we are not and never will be the valley, we don't have the seemingly infinite talent and $ that are there
6/ The grass is always greener on the other side. Despite the huge advantages of the valley, there are many disadvantages. Costs and employee attrition rates come to mind.
7/ The whole SRED narrative is overblown. Outsource the compliance to @BoastCapital, take the free $ and get on with your life. All good.
8/ We need two, potentially conflicting things to happen: We need more exits. In parallel, we need more founders to not sell and build massive platform companies.
9/ On platforms: it's impossible to overstate their importance and gravitational pull for talent and capital. The valley has had a historical monopoly on them (think Paypal, eBay, Google, Facebook, etc). This is starting to change.
