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Toronto is poised to become a producer of tech startups

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Re: Toronto is poised to become a producer of tech startups

#131

Post by rapind »

amscanne wrote: post #108
stuxnet79 wrote: post #19

Eeh ... as a Torontonian developer I don't buy it. Most of the good graduates we have move to Bay Area or Seattle. If you want your career to progress meaningfully you pretty much have to move to the states. Maybe this might change in the future but the story on the ground is very different. Also nitpick - we are the fourth most populous city in North America, and only Mexico City , New York and Los Angeles have a la…

> Also nitpick - we are the fourth most populous city in North America, and only Mexico City, New York and Los Angeles have a larger population. As of mid last year, Toronto contains more people than Chicago. Ugh, this is a pet peeve of mine. The city limits are drawn in such a way that Toronto _technically_ edges out Chicago. Torontonians seem to feel this is a meaningful point of pride. Get real. The metro Toronto…

Huh? Get real? The 10 million "Greater Chicago Area" you're referring to is 10,857 miles. The 6 million Toronto area you're referring to is only 2,751 miles. That's almost 4 times the size but only 1.6 times the population.

I think the sizes are in reality pretty close and figuring out which is bigger seems very nuanced depending on where you draw the lines. That being said I'll go along with you and say Chicago is probably bigger for the most part right now. Chicago definitely feels like a bigger city when you're downtown anyways.

The numbers you're using for comparison though? C'mon, who's being prideful?

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/blogs-and-comment/so-is-toro...

Re: Toronto is poised to become a producer of tech startups

#132

Post by rrdharan »

faramarz wrote: post #128
jklinger410 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too bad it's so cold.

No colder than Chicago or New York, and on most days, it's no hotter or colder than the Bay Area. really.

I strongly disagree. I grew up in Toronto. Moved to New Jersey at 17, San Francisco at 21 and NYC four years ago at age 32.

Toronto's weather is definitely the worst of the four, no question.

Re: Toronto is poised to become a producer of tech startups

#133

Post by ng12 »

faramarz wrote: post #123

My money is on Canada! Look, our culture, the geo-political environment, the general tolerance level of an average Canadian, all of these play a factor and when given a choice, people would easily Canada as their home base. This is where you want to start a family and grow your kids. The tech scene has always been miniature compared to SF or NYC, but the high caliber of talent and expertise is the same if not greater…

Are you posting from the Canadian Tourist Bureau?

I have two main concerns when considering a startup: access to talent and access to capital. As discussed elsewhere in this thread, Toronto falls short on both. Multiculturalism barely factors into it -- and if it did why would I pick Toronto over NYC?

Re: Toronto is poised to become a producer of tech startups

#134

Post by 086421357909764 »

lewisl9029 wrote: post #125
lcc wrote: post #80

Not if Toronto keeps hemorrhaging talent. I graduated from the University of Toronto last year and can only name 2 of my classmates who are actually working in Toronto now. The rest are in SF, Seattle, and NYC - including many people who have family in Toronto, like me. All of my friends who were seriously working on a startup have moved it to the Bay Area. Many of us would love to move back to Toronto 'eventually',…

Waterloo grad here. Seeing pretty much the same thing. Really not difficult to imagine why Canadian tech companies have mostly stopped being competitive on the global stage, considering most of the talent they have access to at these pitiful salaries are essentially left-overs. Unfortunately, I honestly don't see how the situation can improve. It's a classic tragedy of the commons situation. Companies act in self-int…

Interestingly this is almost the same commentary for every "next silicon valley" city we read about here. I think sometimes people are trying to cash in on the ideal before it's even been formed. Why is everyone so rushed to be the next SV anyway? Why not be the best Toronto, or whatever city of focus that happens to support entrepreneurship through whatever programs.

I feel like being a next SV town is sort of like how every un-employed person I know is the CEO of a startup : / .

Re: Toronto is poised to become a producer of tech startups

#135

Post by 086421357909764 »

cylinder wrote: post #112
clessg wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would a more permanent approach be? Marriage?

Work in overseas branch as a manager. Get moved to US on L1 visa. Apply for employment based green card, takes about a year.

Isn't this how a lot of the big firms are using Their European offices? I've met a lot of people in the valley that worked in places like Zurich, or London for their first year with the company before moving to CA.

Re: Toronto is poised to become a producer of tech startups

#137

Post by uiri »

This article is poorly fact-checked:

"Queens College" is, I'm guessing, referring to Queen's University in Kingston (since the attendance number cited also matches), which is over 150 miles away from Toronto. I'm surprised the author didn't include the 25,000 students at McMaster and the 20,000 students at the University of Guelph which are both much closer than either Waterloo or Queen's. And if the author is going to include the University of Waterloo, why not also include Wilfrid Laurier University which is also in Waterloo? It is totally nonsensical. Kitchener-Waterloo is very distinct from Toronto and its various suburbs.

The support provided by the government does not begin to make up for the lack of support provided by local angel investors/VCs. It is much easier to go through the government grant process and get funding for a startup that way than it is to get Angel or VC money in Toronto.

BlackBerry has been dying a slow death for over 4 years at this point. Whatever talent they once had has (hopefully, for their sake) long since moved on. If the author's claims of a diaspora injecting additional talent into the local startup scene are true, we should already be seeing it. I don't.

Shopify's HQ is in Ottawa. They are sucking up a lot of the local CS talent in Ottawa since they are a big fish in a small pond. They aren't going to move their HQ ~200 miles to Toronto any time soon, even if it means avoiding -40 degree winters.

Re: Toronto is poised to become a producer of tech startups

#138

Post by serge2k »

clessg wrote: post #96
oniTony wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Canadians get access to TN class work visa. It's meant for temporary work, but gives a few years to figure out a more permanent approach.

What would a more permanent approach be? Marriage?

Companies will sponsor a green card on a TN, it is just riskier since it's not a dual intent visa.

You can also apply for H-1B and if you get that then you can just switch to it then apply for a green card.

Re: Toronto is poised to become a producer of tech startups

#139

Post by serge2k »

faramarz wrote: post #123

My money is on Canada! Look, our culture, the geo-political environment, the general tolerance level of an average Canadian, all of these play a factor and when given a choice, people would easily Canada as their home base. This is where you want to start a family and grow your kids. The tech scene has always been miniature compared to SF or NYC, but the high caliber of talent and expertise is the same if not greater…

> The more reports like this come out, I believe the more of the current Canadian Diaspora living and working in the US will be swayed to move back here, bringing their talent, their money and their valley connections with them.

ha, no. I want to come home at some point, but the money in the US is absurdly better. Plus I can work on some very neat stuff.

Re: Toronto is poised to become a producer of tech startups

#140

Post by serge2k »

jklinger410 wrote: post #126
faramarz wrote: post #123

My money is on Canada! Look, our culture, the geo-political environment, the general tolerance level of an average Canadian, all of these play a factor and when given a choice, people would easily Canada as their home base. This is where you want to start a family and grow your kids. The tech scene has always been miniature compared to SF or NYC, but the high caliber of talent and expertise is the same if not greater…

Too bad it's so cold.

Vancouver isn't.
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