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Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

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Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#221

Post by avaer »

personjerry wrote: post #219
fnbr wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. Or, it's "here's 100k for 30% of your company." I have a friend who has been trying to raise for his company, and the expectations that investors have in terms of how much equity they want is much worse than in the US.

Edit: Whoops, I read that as 100M :( That seems within reasonable bounds of a VC offer, am I wrong? If they expect to be valued much higher then they would probably be more well known (approaching unicorn realm) and would get SV interest anyway. And if they want to give less equity maybe they should find a earlier stage/smaller fund?

Objectively reasonable or not, subjectively a joke in comparison to SV. This kind of investment won't pay for one additional hire this year; if you go smaller it won't even pay for the time you spent dealfinding.

And after all of that, this level of equity is a curse on your books that locks you out of SV VC. So if you actually grow you're still disadvantaged by such an offer. Lose lose.

We can debate whether such an offer is reasonable. But taking this offer in favor of seeking funding in the valley... that's unreasonable.

Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#222

Post by shados »

EternalData wrote: post #19

For those people who are talking about salaries in Canada versus salaries in the United States -- I don't have a dog to pick in the fight, but I think cost of living is a really important consideration when you're looking to evaluate compensation differences. Some people have put together prices and it came out that Toronto is about 31% cheaper to live in than SF. ( https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/compariso…

The thing is you can't look at it in percentage. If I go from 12000/year in housing to 36000/year in housing, that's 24000/year of difference.

If a DINK couple of engineers (to exagerate the number for example purpose) move from Canada to the US, their combined salary could go from 150k/year to 300k/year. That's a 150k a year of difference. Minus the difference in housing cost, we end up with 126k more, let say 85k after tax.

That buys you a lot of (cheaper in the US!) cars over a few years.

Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#223

Post by personjerry »

avaer wrote: post #221
personjerry wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edit: Whoops, I read that as 100M :( That seems within reasonable bounds of a VC offer, am I wrong? If they expect to be valued much higher then they would probably be more well known (approaching unicorn realm) and would get SV interest anyway. And if they want to give less equity maybe they should find a earlier stage/smaller fund?

Objectively reasonable or not, subjectively a joke in comparison to SV. This kind of investment won't pay for one additional hire this year; if you go smaller it won't even pay for the time you spent dealfinding. And after all of that, this level of equity is a curse on your books that locks you out of SV VC. So if you actually grow you're still disadvantaged by such an offer. Lose lose. We can debate whether such an…

I misread as 100M, my bad!

Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#224

Post by int_19h »

vkou wrote: post #150
canadian123456 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I mean, first of all, in the US, outside of a few cities like NY, SV, Seattle, Bellevue, you start to see lower pay which gets closer to Canadian pay. In cities where the pay lowers so does the cost of living. Canada will never get over the exchange rate + availability of goods in America. Canada is an amazing country to live in but America is great too when you have money.

The cost of living in Vancouver is just as high as the cost of living in Seattle. This is after the Canadian dollar tanked. In fact, right now, the cost of buying a house in Seattle is much, much lower. Engineer wages in Seattle were ~30-100% higher - before the Canadian dollar tanked. Now they are ~50-160% higher.

Vancouver is a bit of a special case because of how insane the property prices are there. It's like the Canadian SF, except without the job market.

Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#225

Post by shados »

kspaans wrote: post #165
guiomie wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Salary are usually 1.5 to 3 time higher. You can save much more money.

Until you have to put kids through school or have a big medial emergency that isn't covered by your insurance.

When talking about tech, unless you're starting a company and don't have any capital yet, you have insurance. Often it will even be copay-free, and unlike the free stuff up north, dentist is included.

As people mentioned, there are a lot of cheaper options for school in the states. Americans just looooooove the expensive prestigious options.

Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#226

Post by uiri »

linkregister wrote: post #182
bogomipz wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"Depends on the price. Everyone has one. (or at least SHOULD have one)" No, not everyone has a price for which they are willing to exchange their happiness for. I also completely disagree that everyone "should" have a price they are willing to exchange their happiness for. It's strikes me as quite odd that you choose to pronounce these things(your opinions) as universal and absolute truths. There are many people who…

Rent, but not house price. Toronto and Vancouver meet or exceed SF Bay Area house prices. Rents are lower there, yes.

Seriously? You're saying that condos in downtown San Francisco can be had for under $500k? You can most likely find a condo in downtown Toronto for that price. Housing prices in Toronto are nowhere near the SF Bay Area. Geography constrains West Coast cities in a way that simply doesn't apply to Toronto/Montreal/Ottawa. There is still plenty of farm land in the GTA waiting to be developed. The distance between Hamilton and Toronto is similar to the distance between San Francisco and San Jose. You can still find houses for under $500k in Hamilton.

Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#227

Post by int_19h »

jstelly wrote: post #136
cylinder wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't this just show something isn't right in the US? Why aren't firms hiring more in their international offices if the cost of employing developers is 3x in the US vs even advanced nations with solid talent?

It seems like firms that are large enough to manage multiple offices do exactly that. In the games industry electronic arts is a good example. They have offices in Vancouver, Montreal, and Edmonton (a huge team grown out of the BioWare acquisition) and possibly other places in Canada.

Microsoft has a campus in Vancouver (well, Richmond, originally - it moved to downtown Vancouver later) since 2007. There was around 600 people there last year, mostly devs.

Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#228

Post by int_19h »

rb808 wrote: post #101

I dont understand the hate on Canadian salaries. Its a safer, more liberal country that looks after its poorest. If you want cut throat lifestyle that pays the most - with the guy who cooked you dinner keeping one eye out for an ICE van, your ex-slaves in prison and some homeless guy going through your dumpster - you'll love the US. If you want to live a fairer society (Canada, France, Germany, Australia etc) don't c…

That kind of stuff is (or at least supposed to be) factored into taxation. And it is - income taxes in Canada are definitely higher than in US. The other differences that people are complaining about here are above and beyond that.

Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#229

Post by ranit »

didibus wrote: post #135
eigenvector wrote: post #5

"For years, Canada's tech industry has watched in frustration as Microsoft and Google hired the country's top computer science grads for high-paying jobs in Seattle and Silicon Valley. Now Canada believes it has found a new way to lure American and international tech workers." Is it... paying more so people don't have to choose between their country and financial security? Let's see. "Canadian tech companies are eage…

I'd love it so much if Canada had comparable salaries. I'd move back for sure, at least if it came 10% within Seattle and SV. But, I'm not sure it's possible for companies to do so. I mean, first of all, in the US, outside of a few cities like NY, SV, Seattle, Bellevue, you start to see lower pay which gets closer to Canadian pay. Appart from that, Canada just doesn't have the same market. That's the biggest differen…

> It's kind of crazy that in the US, ... a 9 month dev boot camp can have you earn similar to many university level degrees.

This speaks more about the relevance of these [university level] degrees than how high dev salaries are.

Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#230

Post by [deleted] »

didibus wrote: post #135
eigenvector wrote: post #5

"For years, Canada's tech industry has watched in frustration as Microsoft and Google hired the country's top computer science grads for high-paying jobs in Seattle and Silicon Valley. Now Canada believes it has found a new way to lure American and international tech workers." Is it... paying more so people don't have to choose between their country and financial security? Let's see. "Canadian tech companies are eage…

I'd love it so much if Canada had comparable salaries. I'd move back for sure, at least if it came 10% within Seattle and SV. But, I'm not sure it's possible for companies to do so. I mean, first of all, in the US, outside of a few cities like NY, SV, Seattle, Bellevue, you start to see lower pay which gets closer to Canadian pay. Appart from that, Canada just doesn't have the same market. That's the biggest differen…

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