The best thing the Canadian government could do for Canadian tech entrepreneurship would be to work with the US government to make it easier for Canadians to work in the States and Americans to work in Canada. That, more than anything, would help the skills, knowledge and resources required to build good software companies flow between Toronto and SV.
Canada's Start-up Visa
191–200 of 249 posts
Re: Canada's Start-up Visa
#192Surprised nobody has mentioned http://startupvisa.ca/ which has a list of investors and a lot of help on the whole process.
Re: Canada's Start-up Visa
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
I paid almost exactly the same income tax in Florida as I did in British Columbia. But I got free health care in BC. Gas, cigarettes and booze are definitely cheaper in the USA though.
That seems odd to me. BC has one of the highest income tax rates in Canada and Florida has no state income tax. Using the online paycheck calculators I get: $50K/yr in BC would net you $36,758 after taxes. $50K/yr in Florida would net you $38,296 after taxes.
BC has the lowest income tax rate of any province:
http://www.ey.com/CA/en/Services/Tax/Tax-Calculators-2013-Pe...
Re: Canada's Start-up Visa
#194This might seem a bit superficial, but one of the reasons I fear a move to Canada is the weather; not the weather per se, but whether someone like me born in a tropical country would adjust well to the cold? I'm concerned that I would relapse into a depression ushered in by the winter blues (used to be depressed in my 20s, not sure why, it went away after 30, not sure why either), and lose my productivity. As a separ…
For Indians with in-demand qualifications like technology:
First year snow is fun specially if you never seen snow or live for extended period.
Second year snow is okay.
Third year oh! crap snow again.
Fourth year snow is drudgery.
Fifth year snow again! I can't wait to get out.
Sixth year, as you reaching snow season, I got my Canadian citizenship, I am moving south.
Re: Canada's Start-up Visa
#195There are a lot of smaller cities in Canada, i.e. cities that are not Vancouver, Toronto, Waterloo, Ottawa, etc. that are trying very hard to build their own start-up communities. You may want to consider these places if it suits your idea. For example, I live in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and there are a lot of grants specific to our region because we're considered a northern community. Since we're smaller, there's less…
Thunder Bay and Waterloo have pretty much the same population (~100K). That said, both are giant cities compared to Zeballos (population of 125): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeballos,_British_Columbia
Re: Canada's Start-up Visa
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is no bad weather, only bad clothing.
Ah, wait until the dead of winter when you're trying to take the bus to work in -40C weather. Walking across a large parking lot, with snow billowing along the ground like a National Geographic special on the Arctic Circle, your face in excruciating pain because of high-speed snow/ice blowing into it. The fact that your arms and legs are toasty warm seems like a distant comfort at that point... Plenty of weather cond…
What he said was an old Scandinavian saying.
Is it really that bad as long as you only need to get from A to B in something like an urban environment, though? Most of my problems with the cold have been switching clothes because of variations in activity levels, and having to actually work outside in the cold (for example having to take off my gloves because they aren't nimble enough with them on).
I'm assuming you had something like a balaclava on in those extreme conditions? If that wasn't enough you also have more wind-proof headgear: people use them to drive snow mobiles, so they should be good enough for the purpose of getting to the bus.
Re: Canada's Start-up Visa
#197I wonder what the impact would be across the different types of startups. I see this as a boon for foreign entrepreneurs but there are associated downsides as well. For one as an example, if you are planning to start a service based start-up, you may have to manually grab users until your start-up picks up steam.
Based on the numbers from International Telecommunications Union, US has 10 times more online users. I am pretty sure online services and in general start-up success is also tied to your market size. Heck, the first thing they taught me in Management Consulting is to size up the market. I am sure you can get a Temporary Business Visitor visa to the US but as always, this complicates the story.
All in all, as someone from India, looking to start something, I am thrilled by the news but I am not going to apply until I run out of all options in the US. Just my $0.02.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_...
Re: Canada's Start-up Visa
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
Timeline for citizenship is 5-6 years: 3 years of residency, after which you can apply for citizenship, which currently takes additional 2-3 years to get. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/canada/cit-pr...
FWIW my Permanent Residency came in way faster than the time that was published at the time. The estimate is based on "processing time from receipt of application to final decision for 80% of cases". The rather excellent British Expats (not just for Brits!) forum users keep track of the various processing times of Canadian immigration applications. http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=33 British Expats f…
I got my PR in months but I've been waiting for citizenship now for 2.5 years
Re: Canada's Start-up Visa
#199Earlier quoted context omitted.
If anyone is seriously considering applying and needs assistance meeting the Canadian angel / VC requirement, feel free to reach out to me, I am based in Canada and active in the angel/VC community. Contact info is in my profile.
Quick question; what would kind of person would you imagine would successfully secure funding from an angel/VC as a person trying to immigrate to Canada. I guess one would have to have more than an idea and a MVP. Also, any differences between Canada's angels and VCs than the impression one would get from Hacker News stories which is probably more U.S. focused?
I might be biased as I run a venture fund myself (Version One Ventures) but I think there are a handful excellent investors up here in Canada, most of which invest across North-America. Here is a good overview: http://www.techvibes.com/blog/state-of-venture-capital-in-ca...
Re: Canada's Start-up Visa
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
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)
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.
Agreed. Other very successful start-ups include: Wattpad, Frank & Oak, Indochino, Clio, Unbounce, Top Hat.