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A Damning Look at the Canadian Tech Sector

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Re: A Damning Look at the Canadian Tech Sector

#31

Post by peterarmstrong »

enraged_camel wrote: post #25
peterarmstrong wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The challenge is that as a Canadian it's a lot easier to get a TN-1 or H1-B as an employee than as a founder. So the valley is full of Canadian expat employees, not founders. Hopefully some of those will return to Canada and become startup founders. (That's what I did.)

>>The challenge is that as a Canadian it's a lot easier to get a TN-1 or H1-B as an employee than as a founder. It's the same in the US. If you're an immigrant, it's incredibly difficult (if not outright impossible) to get a work visa to work at a company you founded. There are a few "founder visa" type bills being discussed in the Congress, but all of them require the company you have founded to have a hefty revenue…

That's what I meant: the TN-1 and H1-B visas are the US visas that Canadian employees get in the US.

Re: A Damning Look at the Canadian Tech Sector

#32

Post by rozap »

zmitri wrote: post #12

As a Canadian who has lived in NYC for 2 years, and just had to go back to Canada for 2 weeks, this is spot on. There are tons of smart Canadians due to the great education system, but Canadians in general don't appreciate success in the same way Americans do. When I quit my job to start my own thing in America, all my co-workers and friends were pumped up and excited, while many Canadians were perplexed and asked qu…

I'm an American going to school in Canada, studying computer science. Before I started, I was so excited about all the people I was going to meet that would be interested in pursuing tons of computing projects outside of class.

It's three years later now, and I've found a total of two guys that share the same interest in creating something from nothing, and putting it out there for the world to see. People aren't totally floored by the idea of a good idea, they just do their classwork, get good grades, maybe do some internships, but that's about it.

Now, this is a somewhat sweeping statement, based solely on a small amount of anecdotal evidence. Maybe it's due to the fact that I go to UBC and not Stanford, maybe some ideas are just too ambitious or overwhelming, maybe I haven't run into all the right people, but those are my observations, and my frustrations parallel those discussed by the OP.

Re: A Damning Look at the Canadian Tech Sector

#33

Post by dezwald »

This is a great article! I myself am Canadian and agree with many of articles points.

Living in Toronto it's noticeable to recognize it's the financial industry runs this city, then comes marketing and advertising. Tech here in Toronto primarily just service these industries.

Now when it comes to getting people to invest in tech startups, is not a lack of money - it's the investors who have money and lack of knowledge in the tech industry. (Most of them having financial backgrounds)

Re: A Damning Look at the Canadian Tech Sector

#34

Post by jarek »

SohKai wrote: post #26

Maybe part of the problem is that a lot of our tech talent ends up going down to where the money is instead of staying in Canada?

More accurately, the 'problem' is that it seems there is no overarching wish to have a Canadian internet consumer software sector. People are just fine going to do that in California, and there haven't been waves coming back. Nothing wrong with that, maybe Canadians as a whole are content doing other types of technology work. You don't hear a lot about mechanical engineers going to work in the U.S.

Re: A Damning Look at the Canadian Tech Sector

#35

Post by peterarmstrong »

dholowiski wrote: post #9

The author left out one point that is too often ignored.we just font have enough people.why don't we have amazon prime? Because Canada is just so huge,and our population is spread so thinly.the population is so much smaller than the USA that its so much harder to launch and support a country wide service. Plus,we don't have LLC or a proper equivalent.

In BC, setting up a proper BC company is easy. I started by going to http://incorporate.ca/ and then had everything redone when I had the cash for a real lawyer.

Re: A Damning Look at the Canadian Tech Sector

#36

Post by dezwald »

SohKai wrote: post #26

Maybe part of the problem is that a lot of our tech talent ends up going down to where the money is instead of staying in Canada?

It would be interesting to see how many students from Waterloo and UofT alone, leave Canada to go work in the tech industry in the US.

Re: A Damning Look at the Canadian Tech Sector

#37

Post by redthrowaway »

alex_c wrote: post #20
notaddicted wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't just the total number of people, it's that they're smeared across our ample coasts and the longest border in the world[0]. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%E2%80%93United_States_bo...

That's only true for things requiring a physical infrastructure though. For example, Toronto has a reputation for being a hotspot for mobile development, and there are probably as many talented developers as in any other tech hub. But they all work for agencies. Where are all the Canadian "Angry Birds" success stories?

We have a few, but in general it's large foreign firms and government agencies. Looking for internships through the school co-op offices is near-pointless here in BC; I had to reach out myself to Grow Lab to find anything interesting (although I ended up doing another semester of school, instead).

Re: A Damning Look at the Canadian Tech Sector

#38

Post by mhurron »

zmitri wrote: post #12

As a Canadian who has lived in NYC for 2 years, and just had to go back to Canada for 2 weeks, this is spot on. There are tons of smart Canadians due to the great education system, but Canadians in general don't appreciate success in the same way Americans do. When I quit my job to start my own thing in America, all my co-workers and friends were pumped up and excited, while many Canadians were perplexed and asked qu…

I think you're misunderstanding risk aversion as not appreciating success.

Risk aversion "why are you quitting when you have a great job" is an individual personalty trait, not one of a whole unrelated group of people. You can find plenty of Americans who would say the same thing.

On top of that, you can't appreciate success that isn't there. You quit your job to start something, that's not succeeding so they weren't appreciating success. Odds are that you would fail miserably.

No, my bet is that what your seeing here is your friends are happy you're trying something you've probably been talking about doing for a while. They're probably your friends because they share some of these same interests, so in addition to seeing a friend do something they want they have the same drive to do it and understand why you would take that risk. Others around you that are not so close are making a risk assessment based on if they were in your shoes what would they think. If starting a business wasn't their interest, that's a huge risk to take for little/no reward. None of it has to do with Americans or Canadians.

Actually, you're a part of why Canada has a struggling tech sector. You moved to the US to start a business. Probably for the same reason doctors do, if you make money, you'll make a shitton more in the US. Other than money, there is no real reason to move to the US from Canada to start a business.

Re: A Damning Look at the Canadian Tech Sector

#39

Post by jarek »

Personally, as a Canadian in the consumer-and-internet-software sector ("tech sector" to HN), the constant comparisons to the equivalent U.S. sector appear far more annoying than the state of our sector. Nobody else does it with as much frequency as we seem to. Much of the discussion simply consists of pointing out and explaining in depth differences between the two sectors. It feels worse than the constant internet handwringing in the U.S. about their health care. I am getting attention fatigue. It is what it is. If you're unhappy with the current state and wish to change it, stop talking and start doing. Another post explaining that Canada doesn't have the VC scene or salaries or that Canadians are "nice" and happy with second best won't change these things.
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