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Y Combinator website no longer lists Canada as a country it invests in

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Re: Y Combinator website no longer lists Canada as a country it invests in

#31

Post by sbarre »

trollbridge wrote: post #18
tptacek wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Important added context here: the list went from US, Cayman, Singapore, Canada to US, Cayman, Singapore. It's not as if YC was generally investing in non-US based entities before. Canada was an exception and isn't anymore. We're a global employer, and just employing people in different jurisdictions is kind of a nightmare (totally worth it, though). I can't imagine how much of a pain it must be to try to manage inves…

It's a weird change though. Canada is one of the most investor-friendly and startup-friendly jurisdictions I can think of. If you want to grow quickly, you need to be thinking about how to get an office set up in places like Calgary (lots of machine-learning talent there), Toronto, and Vancouver, and when you do so you'll find the government incentives and lower wages lead to you spending about half on total compensa…

> There is also, of course, no health insurance benefits to worry about.

Uhh, we don't have universal coverage for everything health up here, we still have private benefits that our employers pay for as part of our compensation plans.

Life insurance, dental, vision, prescriptions, physio, mental health, critical illness etc..

It might be less than in the US, but it's not "no health insurance benefits to worry about".

Re: Y Combinator website no longer lists Canada as a country it invests in

#32

Post by [deleted] »

greenavocado wrote: post #13

Canada's economy is dominated by a few big companies because the government makes too many rules. It costs too much to start a business here. In politics, only two parties really matter. This creates a closed system where big players stay big and new competition is crushed by red tape. Regulatory frameworks impose prohibitive compliance costs, favoring established incumbents over startups. Key sectors like banking, t…

[deleted]

Re: Y Combinator website no longer lists Canada as a country it invests in

#33

Post by sbarre »

alephnerd wrote: post #29
EGreg wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what's the upshot? No Canadian VCs? I guess there's always ClearCo LOL

> No Canadian VCs Pretty much. Israel [0], China [1], and increasingly India [2][3] worked on resolving this issue by establishing funds of funds that partnered with private sector players by matching dollar-to-dollar with them to help build a VC ecosystem. It's the same problem in the EU as well despite ECB proclamations. Heck, Norway's (ik not EU, it's EFTA) PIF has been conspicuously absent from any sort of statme…

I think our biggest problem in Canada is total addressable market is small.. We're 40M people (compared to what, 350M in the US, and 900M in the EU), and we're directly next door to the largest startup economy in the world.

So not only do we have fewer customers, we're competing against an economic juggernaut that shares our broad business rules, our culture and language (with one exception) and can market to us through all our media channels with very little friction.

So unless you're in health care or some other regulated field that a US startup can't just expand into easily, it's a tough go.

Re: Y Combinator website no longer lists Canada as a country it invests in

#34

Post by PostOnce »

garbawarb wrote: post #5

> “It’s the Valley-or-bust mentality that breaks the ecosystem and really hurts Canada,” Gomez said. Canadian pride isn't enough to keep a company in Canada. There are real and significant economic incentives to move elsewhere. That said, it's disappointing that YC no longer supports Canadian companies.

Economic incentives are only one of the many incentives weighing on the scales. There are others.

Re: Y Combinator website no longer lists Canada as a country it invests in

#35

Post by Marsymars »

alephnerd wrote: post #24
Rupok wrote: post #9

That's truly saddening. I hope there will be more VC backing in Canada because the talent is definitely there.

We in the VC, PE, and Growth Equity space invest using other people's money. The people who have capital in Canada are uninterested in funding Canadian domiciled GPs - they mostly end up choosing American asset classes because of high returns. Institutional investors like the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and CDQP tend to target asset classes outside of Canada due to their returns requirements being in the double dig…

> Institutional investors like the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and CDQP tend to target asset classes outside of Canada due to their returns requirements being in the double digits range.

TBF, the OTPP has a huge home bias - they’ve got more Canadian investments than they do US investments despite the market being less than a tenth the size.

They couldn’t target a higher proportion of Canadian assets while remaining reasonably diversified.

Re: Y Combinator website no longer lists Canada as a country it invests in

#36

Post by jleyank »

garbawarb wrote: post #28
trollbridge wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's probably no nationality easier for tech workers to migrate to the U.S. with than Canada, though. (And vice versa.)

Not at all. The only benefit Canadians get compared to others is the opportunity to work for employers on TN status which is a temporary non-immigrant-intent work visa. You're not even allowed to want to immigrate if you have one. And given the political climate there's a chance it will go away at any time.

Yup, such visas (going both ways) are based on the NAFTA/CUSMA agreement and probably live or die with that agreement. Uncertainty limits what businesses and people can/will do, and the sudden loss of work/residency permission would be really annoying for the families involved.

Re: Y Combinator website no longer lists Canada as a country it invests in

#38

Post by tokyobreakfast »

trollbridge wrote: post #18
tptacek wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Important added context here: the list went from US, Cayman, Singapore, Canada to US, Cayman, Singapore. It's not as if YC was generally investing in non-US based entities before. Canada was an exception and isn't anymore. We're a global employer, and just employing people in different jurisdictions is kind of a nightmare (totally worth it, though). I can't imagine how much of a pain it must be to try to manage inves…

It's a weird change though. Canada is one of the most investor-friendly and startup-friendly jurisdictions I can think of. If you want to grow quickly, you need to be thinking about how to get an office set up in places like Calgary (lots of machine-learning talent there), Toronto, and Vancouver, and when you do so you'll find the government incentives and lower wages lead to you spending about half on total compensa…

> Canada is one of the most investor-friendly and startup-friendly jurisdictions I can think of.

Other comments in this thread make it sound like an absolute nightmare. So which is it?

Re: Y Combinator website no longer lists Canada as a country it invests in

#39

Post by gucci-on-fleek »

tokyobreakfast wrote: post #38
trollbridge wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a weird change though. Canada is one of the most investor-friendly and startup-friendly jurisdictions I can think of. If you want to grow quickly, you need to be thinking about how to get an office set up in places like Calgary (lots of machine-learning talent there), Toronto, and Vancouver, and when you do so you'll find the government incentives and lower wages lead to you spending about half on total compensa…

> Canada is one of the most investor-friendly and startup-friendly jurisdictions I can think of. Other comments in this thread make it sound like an absolute nightmare. So which is it?

Much like the US, the regulations and culture varies depending on which province (state) you're in, so someone starting a business in Alberta could have a very different experience than someone in Ontario.

Re: Y Combinator website no longer lists Canada as a country it invests in

#40

Post by 1attice »

gucci-on-fleek wrote: post #39
tokyobreakfast wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Canada is one of the most investor-friendly and startup-friendly jurisdictions I can think of. Other comments in this thread make it sound like an absolute nightmare. So which is it?

Much like the US, the regulations and culture varies depending on which province (state) you're in, so someone starting a business in Alberta could have a very different experience than someone in Ontario.

Somewhat. Our provinces have fewer rights, powers and responsibilities than US states. The experience is more homogenous.

It's only a nightmare if you hate all taxes and labour rights. So, you know, YC

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