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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

#71

Post by trollbridge »

curmudgeon22 wrote: post #62
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…

There are definitely still health insurance benefits (I'm Canadian). Yes, our doctor and hospital visits are covered, but many things are covered by employer paid insurance (or not at all): - prescription medicine - dental - vision - mental health - things like physiotherapy

Yeah, correct, but it's not going to be a $4000/mo line item expense for the employer per employee.

I don't have to deal with this as we are a (very) small business but it's a major headache for larger small businesses. Basically, as an employer it simply isn't fun to be forced to be in the "providing access to healthcare" business when that's not your core business.

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

#72

Post by TMWNN »

buckle8017 wrote: post #10
adfm wrote: post #4

Is it politically motivated or does it have to do with Canadian tech not requiring investment because of its stability?

Shopify is basically the only really successful Canadian start-up. It's very hard to run a very small business here.

>Shopify is basically the only really successful Canadian start-up.

I've heard that Shopify is by itself 10% of all Canadian tech jobs paying >$100K.

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

#73

Post by motohagiography »

Yeroc wrote: post #61
motohagiography wrote: post #53

Whether it's significant or not, YC's basic model of seed funding with ~$100k could be reproduced in Canada with $10MM or less. Unsure how this is a problem. If Canada wanted to be serious about startups it could make trivial changes to enable it. However it's committed to becoming a dutch diseased resource colony with no value add and a macquiladora for US software companies. Relative to capital and assets, it's the…

What are the trivial changes Canada could make if it wanted to be serious about startups?

briefly: cap gains reductions. at will employment. competitive top line corporate rates that attract HQ's and IP the way Ireland did. reduce the public sector talent tarpit, tariff goods from countries that use slave labor. abolish the dairy, wheat, and syrup boards and other agriculture cartels. enforce money laundering laws against retail businesses to normalize commercial rents. reduce immigration to levels where people can integrate and actually want to make things for each other and to take the pressure off home prices. pro natal policies that create more young people with a stake in their country. make math education a national project. to name a few.

if you talk to anyone in canada who is from here and doesn't work in the public sector, the conversation quickly turns to whether they're planning to leave and how far along they are. the way it's going, they're going to have to bar the exits.

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

#74

Post by abdullahkhalids »

steve_adams_86 wrote: post #58
wahnfrieden wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give more details? I'm simply a sole proprietorship in Canada so not sure what I'm getting myself into.

I think some things could make your work far easier than mine, but in my case there are a lot of hoops to jump through. I initially wanted to bootstrap myself in my garage, but discovered over time that this is essentially illegal and I'm required to operate out of a business address. This is also virtually forced on me because there are a variety of compounds I can't order without a registered business and accompany…

Thanks for your comment. I have in my mind to start a hardware focused business in Ontario. I am a little afraid now, but hopefully, I have better luck than you.

Can you expand a bit more on how difficult it is to deliver hardware product orders to other countries? Whichever countries you have experience in.

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

#75

Post by garbawarb »

ooooppppppp wrote: post #45
garbawarb wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like which?

Attractiveness to talent? Fairly senior dev, US citizen here (20 years experience). After what I've seen this past year, but more the past month, I will work for peanuts for a path to citizenship in Canada. US in 5 years is not a place I want to be, looking into all options and very serious.

The lifestyle difference is real but the income difference is enough to sway most people to the US. If Canada can close the gap on that I'd say it can become an even more attractive place for global tech talent than the US because of its overall better livability.

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

#77

Post by willhslade »

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…

Just want to post my favourite business interview of all time: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/wind-mobile-backer-regrets-...

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

#78

Post by JimmaDaRustla »

wilson090 wrote: post #12

This is extremely misleading. YC still backs Canadian founders (and other international founders). There must have been one too many painful experiences investing in companies based in Canada. Creating or converting to a US-based entity is a standard ask for most international founders who want to participate YC and I suppose something has changed such that Canada is no longer an exception to that.

[flagged]

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

#79

Post by wilson090 »

JimmaDaRustla wrote: post #78
wilson090 wrote: post #12

This is extremely misleading. YC still backs Canadian founders (and other international founders). There must have been one too many painful experiences investing in companies based in Canada. Creating or converting to a US-based entity is a standard ask for most international founders who want to participate YC and I suppose something has changed such that Canada is no longer an exception to that.

[flagged]

The only mental gymnastics required are those to make this about "recent events"

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

#80

Post by tptacek »

trollbridge wrote: post #19
jleyank wrote: post #11

Wonder if the founders not being US citizens or possibly even residents will hinder their ability to maintain their company. Or, whether this change increases the likelihood of being replaced when the startup shows some success. Also, being foreign in the US is a concern at the moment. Hell, being native in the US is a concern at the moment...

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

I don't believe anybody is being asked to migrate anywhere.
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