DISQUS

Instigator Blog: Can You Build a Startup Ecosystem Outside the Valley?

  • Josh Nursing · 2 years ago
    I've been exploring the subject ever since I came to Montreal.

    It will all boil down to individual psychology too. In SV, there's no such thing as a 'failure'. People gather their lessons learned, stand back up and start again with the added experience. They aren't castigated by their peers.

    In Canada, I gather this is different.

    It is not a coincidence that the traits that make SV what it is, are the same traits for successful people.

    Anna-Lee Saxenian is a worldwide expert on this and many of her written documents are online as well as an audio interview somewhere.

    http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/~anno/

    In her audio interview though, she says that it's impossible to duplicate SV.

    There is a strong foundation in regional networks, and my exploration of the phenomenon lead to building the Montreal Tech League.

    Here in Mtl, we also lack a certain critical mass, be it in the number of people or qualified people or clever people, you name it.

    And finally, in SV, immigrants are very entrepreneurial and welcome to contribute to the economy through working. Here, it is unfortunate that qualified immigrants are not welcome by companies.

    http://www.ailf.org/ipc/policy_reports_2002_sec...

    Best
  • John Hunter · 2 years ago
    Great post, I believe it can be done but it is not easy. Boston is making some progress in that direction. There are many important factors including capital but a huge factor is one or more world class science and engineering universities because that can help with so many factors. I discussed these ideas in the Future is Engineering including links to posts by Paul Graham and Guy Kawasaki on the topic.
  • Greg Balanko-Dickson · 2 years ago
    I agree with what you have said except you did not talk about the entrepreneurs perspective and role.

    Start up entrepreneurs need to also make themselves accessible, be friendly, share their ideas withouy an NDA.

    When asked for help and you provide it and get zero feedback - that is just plain rude - want a mentor - be a good mentee. Say thank you!

    Show some damn manners!
  • Ben Yoskovitz · 2 years ago
    John - Thank you for stopping by and commenting. I'm not sure you can build the same level and quality of environment you see in the Valley, but I do think you can aim for that and make progress in those directions.

    Greg - Sounds like you're speaking from experience! Probably can't and shouldn't share that with us, but I agree as well - entrepreneurs need to make themselves accessible and do so in a respectful and polite way. Generally though, entrepreneurs are going to be the least experienced and savvy of all the people involved in the community, so they're the ones that get the most slack cut.
  • Josh Nursing · 2 years ago
    Coincidentally, today there are two related articles on Cyberpresse (they're in French) which give an overview of some of the issues plaguing Mtl and Quebec:

    http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20070810/CPAC...
    http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20070810/CPAC...

    John: I like the perspective of how engineering is crucial. To me, engineering is linked to a proven methodology which enables precise construction, robust scaling, and generally, quality work through documentation.

    During the past 11 years, I have seen countless software projects where the business suffers because at one point, somebody thought it was a brilliant idea to 'save' some money by hiring programmers instead of a software engineer. Well, in SEng., it is much more costly to update and maintain software than to build it initially. So, in fact, the proper business decision in this case is to invest early in an engineer.

    As for NDAs, I think they're necessary. There are people whose ethical sensibilities are so inexistent that they would take your idea and use it without flinching.
  • Ben Yoskovitz · 2 years ago
    Josh - NDAs are never going to work with most investors (angels or investors.) If you think someone's ethical sensibilities are so low, you shouldn't be showing them your idea in the first place.

    Most investors won't have the capacity to steal ideas anyway...so do away with the NDAs.

    And if they REALLY wanted to steal something, they could and would anyway, even with an NDA. You're unlikely to catch them, and even if you did, you're unlikely to have the means to chase them down legally.
  • Josh Nursing · 2 years ago
    Thanks for the feedback, Ben. I do know that many investors refuse NDAs.
  • Ben Yoskovitz · 2 years ago
    Josh - It's just a fact of life when it comes to working with investors.

    My suggestion: Reference check investors. It's not that hard to find out what they've invested in, talk to other people about them, etc. - especially in a smallish city like Montreal...
  • rem · 2 years ago
    Now that Boston has been beaten over the head by so many bloggers regarding that "east vs. west" thing, we are starting to see some results.
    http://www.ycombinator.com/
    http://www.webinnovatorsgroup.com/
    http://www.techcocktail.com/blog/
    http://www.betahouse.org/
    http://www.warnerresearch.com/
    http://www.cambridgeincubator.com/
    OpenCoffee Boston and start up meetups are just a few of the efforts to get the web 2.0 momentum humming here in theHub. I think the entrepreneurs are doing their part, hopefully the angels and VC's will follow suit.
  • Ben Yoskovitz · 2 years ago
    @rem: Thank you for the links.

    OpenCoffee interests me. I started an "Entrepreneur Breakfast" in Montreal, but I've wanted to look at converting it to an OpenCoffee event for some time. I don't think it would substantially change the event, but brand it a bit, and open Montreal up to the rest of the OpenCoffee community.
  • Sylvain Carle · 2 years ago
    I agree with you Ben, we should use the OpenCoffee moniker in Montreal, but we might need the change the place for that... Laïka would seem to fit the bill as far as a place where you can more freely "come and go"... I just found out by looking at my archive that I was already reffering to our breakfast as opencoffee like a while ago - http://qurl.com/g2ns4
  • Jeff · 1 year ago
    Awesome post. I see it's been nearly a year since you wrote it, any thoughts on Montreal's development since that time? Is the situation better or worse?
  • Ben Yoskovitz · 1 year ago
    @Jeff: I think the situation in Montreal has certainly improved, but it's still very early. Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither was Silicon Valley for that matter.

    The positives are that we have more startups launching, and many of those are launching with considerable fanfare / buzz (which is good for the overall community.) We've seen an increase in events and participation - be it StartupCamps, DemoCamps, etc. And I'd say overall, there's more activity.

    But, there's still a long way to go. We still need more capital from angels and VCs. We still need a more tight knit community that doesn't require specific events to allow for people to get together, brainstorm, mash up ideas and make things happen.

    So there's definitely progress, and my gut tells me we'll see a lot more in the next year.

    Thanks for stopping by and commenting.