4 ms·

That doesn't make any sense. "Brain drain" is when your technologists leave (often going toward a more "hyper saturated VC" geography). What is left behind is

by rlucas 9y ago

That doesn't make any sense. "Brain drain" is when your technologists leave (often going toward a more "hyper saturated VC" geography). What is left behind is the same amount of VC dollars but fewer technologists to build things. Which leads to more "saturation" all else equal. If you don't want the same SF Bay Area level of VC-funded craziness, the answer isn't to "let it drain" all the technologists out of Canada. The answer is to keep them home and have them build awesome stuff and profitable companies in Canada. (With a more sustainable / reasonable amount of VC funding.) A good way to sell that is to focus on all the things BESIDES Bay Area VC $ that Canada offers: lifestyle and values, visa / immigration ease, outdoor opportunities, land/house purchase prices (well, outside of a few spots), political stability, and strong support for local champion tech companies. But just saying "let it drain," ugh. That's terrible. Brain drains really are one of the nastiest things that can happen with semi-porous borders. Very harmful to a region when its technologists (or whatever other highly educated bunch) leave en masse.

astrodust 9y ago
What I'm saying is if the only way to retain the top-top talent is to pay outrageous, unsustainable wages, then it's better to let someone else take that hit and instead focus on making the best with what's left. Talent is a renewable resource as well. It's a fact that every year students graduate from university. If the market changes and Canadian firms can pay more competitive wages, either by getting more money or because Silicon Valley implodes, everything will sort itself out. Canada is just one country in a world of much bigger countries. To think we could retain 100% of our top talent is to over-state our importance. We should let some of our best and brightest go work abroad. We're not sending literally everyone, after all.

by rlucas 9y ago

astrodust 9y ago

What I'm saying is if the only way to retain the top-top talent is to pay outrageous, unsustainable wages, then it's better to let someone else take that hit and instead focus on making the best with what's left. Talent is a renewable resource as well. It's a fact that every year students graduate from university. If the market changes and Canadian firms can pay more competitive wages, either by getting more money or because Silicon Valley implodes, everything will sort itself out. Canada is just one country in a world of much bigger countries. To think we could retain 100% of our top talent is to over-state our importance. We should let some of our best and brightest go work abroad. We're not sending literally everyone, after all.