5 ms·

500 Startups shuts down its Canada fund

66 points by janober 9y ago

3pt14159 9y ago
Really too bad. Especially with the situation in America right now I know a number of founders that had decided not to do the "move to California" strategy.
- jussij 9y ago
  From the article: Last month, a number of women came forward to the New York Times, alleging misconduct by McClure and others in the venture community. That to me sounds like not really too bad but instead about f'n time.
  - untog 9y ago
    It's possible to not feel particularly bad for 500 Startups themselves, while still feeling bad for the Canadian entrepreneurs who will have fewer options available to them.
- mtl_usr 9y ago
  > the situation in America right now There is no "Situation" right now. > I know a number of founders that had decided not to do the "move to California" strategy. Maybe because they couldn't. Most immigrant founders I met had their eyes on the US and settled for Canada after getting denied access to the US. Ever since the US election, Canada has been so over-compensating. Suddenly is on this moral pedestal and is finally "relevant" in tech. Look in a few weeks as Canada gets the new NAFTA deal from Washington and realizes that their opinion on it doesn't matter as Canada's economy simply can't exist without the US.
  - am1988 9y ago
    > There is no "Situation" right now. As an immigrant, yes there damn well is.
    - mtl_usr 9y ago
      Other than a few headlines in the news has it really been that bad ? Bad enough to change a whole business plan ?
      - am1988 9y ago
        One of the big problems is actually that nobody knows. Yeah, guys getting shot was disturbing to my Indian friend. I'm more concerned when a story pops up saying that the "immigration reform" might reduce green cards by half. I'm more concerned that I might go home for a visit and then get told no when I ask to come back. I'm also sick to death of the anti-immigrant BS (and no, it's not just about people here illegally. It's anti-immigrant in general).
        mtl_usr 9y ago
        > I'm more concerned that I might go home for a visit and then get told no when I ask to come back Getting into a foreign country is a privilege, not a right.
        zck 9y ago
        If you think that outcome is likely to happen, you might make decisions not to put yourself in that situation. Uncertainty around US immigration and borders would be a very understandable reason to not start a startup in the US. Why start it here when you might be legally prevented from running it next year?
  - morogop 9y ago
    > There is no "Situation" right now. No matter what your political beliefs, it's obviously dishonest to claim there's not a "situation" in the US.
elmar 9y ago
the really bad part, some Canadian minority founders will have to search for seed funding elsewhere.
- Mikeb85 9y ago
  There's plenty of government grants for minority-founded businesses, especially if they're recent immigrants.
  - elmar 9y ago
    grants are very diferent to seed stage financing and normally preced it.
  - biggerbistro 9y ago
    Why don't they just give this to everyone? Canadian government really loves to favor the new Canadians over the old ones. I don't think it should matter...
    - Cuuugi 9y ago
      Socialist countries are like cell phone companies, the new customer has all the advantages. Not just in grants either.
      - frandroid 9y ago
        I wish Canada was a socialist country...
    - frandroid 9y ago
      The government doesn't "favour new Canadians over old ones." That's crap. The government offers funding to new immigrants because they lack many of the social networks that people who were raised and educated here possess. Also, it's a pretty good investment, as immigrants have a stronger entrepreneurial bone than the average Canadian, due to self-selecting as go-getters (i.e. emigrating).
jacquesm 9y ago
It's nice to see that they have a better than industry average score of supporting women co-founders but now you really have to wonder if that's tainted or not. McClure did himself and the companies they invested in no favors.
systems 9y ago
ohh, the company/startup is called "500 Startups", for a while there i thought canada is falling apart .. and a count of 500 startups were shutting down
- Mikeb85 9y ago
  As if we have 500 startups...

66 points by janober 9y ago

Really too bad. Especially with the situation in America right now I know a number of founders that had decided not to do the "move to California" strategy.

jussij 9y ago
From the article: Last month, a number of women came forward to the New York Times, alleging misconduct by McClure and others in the venture community. That to me sounds like not really too bad but instead about f'n time.
- untog 9y ago
  It's possible to not feel particularly bad for 500 Startups themselves, while still feeling bad for the Canadian entrepreneurs who will have fewer options available to them.
mtl_usr 9y ago
> the situation in America right now There is no "Situation" right now. > I know a number of founders that had decided not to do the "move to California" strategy. Maybe because they couldn't. Most immigrant founders I met had their eyes on the US and settled for Canada after getting denied access to the US. Ever since the US election, Canada has been so over-compensating. Suddenly is on this moral pedestal and is finally "relevant" in tech. Look in a few weeks as Canada gets the new NAFTA deal from Washington and realizes that their opinion on it doesn't matter as Canada's economy simply can't exist without the US.
- am1988 9y ago
  > There is no "Situation" right now. As an immigrant, yes there damn well is.
  - mtl_usr 9y ago
    Other than a few headlines in the news has it really been that bad ? Bad enough to change a whole business plan ?
    - am1988 9y ago
      One of the big problems is actually that nobody knows. Yeah, guys getting shot was disturbing to my Indian friend. I'm more concerned when a story pops up saying that the "immigration reform" might reduce green cards by half. I'm more concerned that I might go home for a visit and then get told no when I ask to come back. I'm also sick to death of the anti-immigrant BS (and no, it's not just about people here illegally. It's anti-immigrant in general).
      - mtl_usr 9y ago
        > I'm more concerned that I might go home for a visit and then get told no when I ask to come back Getting into a foreign country is a privilege, not a right.
        zck 9y ago
        If you think that outcome is likely to happen, you might make decisions not to put yourself in that situation. Uncertainty around US immigration and borders would be a very understandable reason to not start a startup in the US. Why start it here when you might be legally prevented from running it next year?
- morogop 9y ago
  > There is no "Situation" right now. No matter what your political beliefs, it's obviously dishonest to claim there's not a "situation" in the US.

elmar 9y ago

the really bad part, some Canadian minority founders will have to search for seed funding elsewhere.

Mikeb85 9y ago
There's plenty of government grants for minority-founded businesses, especially if they're recent immigrants.
- elmar 9y ago
  grants are very diferent to seed stage financing and normally preced it.
- biggerbistro 9y ago
  Why don't they just give this to everyone? Canadian government really loves to favor the new Canadians over the old ones. I don't think it should matter...
  - Cuuugi 9y ago
    Socialist countries are like cell phone companies, the new customer has all the advantages. Not just in grants either.
    - frandroid 9y ago
      I wish Canada was a socialist country...
  - frandroid 9y ago
    The government doesn't "favour new Canadians over old ones." That's crap. The government offers funding to new immigrants because they lack many of the social networks that people who were raised and educated here possess. Also, it's a pretty good investment, as immigrants have a stronger entrepreneurial bone than the average Canadian, due to self-selecting as go-getters (i.e. emigrating).

jacquesm 9y ago

It's nice to see that they have a better than industry average score of supporting women co-founders but now you really have to wonder if that's tainted or not. McClure did himself and the companies they invested in no favors.

systems 9y ago

ohh, the company/startup is called "500 Startups", for a while there i thought canada is falling apart .. and a count of 500 startups were shutting down

Mikeb85 9y ago
As if we have 500 startups...