In Canada right now I'd have to say the hottest area is Montreal, with Vancouver and Toronto on a second tier. There's more momentum and innovation going on in

In Canada right now I'd have to say the hottest area is Montreal, with Vancouver and Toronto on a second tier. There's more momentum and innovation going on in Montreal, and some interesting early-stage funds have opened up there. Toronto has an internet community, but not really a startup community. And Vancouver has a bunch of highlights (Flickr comes to mind), but is really stagnating right now IMO (I live there currently). In Canada, the money and attention disproportionately follows the local tech celebrities, and it's hard to get either if you're starting out on your own. And if it's hard to get investment, it's hard to get your ideas off the ground. The question of whether to relocate is one that I've thought about quite a bit recently. I think to get a foot in the door, you have to meet the right people first. And it's really hard to meet those people when you're not in a tech-hub. Once you're a success, you can extrapolate that success in your hometown or where-ever with more certainty. Canadian VCs fawn over local people who have a well-known name in the Valley. I know that for a fact - more than a few startups in town are created by people who are purely riding notoriety from Web 1.0. If you don't have the notoriety, they'll always be suspicious of you.