4 ms·

Not a single Canadian VC in the bunch. A pretty good illustration of what's wrong with Canada's VC industry... it doesn't exist! ;-)

by cal5k 16y ago

gawker 16y ago
The talent's here but most leave because of these non-existing VCs. Though we are getting better!
faramarz 16y ago
Jevon Macdonald recently wrote a piece discussing a Deloitte study that suggests Canadian VC's arn't quite the fan of their own countrymen when it comes to startup investments compared to other nations. http://www.startupnorth.ca/2010/10/28/what-do-canadas-vcs-really-think/ http://www.startupnorth.ca/2010/10/28/what-do-canadas-vcs-re...
- cal5k 16y ago
  Good think foreign investors are! I've seen quite a bit of interest recently actually from investors in the Middle East - a personal friend was searching for biotech funding for years and is days away from closing a major deal with a middle eastern fund (to start it in Canada). Couldn't get even a whiff from the stodgy Canadian VC industry.
xal 16y ago
The last Canadian VC I talked to accused me of being uninterested in growing my company after I didn't want to show up for some event with their LPs... Being insulted by a VC is almost a rite of passage up here.
- karamdeep 16y ago
  That's horrible if true (and I have no reason to doubt that). However, methinks you've been talking to the wrong Canadian VCs...we're doing our best @iNovia to change those perceptions. I think the reality is VCs who act like jerks are going feel it in their pocketbooks when their deal flow and returns dry up. That being said, congrats on the round - great syndicate, great team and a great product. Between Well.ca, Shopify and Beyond the Rack, Canadian E-Commerce companies seem to be on the cusp of big things...exciting times indeed.
  - xal 16y ago
    That's great and I have indeed heard good things about iNovia. Granted I mostly dealt with Ottawa VCs who have all made their bank during the heyday of the tech bubble in telecommunication industry. We were speaking completely different languages and had completely different ideas about each others roles. Between iNovia, Real ventures and seeds such as Year One Labs things are looking to get much better here quickly. I'm excited.
    - karamdeep 16y ago
      i think part of the process is opening a dialogue with entrepreneurs such as yourself on what we can do to create the type of environment that is more conducive to the birth and growth of companies like shopify...i think that's been talked about for a long time - but the truth of the matter is that people have been afraid to really speak their mind in case they jeopardize future funding relationships. it's going to take a lot of hard work, but i can tell you that guys like my boss chris, mark over @ real, and ben @ yearone are working their asses off 24/7 to make that happen. i'd love to just sit down and pick your brain on what the last few years have been like for you, and what could've been done to make those a bit easier. let me know if you're interested.
  - cal5k 16y ago
    Karamdeep, I notice you're an Ivey grad - very cool, so am I. Next time you're in Toronto I'd love to chat - I write quite a bit on Canadian entrepreneurship. A notable example: http://www.myplanetdigital.com/digital_strategy/blog/why-canadian-tech-entrepreneurs-need-manwoman http://www.myplanetdigital.com/digital_strategy/blog/why-can...
    - karamdeep 16y ago
      enjoyed the article...i'll be back in town late next week, drop me a line: knijjar@inoviacapital.com
RBr 16y ago
I was at a Toronto event in November that revolved around this exact topic. http://www.aspectgraphics.com/ACCTO/A_TO_invite.html http://www.aspectgraphics.com/ACCTO/A_TO_invite.html Basically, it was a room full of startup folks, a couple of people with money talking and a few lawyers. It was more informative than it sounds. In short, the question being asked was "what's wrong with Canadian Startup Capital?" After the lectures and a lot of conversation about the topic with other Toronto based startup folks in addition to a few VC people, I boiled the problem down to these points: 1) We don't value our own work. To hit a product out of the park, we sort of assume (like the rest of North America) that we need to be in the valley. I don't think that this is unique of Canada though - I've talked to a lot of U.S. based startups outside of California that feel the same way. 2) Canadian investors have different investments. We like resources, land, oil, that sort of stuff. Investing in tech somehow seems un-natural to a lot of the folks with the Brewsters Millions type of money. 3) A lot of Canadian tech startups are founded in revenue. Shopify is a good example - they're making money. They need some money so they took funding, but they didn't start the company needing funding to survive. Talking to a large number of Canadian startups over the last few years, I think that the previous point is the biggest problem with the Canadian VC industry. We simply don't ask for the money early and often enough to constantly remind people outside of the tech industry how much money it usually costs to get to revenue. A lot of the products grown in Canada are not erroneous in the least - the strong majority of them have customers and revenue in proportion to the costs they incur. 4) Last, many Canadian tech companies aren't solving big enough problems. Similar to the point above, we're focused on revenue. VC is a game best played when the players are ALL swinging for the fences. A lot of the problems that our current products solve are focused on those that have a limited number of customers so that we can quickly build and sell them a solution. VC's want to fund solutions that will impact very large groups of people, if not all 6.8 billion of us. In the end, it's only a matter of time really. We'll have a few more Shopifies under our belt and then Film Industry won't be the only folks coming up North for a good deal :)

Not a single Canadian VC in the bunch. A pretty good illustration of what's wrong with Canada's VC industry... it doesn't exist! ;-)

by cal5k 16y ago

Not a single Canadian VC in the bunch. A pretty good illustration of what's wrong with Canada's VC industry... it doesn't exist! ;-)

gawker 16y ago

The talent's here but most leave because of these non-existing VCs. Though we are getting better!

faramarz 16y ago

Jevon Macdonald recently wrote a piece discussing a Deloitte study that suggests Canadian VC's arn't quite the fan of their own countrymen when it comes to startup investments compared to other nations. http://www.startupnorth.ca/2010/10/28/what-do-canadas-vcs-really-think/ http://www.startupnorth.ca/2010/10/28/what-do-canadas-vcs-re...

cal5k 16y ago
Good think foreign investors are! I've seen quite a bit of interest recently actually from investors in the Middle East - a personal friend was searching for biotech funding for years and is days away from closing a major deal with a middle eastern fund (to start it in Canada). Couldn't get even a whiff from the stodgy Canadian VC industry.

xal 16y ago

The last Canadian VC I talked to accused me of being uninterested in growing my company after I didn't want to show up for some event with their LPs... Being insulted by a VC is almost a rite of passage up here.

karamdeep 16y ago
That's horrible if true (and I have no reason to doubt that). However, methinks you've been talking to the wrong Canadian VCs...we're doing our best @iNovia to change those perceptions. I think the reality is VCs who act like jerks are going feel it in their pocketbooks when their deal flow and returns dry up. That being said, congrats on the round - great syndicate, great team and a great product. Between Well.ca, Shopify and Beyond the Rack, Canadian E-Commerce companies seem to be on the cusp of big things...exciting times indeed.
- xal 16y ago
  That's great and I have indeed heard good things about iNovia. Granted I mostly dealt with Ottawa VCs who have all made their bank during the heyday of the tech bubble in telecommunication industry. We were speaking completely different languages and had completely different ideas about each others roles. Between iNovia, Real ventures and seeds such as Year One Labs things are looking to get much better here quickly. I'm excited.
  - karamdeep 16y ago
    i think part of the process is opening a dialogue with entrepreneurs such as yourself on what we can do to create the type of environment that is more conducive to the birth and growth of companies like shopify...i think that's been talked about for a long time - but the truth of the matter is that people have been afraid to really speak their mind in case they jeopardize future funding relationships. it's going to take a lot of hard work, but i can tell you that guys like my boss chris, mark over @ real, and ben @ yearone are working their asses off 24/7 to make that happen. i'd love to just sit down and pick your brain on what the last few years have been like for you, and what could've been done to make those a bit easier. let me know if you're interested.
- cal5k 16y ago
  Karamdeep, I notice you're an Ivey grad - very cool, so am I. Next time you're in Toronto I'd love to chat - I write quite a bit on Canadian entrepreneurship. A notable example: http://www.myplanetdigital.com/digital_strategy/blog/why-canadian-tech-entrepreneurs-need-manwoman http://www.myplanetdigital.com/digital_strategy/blog/why-can...
  - karamdeep 16y ago
    enjoyed the article...i'll be back in town late next week, drop me a line: knijjar@inoviacapital.com

RBr 16y ago

I was at a Toronto event in November that revolved around this exact topic. http://www.aspectgraphics.com/ACCTO/A_TO_invite.html http://www.aspectgraphics.com/ACCTO/A_TO_invite.html Basically, it was a room full of startup folks, a couple of people with money talking and a few lawyers. It was more informative than it sounds. In short, the question being asked was "what's wrong with Canadian Startup Capital?" After the lectures and a lot of conversation about the topic with other Toronto based startup folks in addition to a few VC people, I boiled the problem down to these points: 1) We don't value our own work. To hit a product out of the park, we sort of assume (like the rest of North America) that we need to be in the valley. I don't think that this is unique of Canada though - I've talked to a lot of U.S. based startups outside of California that feel the same way. 2) Canadian investors have different investments. We like resources, land, oil, that sort of stuff. Investing in tech somehow seems un-natural to a lot of the folks with the Brewsters Millions type of money. 3) A lot of Canadian tech startups are founded in revenue. Shopify is a good example - they're making money. They need some money so they took funding, but they didn't start the company needing funding to survive. Talking to a large number of Canadian startups over the last few years, I think that the previous point is the biggest problem with the Canadian VC industry. We simply don't ask for the money early and often enough to constantly remind people outside of the tech industry how much money it usually costs to get to revenue. A lot of the products grown in Canada are not erroneous in the least - the strong majority of them have customers and revenue in proportion to the costs they incur. 4) Last, many Canadian tech companies aren't solving big enough problems. Similar to the point above, we're focused on revenue. VC is a game best played when the players are ALL swinging for the fences. A lot of the problems that our current products solve are focused on those that have a limited number of customers so that we can quickly build and sell them a solution. VC's want to fund solutions that will impact very large groups of people, if not all 6.8 billion of us. In the end, it's only a matter of time really. We'll have a few more Shopifies under our belt and then Film Industry won't be the only folks coming up North for a good deal :)