4 ms·

Is it politically motivated or does it have to do with Canadian tech not requiring investment because of its stability?

by adfm 9mo ago

Johnny_Bonk 9mo ago
I would bet it's politically motivated, YC strikes me as money at all costs, and very dismissive of the techno feudalism they help support
- deleted 9mo ago
  [deleted]
buckle8017 9mo ago
Shopify is basically the only really successful Canadian start-up. It's very hard to run a very small business here.
- steve_adams_86 9mo ago
  It's actually remarkable how difficult it's made. My only experience is here in BC. In a couple of years I've learned that it's practically punitive, and you have to want to do it really badly. The risk to reward ration is abysmal. I only continue because it's more of a passion project than an economically viable, sensible project. It could become one eventually, but my god, I'd hate to be doing this without a full time job to depend on.
  - wahnfrieden 9mo ago
    Can you give more details? I'm simply a sole proprietorship in Canada so not sure what I'm getting myself into.
    - StayTrue 9mo ago
      Don’t worry too much. I’ve incorporated in AB and BC. Neither is difficult to setup or maintain. My regulatory burden amounts to about one weekend of effort per year including corporate tax filings. That’s a baseline. Harder if you employ a team (not just subcontractors) or in regulated industries where you might have environmental compliance or similar.
      - steve_adams_86 9mo ago
        This is a much better summary than mine. It really is fine if you don't venture into places where various types of compliance come into the picture.
    - steve_adams_86 9mo ago
      I think some things could make your work far easier than mine, but in my case there are a lot of hoops to jump through. I initially wanted to bootstrap myself in my garage, but discovered over time that this is essentially illegal and I'm required to operate out of a business address. This is also virtually forced on me because there are a variety of compounds I can't order without a registered business and accompanying business address, which is manually verified. Fine, I totally get regulations around hazardous chemicals, though in my case it seems excessive. But, if I were to summarize the things that have been most frustrating: - Rents in industrial spaces are absurd in my area, and I suspect they are for most of Canada in any HCOL area. If you can't wing it out of your garage, your burn rate just exploded - Getting permits has been exorbitantly slow and complex - WorkSafeBC cooperation and inspections are a major time sink (gets better after the first stretch) - Getting certficates to export plants is—in my opinion—unnecessarily complex and slow, such that I don't think I'll even bother at this rate - Inter-provincial regulations and standards can be hard as hell to nail down. Asking random people on forums can yield better results than extensive google or LLM querying - Keeping track of things like write offs and deductions can span years for single costs. I understand why, but I don't like it - Admin and oversight often feels like half the job. I need to be on top of so many things that aren't 'the work', and it takes a lot away from focusing on making a better product - Shipping things is expensive as hell, and I anticipate this problem will worsen over time. Not a big deal if you don't ship anything - Depending on the type of business you've registered, the admin overhead at different times of the year can be significant It probably sounds like I don't understand what regulations are for and I hate red tape, but that's not the case at all. I think small businesses are disproportionately slammed by some of the requirements they create, though. I also wonder if there are blanket policies which cause some people to be pressed much harder than necessary. It makes you wonder if any of it is worth it at all. Again though, if you just go around repairing things or you provide software services, your life will be orders of magnitude simpler. I used to have a sole proprietorship here in BC providing software consulting services, and it was fine. I had one tax hiccup in something like 10 years, and it wasn't a big deal. I rarely had to think about it. I do wonder if this friction could be part of why Canada arguably has a lack of interest and innovation when it comes to producing material goods. It's genuinely a pain in the ass to be allowed to do it by the books, and to continue operating accordingly. Caveat: I could be lazy and stupid
- TMWNN 9mo ago
  >Shopify is basically the only really successful Canadian start-up. I've heard that Shopify is by itself 10% of all Canadian tech jobs paying >$100K.
- cowpig 9mo ago
  > It's very hard to run a very small business here. What do you find makes it hard to run a small business in Canada?
  - JimmaDaRustla 9mo ago
    They don't know, they're just projecting.
- PacificSpecific 9mo ago
  Isn't slack and Flickr Canadian?
- JimmaDaRustla 9mo ago
  What an ignorant thing to say. Clio? Wealthsimple? 1Password? Hootsuite? Lightspeed? Ecobee? SkipTheDishes? Those are just off the top of my head. And what's this about running a small business? I run one, no issues here. Couple employees, file my taxes...nothing special about running a business.
alephnerd 9mo ago
I can't speak for YC, but legal overhead is an operational pain. It's safe to assume YC will continue to fund Canadian founders, but they'll now require them to incorporate in Delaware, Singapore, or the Cayman Islands - none of which is significantly difficult for a founder. You could literally make a US Corp via Firstbase in a couple of minutes [0] [0] - https://www.firstbase.io/partnership/y-combinator https://www.firstbase.io/partnership/y-combinator
- Onavo 9mo ago
  Is it even possible to get a stripe account as a Cayman entity?

Is it politically motivated or does it have to do with Canadian tech not requiring investment because of its stability?

by adfm 9mo ago

Is it politically motivated or does it have to do with Canadian tech not requiring investment because of its stability?

I would bet it's politically motivated, YC strikes me as money at all costs, and very dismissive of the techno feudalism they help support

deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]

buckle8017 9mo ago

Shopify is basically the only really successful Canadian start-up. It's very hard to run a very small business here.

steve_adams_86 9mo ago
It's actually remarkable how difficult it's made. My only experience is here in BC. In a couple of years I've learned that it's practically punitive, and you have to want to do it really badly. The risk to reward ration is abysmal. I only continue because it's more of a passion project than an economically viable, sensible project. It could become one eventually, but my god, I'd hate to be doing this without a full time job to depend on.
- wahnfrieden 9mo ago
  Can you give more details? I'm simply a sole proprietorship in Canada so not sure what I'm getting myself into.
  - StayTrue 9mo ago
    Don’t worry too much. I’ve incorporated in AB and BC. Neither is difficult to setup or maintain. My regulatory burden amounts to about one weekend of effort per year including corporate tax filings. That’s a baseline. Harder if you employ a team (not just subcontractors) or in regulated industries where you might have environmental compliance or similar.
    - steve_adams_86 9mo ago
      This is a much better summary than mine. It really is fine if you don't venture into places where various types of compliance come into the picture.
  - steve_adams_86 9mo ago
    I think some things could make your work far easier than mine, but in my case there are a lot of hoops to jump through. I initially wanted to bootstrap myself in my garage, but discovered over time that this is essentially illegal and I'm required to operate out of a business address. This is also virtually forced on me because there are a variety of compounds I can't order without a registered business and accompanying business address, which is manually verified. Fine, I totally get regulations around hazardous chemicals, though in my case it seems excessive. But, if I were to summarize the things that have been most frustrating: - Rents in industrial spaces are absurd in my area, and I suspect they are for most of Canada in any HCOL area. If you can't wing it out of your garage, your burn rate just exploded - Getting permits has been exorbitantly slow and complex - WorkSafeBC cooperation and inspections are a major time sink (gets better after the first stretch) - Getting certficates to export plants is—in my opinion—unnecessarily complex and slow, such that I don't think I'll even bother at this rate - Inter-provincial regulations and standards can be hard as hell to nail down. Asking random people on forums can yield better results than extensive google or LLM querying - Keeping track of things like write offs and deductions can span years for single costs. I understand why, but I don't like it - Admin and oversight often feels like half the job. I need to be on top of so many things that aren't 'the work', and it takes a lot away from focusing on making a better product - Shipping things is expensive as hell, and I anticipate this problem will worsen over time. Not a big deal if you don't ship anything - Depending on the type of business you've registered, the admin overhead at different times of the year can be significant It probably sounds like I don't understand what regulations are for and I hate red tape, but that's not the case at all. I think small businesses are disproportionately slammed by some of the requirements they create, though. I also wonder if there are blanket policies which cause some people to be pressed much harder than necessary. It makes you wonder if any of it is worth it at all. Again though, if you just go around repairing things or you provide software services, your life will be orders of magnitude simpler. I used to have a sole proprietorship here in BC providing software consulting services, and it was fine. I had one tax hiccup in something like 10 years, and it wasn't a big deal. I rarely had to think about it. I do wonder if this friction could be part of why Canada arguably has a lack of interest and innovation when it comes to producing material goods. It's genuinely a pain in the ass to be allowed to do it by the books, and to continue operating accordingly. Caveat: I could be lazy and stupid
TMWNN 9mo ago
>Shopify is basically the only really successful Canadian start-up. I've heard that Shopify is by itself 10% of all Canadian tech jobs paying >$100K.
cowpig 9mo ago
> It's very hard to run a very small business here. What do you find makes it hard to run a small business in Canada?
- JimmaDaRustla 9mo ago
  They don't know, they're just projecting.
PacificSpecific 9mo ago
Isn't slack and Flickr Canadian?
JimmaDaRustla 9mo ago
What an ignorant thing to say. Clio? Wealthsimple? 1Password? Hootsuite? Lightspeed? Ecobee? SkipTheDishes? Those are just off the top of my head. And what's this about running a small business? I run one, no issues here. Couple employees, file my taxes...nothing special about running a business.

alephnerd 9mo ago

I can't speak for YC, but legal overhead is an operational pain. It's safe to assume YC will continue to fund Canadian founders, but they'll now require them to incorporate in Delaware, Singapore, or the Cayman Islands - none of which is significantly difficult for a founder. You could literally make a US Corp via Firstbase in a couple of minutes [0] [0] - https://www.firstbase.io/partnership/y-combinator https://www.firstbase.io/partnership/y-combinator

Onavo 9mo ago
Is it even possible to get a stripe account as a Cayman entity?