As the Founders & Funders are wrapping up their dinner…
January 21, 2008 by Tris Hussey
Filed under Business
Tonight, I was sure it was later in the week, is the Founders & Funders dinner in TO. Jevon posted these questions on StartupNorth as discussion points for the evening:
Do Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists get enough recognition for the deals they do in Canada? Do Canadian universities inspire and support entrepreneurship? Could a “Startup Co-Op” program help? What is the minimum amount of funding a startup should be able to deliver a product with? Is the Dragon’s Den the most visible face of Canadian Entrepreneurship right now? What is wrong with that? Source: Founders and Funders Toronto Kick Off Questions | StartupNorth
Coincidentally, actually I doubt it’s a coincidence, Will Pate wrote a guest piece on StartupNorth about our national need to get our butts in gear and start kicking some serious startup ass. With this kind of environment:
If you have any illusions that our major media and technology conglomerates are going to take care of this job for us, please give up your fantasy now. Dinosaurs don’t know how to innovate. Our mobile data rates are worse than third world countries and they’re spending money to slow down your internet connection. That isn’t innovation, that’s strangling the golden goose before it can lay eggs. Startups are starving while they get fat on high prices for mediocre services.
You can’t be too surprised at how things are. It’s hard to get startup funding. It’s hard to get something going. At Qumana we had a great idea, I think, and a real opportunity to do some cool things but…
The biggest change has to be in our attitude. We need to become bold, we need to embrace risk, we need to aim for the stars. We need to take big chances, learn the lessons from failures, and have some great successes. The only thing holding us back is the size of our own dreams, and our determination to see them fulfilled. Source: Canada Needs to Realize The Technology Business is a Race | StartupNorth
We couldn’t get the folks with the money to embrace our own risk taking and boldness. Is this a chicken and egg question? Is it the lack of good ideas? Are Canadians too timid? Or is it that it’s too hard to get the money and convince folks to take the risk?
Of course there isn’t an easy answer to this (Occham’s Razor be damned).
Can we light a fire like Will is hoping? Can we really make a Silicon Valley North? We certainly have the smarts. We certainly have great ideas. What’s missing?
