I think us entrepreneurs have to take some of the blame for the Canadian situation. So often I’ve heard people saying “if I could afford to quit my job I’d start x, y, or z”. In the US the mentality is more like quit one’s job, rack up credit card debt, beg, borrow and steal the rest. That is to say, believe in the idea so much that you’re willing to risk every bit of financial security to make it happen.

The other myth that gets perpetuated in Canada in that US VCs invest at the idea stage. In most cases this simply isn’t true; VCs like to see traction before they jump in, which means it’s friends, family and formal or informal networks of angels who bridge the gap. The US companies getting venture funding have typically been through a brutal bootstrapping phase.

Also, the stories we hear about Seattle, or the Valley for that matter, are almost always the highlights, the companies that did get funded, the angels who bought in, etc. We don’t hear about the thousands of other start-ups toiling in obscurity. And nor do we hear about the years the funded companies spent honing their product before it actually got funded.