Canadian Founders Need to Get Out of Canada
Before moving back to Canada in 2020, I spent 5 years immersed in emerging startup ecosystems around the world. From Japan to Oman, Scotland to Egypt, I had the privilege of collaborating with founders, investors and other supporters of dozens of up-and-coming tech hubs.
Launching the first ever tech accelerator in Muscat, Oman
Beyond access to capital, the most impactful thing I saw move the needle in every one of these communities was access to knowledge, networks and best practices from more advanced ecosystems.
Silicon Valley founders have long come to terms with the idea that if you ask 10 different people for advice, you’ll get 10 contrasting opinions. Not so much in emerging ecosystems. In fact, the experience for many founders in smaller tech hubs is the exact opposite: ask 10 people for advice and you’ll get the same opinion 10 times. Sometimes that advice will be good and sometimes it won’t – but without any diversity of perspective, you simply can’t tell.
For founders, investors and supporters of emerging ecosystems — and, yes, Canada is still very much an emerging ecosystem — getting access to diverse perspectives from outside of your “bubble” is one of the most powerful things you can do. At the recent CDL Super Session, Rhiannon Davies, Founding and Managing Partner of Halifax-based Sandpiper Ventures, eloquently summed this up:
We know that diversity of thought is important and that cross-fertilization of ideas breeds innovation.
Thinking outside of the box is easier when not everyone comes from the same box.
Thinking outside of the box?
I’ve previously written about why “getting out of Canada” is important for investors, so now I’ll take the founder’s viewpoint.
Why Does It Matter?
When you’re first getting started as a founder, supporters in your local ecosystem mean everything. They help you get off the ground, can provide you with advice, anecdotes and direction, not to mention a shoulder to cry on should things go sideways (and they will). But their experience and advice can also be limiting, as it’s frequently through the lens of a very local experience.
If you never went away for college, then your opinions on schools in other cities are just that: opinions. Same thing in business. Unfortunately, far too many people pass off personal opinions as fact (with their conviction generally increasing with age and personal success). In tech, this often means loud declarations of “advice” based in large part on Twitter and TechCrunch.
Founders, particularly first-timers, rarely question the perspectives that come from older and more experienced founders, investors and others in their ecosystem. Even well-meaning advice (which, to be clear, the vast majority is), it can lead founders down the wrong path if they don't take into account the local context from which it stems.
Canadian founders, in particular, seem prone to this.
Here’s the thing: it’s actually not that hard to get outside perspectives. You just have to know where to look.
A Tale of Two Conferences
A few years ago, I spoke at RiseUp Summit, one of the leading early-stage startup conferences in the Middle East (think Montreal Startupfest but in Cairo).
It was really, really hot that day…
After walking off stage, my good friend and host, Sharif El-Badawi, suggested we head to the nearby food trucks to grab lunch (yes, even Egyptian conferences have food trucks). But he warned me: it would take us about an hour to get there. I was utterly confused because I could see the food trucks from where I was standing — they couldn’t have been more than 200 ft. from the stage. Sharif must have seen my perplexed look, because he chuckled and said, “You’ll see.”
A moment later, we stepped off of the stage and were immediately swarmed by dozens of onlookers from the crowd. I prepared myself to be pitched on mass by founders hoping for an investment from a Silicon Valley VC. But that wasn’t what they wanted.
Patiently, politely — but insistently — the founders one-by-one asked for my advice.
“We’re a food delivery business. For the first year, we were growing 10% MoM, but lately it’s stalled. What should we look at?”
“We’re trying to decide whether we should expand into other countries in the MENA region or if we should start looking at Europe. What would you do?”
“We’re finding it really hard to raise pre-seed funding from local investors. Can you give us advice on where we should look or what we could do differently?”
And so on.
True to Sharif’s prediction, we spent nearly an hour standing there answering questions. The founders were all profusely thankful for our time (and many made sure to track us down to ask follow-up questions during the event).
To these founders, each speaker was a resource that could potentially help them take their business further. And every single one took advantage of the opportunity.
The main stage audience at RiseUp Summit
By contrast, last week I spent three days in Toronto for Collision, the massive startup conference which this year boasted more than 35,000 attendees (including over 1,500 startups). Despite walking around with a very large, very loud “Investor” badge around my neck, only two founders approached me the entire time — both to pitch me for funding.
At this point, a bunch of Canadians will smugly respond by pointing out how great it is that we don’t interrupt people in public (inevitably followed by some anecdote involving a big Hollywood star who got to eat dinner at Cafe X without being harassed). That’s not what I’m talking about here. By all means, let Bobby Superstar enjoy his triple shot decaf oat milk latte in peace.
What I’m talking about is your business. And when it comes to your business, the best founders take advantage of every opportunity presented to them.
Get Out of Canada without Leaving Canada
Startup conferences are just one example of ways that you can get outside perspectives on your business. The internet is even better.
In a world of social networks and Zoom, you don’t actually have to leave Canada to “get out of Canada.” Heck, you don’t even have to leave your house. Today, the barrier to reaching out to people around the world, getting global perspectives and accessing global networks is almost zero.
Here are some ways that you can virtually “get out of Canada”:
Reach out on LinkedIn to founders of similar companies in other cities and swap experiences
Follow investors and advisors you look up to on Twitter, interact with their posts and slide into their DMs
Ask for introductions to investors you’d like to raise from in a year but, instead of pitching, ask for 15 minutes of their time to get feedback on your business and benchmarks for your next fundraise
Build your own audience by posting about your experiences and interact with your followers (you’ll be surprised how many people they resonate with)
If you’re a technical founder, contributing to open source projects and getting to know other contributors is a great way to build a global network
If you’re in Web3, join a relevant DAO and get to know other members
If you’re part of a global accelerator, like Creative Destruction Lab or Techstars, reach out (or ask for introductions) to mentors and founders in other cities
Ask your investors if there’s anyone they can introduce you to in other cities that could provide a new perspective on your business
The goal here is to get out of your local feedback bubble, physically or virtually. As founders, you should strive to seek out opinions, advice and benchmarks from other ecosystems. If you’re in Atlantic Canada, reach out to folks in Vancouver. If you’re in Vancouver, reach out to folks in San Francisco. And if you’re in Toronto…
…nevermind, we all know that Toronto is the center of the universe (j/k! 🤣)