Canadian Founders Need to Go to SF. Now.
Last week, Panache Ventures hosted four early-stage California VCs in Vancouver for a panel on startups, fundraising, and the opportunities and challenges for companies based outside of Silicon Valley.
Five VCs walk into a comedy club…
The investors in our first California Dreamin’ event were specifically chosen for two reasons:
All of them are based in California
None of them are originally from California
As such, they each came with a particular life experience that was free of the “born and raised” Kool-aid that many VCs who grew up in the Bay Area embody. Despite coming from different places with different backgrounds, each of them had the same message:
The world’s best founders go to Silicon Valley.
To be clear, the VC panelists weren’t necessarily advocating for founders to move their companies to San Francisco. Rather, they were noting that the best, most ambitious founders in the world regularly travel there to learn, hire, benchmark and access capital. That’s never been more apparent than today.
Right now, San Francisco is on fire (and for once, it’s not the the kind in a forest that’s caused by an inept public utility).
Sept. 9, 2020 is a day San Franciscans won’t soon forget
The level of activity, excitement and creativity happening right now in the Bay Area’s tech community is unlike anything I’ve seen in nearly two decades. There are literally dozens of events happening each night, many of them related to AI.
There are more AI events on a random Tuesday night in SF then in a full week across all of Canada
Under normal circumstances, I’m the first person to tell founders not to waste time at conferences, meetups, and social events that aren’t directly related to their business. But what’s happening in the Bay Area right now is different. It’s special.
What’s happening right now represents a convergence of excitement and creativity around a new technological wave (AI) and a long-awaited resurgence of a struggling yet world-leading city. I’ve been to SF four times in the past two months and the momentum is vicerally building week-over-week.
I believe that this is a unique moment in time for both San Francisco and tech in general. And it’s one that likely won’t last long.
A big part of the reason is that we’re so early in the current AI cycle. Alex Kolicich of 8VC recently wrote:
I genuinely believe that the impact of this new generation of models will be revolutionary over the next decade. It will transform how every industry operates….I believe the majority of the capital invested today will be lost, similar to what happened in the .com era. However, I expect there will be a select group of companies that endure and build the future.
I generally agree with this perspective. We’re very much in a period of experimentation built upon a rapidly evolving technological base (a fact made all the more clear with the recent OpenAI drama). A lot of the technology and companies being built today won’t survive. But what will endure are the communities being created in and around all of the activity taking place in Silicon Valley. And that’s not some wishy-washy nonsense. It’s happened before.
So if you’re a Canadian founder, get on a plane and go to the Bay Area. Go for a week. Go for a month. Go for whatever period of time you can. Land on the ground and go to as many events and meetups as possible. You don’t need to know anyone beforehand to make it happen. You just need to have the willingness to dive in.
They might not have reliable WiFi, but at least they get you there
Want help getting started? The SF IRL newsletter lists many of the in-person events going on in-and-around San Francisco.
One of our Associates, Sarah Willson, joined me in SF a few weeks ago. Armed only with this newsletter (and a lot of hustle), she went to 7 events in two days and made dozens of meaningful connections with founders and investors.
I can’t promise you’ll learn anything specific. I won’t promise that it will help you get to product-market fit or secure your next investor. But I can absolutely guarantee that if you spend time in San Francisco right now, you’ll come away with enthusiasm injected into your veins, more connections with founders and investors in Silicon Valley than you’ve likely ever had, and an understanding of the insane velocity of iteration that’s happening right now in the Bay Area.
And if your goal is to win the world, that’s exactly what you need.
