It's Time for Canada to Play Offense

One of the first posts I wrote after launching this blog was a call-to-action for Canadian VCs to spend more time outside of Canada. I deeply believe that to succeed as an investor outside of Silicon Valley, it’s essential to spend time in the Bay Area. If you’re not regularly exposed to what’s happening at ground zero of the global tech ecosystem, you’ll always be at a disadvantage.

You’ll always be playing defense.

It’s a viewpoint shared by everyone at Panache Ventures. As one of only a handful of Canadian VCs founded by former entrepreneurs (we have more exits than we have partners), we deeply understand how important connections to Silicon Valley are when it comes to building global companies. Even in a post-Covid world.

That’s why this week, the full Panache team from across Canada descended on San Francisco.

Because with our new $100M Pre-Seed fund, we’re going on offense.

A Matter of Perspective

One of the biggest differences I’ve observed between Silicon Valley VCs and investors in other countries is the amount of time and effort investors spend building relationships with other firms. Part of this is simply the numbers: there aren’t that many VCs in Canada, so it doesn’t take all that much time to get to know them all. But part of this is also mentality: for many Canadian investors, relationship-building stops at the border.

The average Canadian VC knows at best a handful of US investors. In almost all cases, those relationships are the result of happenstance. They met at a conference, on a cap table, or because an American VC once flew up for CDL (seriously).

The result?

When Canadian founders ask their investors for introductions to Silicon Valley VCs, they either get blank stares or a random collection of unrelated partners that their investor happened to have met over the years.

We don’t think that’s good enough.

Prioritizing Outbound

Every VC firm has an outbound program for identifying promising founders. We’re building one to identify promising co-investors.

We believe that developing relationships with as many investors as possible is one of the biggest ways that we can help Canadian founders. It’s something that every top Silicon Valley VC does. It’s time Canadian investors follow suit.

That’s why I’m constantly traveling across the US.

That’s why the entire Panache team was in San Francisco this week to host an event for Silicon Valley VCs and meet investors one-on-one.

We’re putting in the work to develop relationships with Pre-Seed and Seed investors across North America so that we can rally the best co-investors for the rounds we lead.

We’re expanding our network of Series A and B investors so that when our founders are fundraising, we can open as many doors as possible.

We’re championing Canadian startups across the spectrum (not just the ones we invested in) and encouraging our US friends to look north of the border, to help attract more risk-taking capital into our ecosystem.

Everyone loves gifts (in this case, small batch, limited edition maple syrup bitters)

We’re Just Getting Started

This is just the beginning.

In the coming months, we’re going to roll out even more activities across Canada and the US.

You’ll see us in every major city in North America building relationships that support not only Panache portfolio companies, but startups across Canada.

And we hope that our fellow investors will follow suit.

Because if we all go on offense — if we all look up and out more often — the entire Canadian ecosystem will benefit.

Let’s go Canada!

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