Ask HN: Why is Canada startup unfriendly?

Re:Ask HN: Why is Canada startup unfriendly? by tonyarkles on Sunday February 13, 2011 @03:29PM (#2213791)

I'm in Saskatchewan. Around here, it seems that there is a fair bit of startup investment but it's not quite the same as a lot of the programs in the States. Looking at things like TechStars or YCombinator startups, many of these startups are Great Ideas. Investment around here isn't nearly as focused on Great Ideas, but rather much more focused on Great Technical Secret Sauce. This shifts the types of startups that get funded; around here, there seems to be quite a bit of Biotech, Renewable Energy, some "hard" Computer Science-type problems, etc.

Would Twitter have been funded here? Not likely. Freshbooks? Not likely. RIM? Possibly.

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Re:Ask HN: Why is Canada startup unfriendly? by tonyarkles on Sunday February 13, 2011 @03:34PM (#2213813)

That's not to say that there isn't startup activity though. In Saskatoon, there's definitely a push to try to make it easier for freshly-started companies. Some examples:

* A new "affordable small office space": http://www.facebook.com/pages/Centro-Office-Lounge/170719902...

* Coworking space with advisors (lawyers, accountants, business consultants, etc) for low cost: http://www.saskatoonideas.com/

* Lots of startups have offices at http://www.innovationplace.com/index-main.html - This is more for companies that have already established an income stream, but is a good common place for companies to grow.

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Re:Ask HN: Why is Canada startup unfriendly? by robee on Sunday February 13, 2011 @10:52PM (#2215171)

I am originally from Regina, SK and it seems like there is a lot of CS research in the Gaming space, but the startup community there is almost non existent. The majority of the programmer talent goes to the government IT shops and the consulting firms that help the government IT shops.

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