Benjamin Yoksovitz, blogger, entrepreneur, and active member of the “web2.0″ entrepreneurs in Montreal, has written a series of posts on entrepreneurships on his blog. He wishes universities develop more entrepreneurs.
If we sum up what’s going on in Montreal recently:
- TechnoMontreal launched
- Barcamps and democamps were a success
- Montreal is established as a wiki city
- new startups are launching, such as akoha, standoutjobs, fonome, while a dozen has already launched, such as tungle, ilovetoplay, inpowr
- and web studios like growwwing or code genome are embracing agile development and innovative frameworks, to support new web applications
- the coworking space is opening soon, and I am sure it will spurr a new wave of innovation. And I think it will also support would-be entrepreneurs to make the jump.
- montrealstartup has opened, which opens great opportunities for entrepreneurs
As you can see, there is no lack of initiatives or “infastructure” to support entrepreneurs. You may notice though that Montreal’s university network is left out from all the initiatives I mentionned in the list. So is Ben right about the lack of focus in entrepreneurship in universities?
I don’t think so. I know that the main universities in Montreal have many programs supporting entrepreneurship. Université de Montreal has Centre d’entrepreneurship. McGill has the Dobson Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. UQAM has the Centre d’entrepreneuriat ESG/UQAM. And in all of those institutions, you can attend freely an entrepreneurship course where you will learn how to write a business plan or make a marketing study, among other things. The Centre d’entrepreneurship for HEC Montréal and Polytechnique has (free) offices for entrepreneur students, counselling, funding, and mini-conferences which focus on topics like sales, marketing or execution. The team supporting the center is very professional with a good track of successful companies.
I think now all the core elements are right there. But to make Montreal a great innovative city, where great companies get built and thrive, we might need more communication between all those core elements. We need coordination so that an entrepreneur or a company knows exactly where to find the right ressource. We need a better flow of information so that entrepreneur know what’s possible and what door to knock at. We need to directly invite students from the entrepreneurship centers to attend the next barcamp.
And I am now inviting the people behind yulstart, Montreal Tech League and TechnoMontreal to tell what they think about entrepreneurship and montreal.
Comments
Ben Yoskovitz May 22, 2007
Heri – Good job of putting the issue out there for others.
I also think there’s a frustration amongst companies in terms of finding “entrepreneurial-minded” people. So it’s not just about getting university students to create companies, it’s also about encouraging them to work in startup environments.
And I agree, communication is definitely a key issue.
Evan Prodromou May 22, 2007
@Ben: but people who are “entrepreneurial-minded” don’t end up working as employees at some other company. They become entrepreneurs!
Heri May 23, 2007
@evan thats right. unless they absolutely have 0 experience and 0 skills yet and want to learn as much as possible before starting their own project
Ben Yoskovitz May 23, 2007
I think people who are entrepreneurial can start out working for a startup. As Heri points out – they may not have the experience, or they may lack a bit of confidence.
I’m looking for people who are interested in the startup world, read Paul Graham, WANT to run companies some day. Maybe they’re looking for experience or don’t have a “big idea” yet…
Lyne May 23, 2007
Entrepreneurship is a tough one. I agree with Heri that our universities are doing the job – biz schools are up there, and even other schools like engineering are teaching business skills to our future gen of entrepreneurs. But to me, the problem is elsewhere. We have proved again and again can we are great innovators. The challenge is getting from a great idea to structuring a company to deliver on this idea. Once the student has left school, he or she is left to him or herself. Anxiety starts – “Do I have the right product mix? How can I deliver the pilots that my banker wants before financing me so I can hire a marketing director who will be able to help me find the quality pilot clients that I need to impress my banker? How do I get access to VCs and angels, and what will I say to convince them? Any body out there to help me??? Now???”
To me, this is the problem – individuality. “Not my problem”. When Les Ailes de la Mode faced challenges, something quite unusual for us happened – other biz persons came to help out. Just because – they wanted to help. But our province is made of small, tiny companies, without a big name like Les Ailes. It seems to me that we need mentoring more than entrepreneurship.
Notice that I have turned the table around – there are gifted persons and they can get trained. But, collectively, we must assist this talent so that it can emerge. Is the problem that we do not have enough good entrepreneurs, or that we do not help them enough become great managers of successful worldwide companies once they start?
I believe that we all have a collective obligation to ensure that our entrepreneurs become the best they can be. Universities play a role, but during a brief encounter in the life of an entrepreneur. We all have a role to play as well, and we at TechnoMontreal will be working on that with others as well.
Lyne
Heri May 23, 2007
@ben i’ve met a lot of students who want to start their own business – and i am sure it s just a communication problem.
when I was at university, a guy from a startup came and made a presentation about his company, in order to hire some “bright” guys. a lot of students came. I am not sure if he found what he was looking for, but i think you could definetely do the same.
Eric_TechnoMTL May 24, 2007
Heri, thanks for the comments and opening up the floor on an important question. There are exciting things being created here in Montreal and, to keep the ball rolling, to make sure that current and future entrepreneurs can talk to the right people and get at the resources they need, more visibility is needed for what’s already out there.
At TechnoMontreal, we’re trying to do our small part in providing a central point of reference for entrepreneurship resources (and other resources that can help people in Montreal’s IT industry). It’s clear that it’s a work in progress but through the Resource Centre on our website, there is info on business needs for entrepreneurs.
Of course, we’re open to suggestions. How can we make ourselves relevant to the tech entrepreneur community in Montreal? What information could be useful? How can we play a role in making Montreal, in your words, ‘a great innovative city’?
Heri May 25, 2007
@lyne and @eric
thanks for passing by, it s very much appreciated
I also think it’s important to collaborate and exchange in Montreal.currently, I am watching the yulstart wiki and I think it can be a central place for entrepreneurs.
I will write a more detailed followup about this post ad the comments later
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