Is it due to spring? Is it due to the new budgets? Or is it because we’ve got to fight recession? There has been definetely a series of interesting posts lately:
All of those posts, especially the last 3, address the topic of technology entrepreneurs and the means needed to accelerate it in Canada. Chris Arsenault’s post focuses on “thinking big” and the upcoming opportunities, Rick Segal over at JLA and the Blackberry Partners fund wants a pool of VCs and angels to setup a special fund for proven entrepreneurs, David Crow lists all known entrepreneurs programs and ways on how to emulate it in Canada, and Jacqui Murphy, from Tech Capital Partners, wants VCs and successful entrepreneurs to ease connections.
As far as I recall, this is the first time that so many VCs write about this topic and bounce back the subject of accelerating tech entrepreneurship. From time to time, there were posts (like: A plan for digital Creativity in Quebec), by me, Austin Hill, Sylvain Carle, Montreal Startup, Jevon MacDonald or others mentioning the problem sporadically, and we’ve had then events, or blogs, or initiatives setup.
If there’s a post that I believe hits the right spot, it’s David Crow’s write-up. As Rick Segal points, TechStars or the YCombinator Startup School are proven programs to support and jumpstart a pool of emerging companies, with many of those companies now funded, profitable, with a handful already acquired. They’ve also put Boulder, CO and Boston on the map, so to speak, with the media, tech analysts, and investors flocking in during demo days and for the end of the program.
A few caveats though: you need people like Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, David Cohen, invested full-time in these kinds of programs & incubators. Time investment is an order of magnitude higher than you’d need to organize a 1-day barcamp or something like StartupEmpire; so it’s just not a matter of lending a hand, you’ve got to have evangelists who’d commit their time to it. Perhaps David Crow is ready to go in, with a few others he has talked to.
Also, all of those programs (at least the most successful ones like TechStars and YCombinator) have dedicated “startup centers” where all the participating emerging companies get together, and get “energized” from this environment. I’ve written about it quickly in the comments section here and I believe a startup/tech center is a key for the success of this kind of program. We’ve done pretty much what could be done in Montreal (camps, meetups, blitzweekend, blogs, dinners, MSU etc.) and I believe the “weak” point of Montreal would be this. Perhaps the guys from Bolidea (or Station C) could weigh in on how they could get their place more accessible, but as far as I know, that’s a resource that would jumpstart students or new entrepreneurs to launch tech projets & startups.
I also think it’s not so easy as Jacqui Murphy writes. It’s good to have AA mentors, but how accessible are they? If a students wants to have a coffee with say Albert Lai or Rick Segal, would that be possible? Would they be ready to go to local events, such as new developer meetups, a startup drinks or an initiative like McGillConnect? I’m in touch with entrepreneurs in Montréal every day, and there’s a huge cliff separating what’s Jacqui Murphy describes and for instance, what most people know on how to reach investors, which is practically zero. Only a handful know how to pitch to a VC or an angel investor, and when and what they’d need to do for this pitch.
And don’t get me wrong,this post is no way criticizing all the above posts; I just wanted to highlight a few problems, which fortunately, have known & proven solutions, and I know for each of them, there are people ready to do it in Montreal. And if there’s a startup program in Toronto, I don’t see why we wouldn’t do it too.
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Comments
mtltech April 15, 2009
[mtw] Local Startup Incubators:
Is it due to spring? Is it due to the new budgets? Or is it because weR.. http://tinyurl.com/d72fa6
Montreal Tech Watch April 15, 2009
Local Startup Incubators http://tinyurl.com/d72fa6
Karim Yaghmour April 15, 2009
Chris Arsenault April 15, 2009
Continued Entrepreneurial support @davidcrow @jacquimurphy & @jlabright new postby @mtw Local Startup Incubators http://tinyurl.com/d72fa6
heri April 15, 2009
rt @chrisarsenault Continued Entrepreneurial support @davidcrow @jacquimurphy & @jlabright new postby @mtw http://tinyurl.com/d72fa6
Jacqui Murphy April 15, 2009
Ian Graham April 15, 2009
We are actively looking for a micro-angel (low end 5 digit figure) to fund/mentor one of the team camp offspring and prototype the model. Any volunteers?
Ian
Martin-Luc Archambault April 16, 2009
I agree with you that short meetups are not enough to give rise to new companies and that having a common place where a few startups can work from is very energizing and motivating as people tend to help and challenge each other.
On top of sponsoring and hosting some meetups, I am definitely open to making Bolidea more accessible to help turn more great ideas into live products.
Do you think that Montreal needs a program similar to TechStars or YCombinator?
Martin-Luc
Sylvain Carle April 16, 2009
Other topics proposed are:
* financing (the current situation)
* pooling tech talents and best practices (continuing a previous discussion about using Amazon EC2 that was started by MSU with participants from Praized, Control Yourself, Keen Kong, Defensio and a few others)
Heri, could I do a guest post here (on MTW) for that topic, pre startupcamp sessions?
A Frog in the Valley » Making Startup Camp more camp-like (with your help, of course) April 20, 2009
[...] As mentionned on Montreal Tech Watch, we are opening a more “camp-like” part of the event and are looking for a few suggestions for topics, it will start at 3PM [...]
Hubert April 21, 2009
Reading: “Montreal Tech Watch » Local Startup Incubators” (http://twitthis.com/7dljad)
Montreal Tech Watch » Rallying point for Montreal Entrepreneurs: StartupDrinks, Apr 29th April 22, 2009
[...] topic this time is how to bring Montréal to the next level. See this post on montrealtechwatch. Currently, VC funds such as iNovia, angel investors, incubators, [...]
Rick Segal April 27, 2009
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