- In this scenario, the company slowly accumulates B and C players who drag down the company's reputation: death by a thousand paper cuts. The company doesn't _die_ outright, but everyone just thinks, "Oh, not a Silicon Valley level company."

Interestingly, you just described what happened to RIM.

- There is a lot going on there that should make it more open to tech companies, but it has always been more of media than a tech town.

It's slowly changing now. Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and Microsoft all have their offices here.

It has been a little while since I last checked, but the Amazon and MSFT offices were more towards Richmond than Van proper, but still a good sign.

Though some of those offices were, from what I recall, a method to get around issues in dealing with US work visa issues for foreign talent...

Exactly! And it's this cycle of successes that's harder to duplicate everywhere else.

Thanks for sharing Patrick!

"A startup in Canada means going for profitability very quickly, and being doomed to a slow-growth strategy, as large chunks of cash are nowhere to be found." - This is dead on! That's for sharing!

Had Google been sold to Yahoo through licensing, they would not have become a multi-billion dollar company. That was my point.

Completely agreed! Thanks for sharing the insight.

I appreciate the appreciation. :)

If you think about the technology adoption lifecycle, you not only need a concentration of people, but more importantly a concentration of early adopters. So, from that perspective, you can see why a lot of B2C apps come out of Silicon Valley. People live and breath new things there. But that's just one aspect of what makes Silicon Valley unique.

When it comes to B2B, you don't really need a concentration of early adopters to make this work. You need to solve problems for businesses (doesn't really matter where they are). More importantly, you can see revenue right away if you ARE solving a real problem. I think that's why it's relatively easier to build a B2B startup outside of the valley.

Don't get me wrong. Vancouver is a much better city to live in. I love it here, and it's where I will eventually settle down.

My point is on the investors' side. Investors play a big role in the tech startup ecosystem.

When you have investors who don't get tech and who just want to get rich quickly, you run into serious problems on the road to build the next billion dollar company.

But the concentration is what counts here. After all, Silicon Valley is merely a region. You cannot compare it to the rest of the world.

So, my startup is actually ramen profitable at the moment. I spoke with some local investors. The deal was to owe 30% equity in exchange for 10 enterprise clients (around $100/month)! Guess what, these are investors coming out of mining industry... Unfortunately, they don't care about the company, they care about their piece of the pie.

It's a pity.

Why are you even talking to mining investors about your tech startup? I've never heard of a tech entrepreneur in Canada taking that angle before. Everyone else talks to tech focused investors. Have you tried that? Happy to help....

Actually, I was not even raising money. I just had coffee with one of them without knowing they were investors. I haven't talked to any investors other than that. Just been focusing on building the startup. I will take on your offer for later though. My email is jerry-at-contentdj-dot-com. What's a good way to reach you?