Alistair Croll

The @BetaKit townhall was solid. It was great to see a lot of "old" faces, people I hadn't connected with in too long (my fault). More interesting: the new faces. I met 2 @NEXT_Canada founders that I had only spoken to virtually, both as ambitious as any 2 people I've met. Communities need rallying cries. Instigating it over the capital gains tax stuff is silly imo, although I appreciate that taxing innovation isn't great. Regardless of what inspired ppl to get together, I'm glad it happened. And kudos to @tron @skanwar @aratisharma and team for organizing. Great to see @tobi share his perspective, @aliasaria, @1vnzh and others. But then I was scrolling X today and it frustrated me. I'm all for the "rah rah" spirit that an event like this fosters. And I see the grassroots community building in Toronto which is awesome. But don't get caught in the hype w/o appreciating the need for actual hard conversations. Yesterday's townhall was not that. Take the topic of funding. Some folks on X will say, "Starting companies in Canada is tough, there's no funding." Then others pile in and say, "Nah, builders gonna build." That last statement is so naive and absurd. The lack of pre-seed/very early stage funding is not the ONLY reason people leave Canada, but it's 100% a contributing factor. I also understand the push back against the fundraising culture and the obsession with it--at the same time every BIG company in Canada raised capital at some point (even if not super early). But then we heard a panelist talk about getting fired over and over from internships. She's unable to afford a place to live. She's building a company, but also needs to eat. "Builders gonna build" or "Build a great product and you win" etc. are simplified, naive arguments. Cute laptop sticker, bro. (Although I do believe in the need for craftsmanship and building great products!) "Just bootstrap, bro. You don't need that lame VC bank." I'm all for bootstrapping. I'm also all for building smaller, profitable businesses. But that won't lead to more Shopifys. And I know @tobi cobbled funding together (family) and sold snowboards to make it, but he also raised tons of money. You can't use 1 example as a playbook for everyone else. There are too few early stage investors in Canada writing that 1st check. It's not just about the money, it's about telling a founder, "I believe in you." (when no one else will). That boost of confidence shouldn't be undervalued. When @rayluk, @acroll, Ian Rae and I started Year One Labs (2010-2011), we provided $50k tranched (if you can believe it-who takes that deal now with the obsession over valuation and being in the "inner circle" of hot entrepreneurs?) But that also got 5 companies created, and helped numerous founders take the leap. We had 1 success out of 5 (1 startup still going, but we exited our position). But we also helped a bunch of founders that went on to do bigger/better things. @Doooov as an example. @lennysan as another. The lack of great Canadian startups (in any real volume) is a multi-factor issue. It's not just about funding, but shitting on people who say there's a lack of funding is stupid. There is. And it does slow innovation down in Canada. Raising capital in the US is easier, b/c there's a higher volume of risk-taking investors at the earliest stages. I'm not saying we all have to agree. Canadians are too nice. We don't necessarily provide the clear feedback required to help others. But pretending that capital isn't an issue is stupid. To win you need a complete / robust ecosystem, which means every part of the system has to be strong -- you need great, young talent coming out of schools who believe that starting a company is possible. You need mentors paying it forward to help the next generation. You need pre-seed/1st check capital. You need programming (yes, accelerators, etc. can be valuable learning platforms). You need customers to buy stuff. You need acquirers. Etc. Don't single out one part of the system and say "doesn't matter." Don't blame one part either. Don't pretend that running a few events and rallying people to hack a couple times per year solves every problem (although after the townhall I want to run hackathons at the @HighlineBeta space, and I swear I want to revive Year One Labs!) I've been in the tech space since 1996. I've started a few companies. Failed miserably a few times. And thankfully made some good choices too. I've learned that there's absolutely no formula for success. There's no definitive playbook. Everyone's circumstance (financial, mental health, emotional, etc.) is different. Be constructive with founders but don't shit on what they're doing or how they're doing it b/c you think there's a cooler, smarter, better way of doing it. You don't know, even if you were / are successful. We 100% need more founders in Canada. Rally 'em, give them the resources to make it happen, and ignore the hype nonsense (from the US and frankly, from the local community--which can quickly overwhelm). In that regard I agree with "builders gonna build" because I'd much rather a founder focus on their own business than the swirling shitstorm of "rah rah" enthusiasm mixed with anxiety, debate and nail biting that is the Canadian startup ecosystem. I prefer the "you do you" mentality, where each founder has to figure out what makes sense for them (but at the same time making sure there's a strengthening ecosystem for all types of founders).