socialwrite: » I love my city, and so should you | StartupNorth
Ali A.
· 1 year ago
Good point, Jevon.
All that said, Guelph is still the best place to start a startup.
Margaret Howe
· 1 year ago
I loved this about open & connected communities. We are an itty bitty startup in Edmonton & just have begun making connections within Alberta.
We are learning that shared experience benefits everyone, whether it ranges from the simple emotional support of exchanging tips on common problems to all-out business partnerships. And we are hoping that down the road when we are ready for the next step in growing & going for financing, we'll have lots of mentors willing to give us advice.
Excellent blog!
Ian Graham
· 1 year ago
Jevon, I concur with the sentiment in your post. I love Ottawa, think it is a great city and intend to stay here because of the quality of life and opportunities.
Just a thought and perhaps something for the folks at StartupNorth and other city blogs to ponder. One of the greatest motivators I have found is that spirit of friendly competiton. Have seen it in action at a number of companies I have worked with and groups that I volunteer with.
One way to promote a sense of community and connectedness within and between Canadian Cities is to have a competiton "Whose the greatest start-up city in Canada." Again this is done in the spirit of friendly competition with perhaps some way of weighting the results so smaller cities like Ottawa and Halifax could compete against the heavy weights like Toronto and Montreal.
there was a facebook competition a while back to determine which city had the greatest NHL team fans. Results were pro-rated (hope that is the right word) based on the number of responses versus overall population of the city.
Stephane Daury
· 1 year ago
Amen!
Leila Boujnane
· 1 year ago
Well that's an awesome post. Amen. Was actually thinking about this after the conference at Mars on Wednesday. I have a draft post brewing but you beat me to this. I will still post, being an adopted Canadian and all, my perspective is a bit different and yet very close I will come back and comment after the weekend. Great post Jev.
Mark Kuznicki
· 1 year ago
Great post Jevon! This is absolutely critical - we will not ever BE Silicon Valley. We have to stop making Silicon Valley = success. We are BECOMING us, the question is how to make US more successful. In a knowledge economy, we need to respect the cultural and creative resources of our age - our people. It is for this reason we are sometimes frustrated at the lack of engagement with community demonstrated by our institutions. Keep up the good work at StartupNorth!
Rick Segal
· 1 year ago
Well said.
Boris Mann
· 1 year ago
Of course. It's all about cross pollination. So, um, when y'all going to come visit, finally?
@Ian Graham: I don't really think we need more competition between Canadian cities: we need to celebrate our diversity and our uniqueness. And we need to LEARN about that uniqueness and share it.
@Mark Kuznicki: "we are BECOMING us" -- yep, exactly.
Lastly...this is a message we need to be giving to everyone from conference organizers to municipal politicians: this is not a competition to beat down other cities, but instead an opportunity to work together.
jfedor
· 1 year ago
I'm in the same boat as Leila. Probably because of our shared panel experience. I too have a draft but you've done all the heavy lifting here. Well said especially the competition between cities point.
Melany Gallant
· 1 year ago
I completely agree we need to support our own communities. Whether it's through friendly competition between Canadian cities or some other means, we need more of a grassroots approach to this effort. DemoCamps and BarCamps are certainly one way but there needs to be more awareness about what Canadian startups are doing. Our Canadian startups need to be more vocal.
All Comments
All that said, Guelph is still the best place to start a startup.
We are learning that shared experience benefits everyone, whether it ranges from the simple emotional support of exchanging tips on common problems to all-out business partnerships. And we are hoping that down the road when we are ready for the next step in growing & going for financing, we'll have lots of mentors willing to give us advice.
Excellent blog!
Just a thought and perhaps something for the folks at StartupNorth and other city blogs to ponder. One of the greatest motivators I have found is that spirit of friendly competiton. Have seen it in action at a number of companies I have worked with and groups that I volunteer with.
One way to promote a sense of community and connectedness within and between Canadian Cities is to have a competiton "Whose the greatest start-up city in Canada." Again this is done in the spirit of friendly competition with perhaps some way of weighting the results so smaller cities like Ottawa and Halifax could compete against the heavy weights like Toronto and Montreal.
there was a facebook competition a while back to determine which city had the greatest NHL team fans. Results were pro-rated (hope that is the right word) based on the number of responses versus overall population of the city.
@Ian Graham: I don't really think we need more competition between Canadian cities: we need to celebrate our diversity and our uniqueness. And we need to LEARN about that uniqueness and share it.
@Mark Kuznicki: "we are BECOMING us" -- yep, exactly.
Lastly...this is a message we need to be giving to everyone from conference organizers to municipal politicians: this is not a competition to beat down other cities, but instead an opportunity to work together.