For context, $500K is a big investment in Canada. Startups here get very little funding. Smart Silicon Valley investors could make bank by investing in Canadian startups for pennies on the dollar.
That could be a start, but this is the wrong mentality.
Investors shouldn't back Canadian startups because they're cheap. That's almost a distinctly Canadian view of investment -- get things cheap, undervalued, or with a low risk profile. (Sorry, Canada, somebody in Canadian VC is going to roll their eyes at me here but it's pretty accurate.)
They should back Canadian or Canadian-led startups because talent is undervalued, and with the right mentorship and a good talent aggregator (an ambitious company that can compete on the world stage), the ROI on product development is going to be through the roof. Don't think about it as getting talent on the cheap, think about it as: if you pay the talent what they're worth, they're going to do 10x the job for you.
Note: there's been a huge uptick in Canadian tech $ recently. Both Microsoft and Uber investing $750M combined in Toronto, announced just this month. People are noticing.
... but that's just my $0.02 :).
Edit: First thing you learn when you talk to sophisticated investors / founders in SV is nobody gives a shit about cheap. Bad investors chase "cheap." What's most important is total magnitude of the opportunity space: who cares what we pay today, how big could this be? Because if the answer is "there's a $3T opportunity here over the next decade" then it doesn't matter if you invest $1M or $10M from a $1B fund -- in fact you'd probably rather invest more to ensure the company you're funding stays capitalized.
You're not going to get top SV VCs dumping $ into Canada because they can make a few bucks on cheap deals. You'll get top SV VCs dumping $ into Canada when the collective Canadian psychology changes from, "we're cheap, invest in Canada" to "we're going to be the most technically sophisticated nation on the planet, and a primary home of the next five major $100B technology companies over the next 30 years."
Canada will get there. Already leading in AI. But not by being "cheap."
I meant cheaper while still offering the same degree of talent. Not just cheaper. But I think you raise very good points about framing the discussion in terms of talent rather than cost.
There are many kinds of investors, while SV more interested in unicorns not pennies.
> Chinese venture capital firms and technology giants are increasingly taking note of Canada’s technology scene, with artificial intelligence as well as clean technology and life sciences some of the areas attracting interest.
> As well as the research capabilities, the lower valuations of Canadian technology companies compared to their US counterparts make them attractive to Chinese investors
Investors shouldn't back Canadian startups because they're cheap. That's almost a distinctly Canadian view of investment -- get things cheap, undervalued, or with a low risk profile. (Sorry, Canada, somebody in Canadian VC is going to roll their eyes at me here but it's pretty accurate.)
They should back Canadian or Canadian-led startups because talent is undervalued, and with the right mentorship and a good talent aggregator (an ambitious company that can compete on the world stage), the ROI on product development is going to be through the roof. Don't think about it as getting talent on the cheap, think about it as: if you pay the talent what they're worth, they're going to do 10x the job for you.
Note: there's been a huge uptick in Canadian tech $ recently. Both Microsoft and Uber investing $750M combined in Toronto, announced just this month. People are noticing.
... but that's just my $0.02 :).
Edit: First thing you learn when you talk to sophisticated investors / founders in SV is nobody gives a shit about cheap. Bad investors chase "cheap." What's most important is total magnitude of the opportunity space: who cares what we pay today, how big could this be? Because if the answer is "there's a $3T opportunity here over the next decade" then it doesn't matter if you invest $1M or $10M from a $1B fund -- in fact you'd probably rather invest more to ensure the company you're funding stays capitalized.
You're not going to get top SV VCs dumping $ into Canada because they can make a few bucks on cheap deals. You'll get top SV VCs dumping $ into Canada when the collective Canadian psychology changes from, "we're cheap, invest in Canada" to "we're going to be the most technically sophisticated nation on the planet, and a primary home of the next five major $100B technology companies over the next 30 years."
Canada will get there. Already leading in AI. But not by being "cheap."