Starting a startup in Canada comes with numerous challenges; it’s anything but rainbows and sunshine. Canadian founders work incredibly hard to raise funds, as the culture of risk-taking is not as prevalent here. The majority of founders end up securing their rounds in the US before returning to Canada, even when seeking basic funds to kickstart their businesses, such as ‘pre-seed’ funding.
Canada possesses incredible untapped potential to become a global tech hub, but when it comes to fundraising and supporting founders, we need to do a better job. While the ecosystem is growing, much remains to be done to provide Canadian entrepreneurs with adequate financial backing. In this post, we aim to bring you both humor and insights into the challenges of starting a startup in Canada:
1. Navigating the Canadian Startup Ecosystem is Confusing
Does Canada have more startup accelerators than venture capital? It may seems so. Navigating the Canadian startup ecosystem in Canada is chaotic. There are too many programs for entrepreneurs and not all are equally created. This is why sites as CoFoundersBeta can greatly support Canadian founders navigating the system. You can discover the right program that can help your startup greatly scale.
2. When a Canadian founder goes to USA.
This feeling is all too common Canadian founders as venture capital here is close to dead-end. The US is willing to take more risks in the early days of a startup. While Canada’s startup ecosystem is growing, raising funds remains the biggest problem for startups in Canada. The risk taking component is just not there.
3. Raising Funds in USA vs Canada
This was posted on Linkedin and one founder mentioned “Your company is most likely a Series-A by the time you’re a fit for most Canadian angel and pre-seed investors.” This feeling is all too common among Canadian founders as venture capital here is close to dead-end. The US is willing to take more risks in the early days of a startup. The risk taking component is just not there culturally.
4. Scaling globally is a problem
Scaling globally is a big problem for most startups. Canadians founders are too humble and are busy building. When it comes to marketing and sales, our counter part in US is significantly more proactive and aggressive. There’s no shortage of talent, but Canadian founders need to shift their focus as much on marketing and sales.
5. Fundraising is an issue
This one went viral on Twitter. There are too many conference and not enough actual funding.
6. Raising Funds in USA
Every Canadian founder should know as it seems raising funds in USA is the way to go.
7. Raising a Seed Round in Canada
Fundraising landscape is not favourable in Canada as we don’t like to take risks here.
8. Mission Impossible is Raising a Seed Round
It does feel like mission impossible, but it can be done.
Do you have a compelling story about starting a startup in Canada? We love to hear from you!
