Ignoring Superficial Distractions, Canada's Startup Space Continues to Boom

With cross-country transportation limited at the turn of the twentieth century, Vancouver was isolated from Toronto and Montreal’s domestic film production communities. That should have broken Vancouver’s back. But in 1910, America’s Edison Manufacturing Company shot two films, The Cowpuncher’s Glove and The Ship’s Husband , there. Soon after, the burgeoning west coast city was dubbed “Hollywood North” to honour its role as a production centre for American feature films shot in beautiful B.C.

Decades later, Toronto would also vie for this title, and eventually, the title would change its meaning significantly. Hollywood North gradually came to label Canada’s own film industry—the Canadian version of Hollywood, not a cog in the machine of America’s. It proved that titles mean little, and that it was more about action and accomplishments than nametags and crowns. Unfortunately, this lesson would not carry over years later.

The wise now ignore trying to have a Canadian version of whatever is hot in America

In the south area of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California, there is a place that most people these days refer to as “Silicon Valley.” Coined by entrepreneur Ralph Vaerst, the name Silicon Valley first appeared in weekly trade newspaper Electronic News in 1971 when Don Hoefler used the phrase in a series titled “Silicon Valley in the USA.” The name was nothing clever, referring to the high concentration of companies using silicon-based semiconductors, but it stuck like glue and came to define the region as a hotbed for technology startups. Its old nickname, the Valley of Heart’s Delight, faded into history—again proving how fickle cognomens could be.

Silicon Valley became as firmly ingrained a sobriquet in San Francisco as Hollywood was in Los Angeles (besides the fact it wasn’t a legal name). And, just as Canadian cities had attempted to do with Hollywood North, Canada’s innovation hubs hungrily vied for the idea of being crowned “Silicon Valley North.” A war, of sorts, raged between cities: Vancouver’s large pool of gaming talent and close proximity to the real Valley made it a contender, but so did Toronto’s larger population and connection to the country’s financial epicentre. On top of that, Montreal, Ottawa, and Waterloo all boasted their own valid points of contention, among other up-and-coming areas. So which city could the title possibly go to?

The answer was, and remains, none. Canada has nothing comparable to Silicon Valley and may never. Does that sound depressing to you? It isn’t. It simply means that our talent—and boy, do we have plenty of it—is spread across our magnificent country. It means we have a whole bunch of mini Valleys, each one with their own startup ecosystems, each with brilliant entrepreneurs creating amazing things.

The wise now ignore the superficial world of trying to have a Canadian version of whatever is hot in America. Instead, they focus on the fantastic startups our country is churning out in each and every region. Why shine the shoes of American entrepreneurs and idolize their startups when we could instead compete with them on the world stage?

Late last year, Techvibes announced the first annual Canadian Startup Awards. After seeing the likes of U.S. technology blogs Mashable and TechCrunch largely ignore Northern talent in their annual awards, we decided to take it upon ourselves to recognize and celebrate Canada’s best. It was a smash hit, and it highlighted just how established our startup scene is.

For example, there is Wattpad, a unique platform for creating, sharing, and reading stories. This Toronto-born startup won Best Overall Canadian Startup of 2011. Its toughest competition? HootSuite, a social media dashboard from Vancouver, and Beyond The Rack, a private online shopping club based in Montreal. How can there be a Silicon Valley North when outstanding startups are being founded in every corner of the country?

New Brunswick, for one, has never been in the running to be Silicon Valley North. Yet Radian6, founded in 2006, was acquired by Salesforce last year for a whopping $326 million—which earned the startup the accolade of Most Significant Acquisition of 2011. And its three cofounders, Marcel Lebrun, Chris Newton, and Chris Ramsey, jointly won Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year.

Silicon Valley isn’t about the superficial prestige of a name; it’s about spirited entrepreneurs

And yet this still only scratches the surface. Other winners and finalists included Vidyard from Waterloo, Payfirma from Vancouver, and GoInstant from Halifax—all first-rate Canadian startups, all across the country. In any city, you can find dozens of bright entrepreneurs launching promising companies. In Calgary, there’s Kudos, Mobovivo, MiniGroup, and Userful, just to name a few. In Edmonton, there’s Empire Avenue, GreyBox, Jobber, and Yardstick. In Vancouver, there’s… well, you get the idea.

And while the U.S. may often fail to acknowledge our booming startup space, they certainly know we exist. After all, its American giants that are constantly scooping out our startups. Just last year, Google, Zynga, and Salesforce—all based in Silicon Valley—each acquired multiple Canadian tech companies, including Waterloo’s PostRank and Toronto-born Rypple. And they’re not alone, either: Twitter, also from the Valley, acquired Toronto’s BackType in July last year, and this year it picked up Vancouver’s Summify. In this sense, Canada is already an integral component of Silicon Valley.

The nickname “Silicon Valley North” is hollow and meaningless. A city with that title will not draw better entrepreneurs, lure more investment money, or build better startups. Silicon Valley isn’t about the superficial prestige of a name; it’s about spirited entrepreneurs propelling our world forward.

I say, so what if Canada isn’t doing this in a single region? We’re still doing it. And we’re doing it well.