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1. Be Loud
Investors are looking to invest it’s what they do. Too often, they don’t hear from the Canadian firms that need capital.So make some noise. Investors are listening.2. Be Distinct
The ability to stand out from the crowd is one of the most important qualities a business can have. You don’t have to do everything well – focus on the key attributes that will get investors’ attention.3. Be Concise
When putting together a pitch for financing, build a concise presentation. Venture capitalists see a lot of presentations, and many look the same. Put together a few amazing slides, cut away the fluff, and make every word count.4. Be Geographically Agnostic
Your audience isn’t Canada or the U.S. Look for the best investors – wherever they might be in the world. The great news is, the internet is geographically agnostic, and most investors are too.5. Be Specific
Identify investors who are going to give you more than capital.Look for someone who specializes in the software you’re using, or understands your niche.6. Be Ready to Answer Questions
The VC firms you pitch are going to ask lots of questions: specific questions, big questions, product questions. While you may know your business inside and out, be ready to articulate the problem you’re solving.7. Be a Big Picture Thinker
Have a plan for the next 3, 5 and 10 years. VCs will want to know that you have a long-term vision for your company.8. Be Ready to Network
Even if you’re not ready to scale up just yet, be aware of your need for investors down the road. Build a network of VCs, fellow entrepreneurs, senior executives, industry leaders, top engineers, and so on. Always have your business hat on.
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Here are some key qualities to look for in potential board members:
- Experience
Identify seasoned professionals who can add value, insight, credibility and experience to guide your company. - A willingness to push you
Look for individuals who are going to challenge your ideas and strategies to help you get to the next level. - Specialized knowledge
Tap individuals with unique skills to create well-rounded thought leadership around the boardroom table. - An understanding of the big picture
Your board members aren’t there to get in the weeds. You want them to have a broad vision, and to be in tune with what’s happening out there in the world. - A network
The best directors know lots of people—contacts that are aware of pending changes to regulations, know talent outside your circle, or have the inside scoop on office space or suppliers. - An ability to raise your profileThere’s great value in board members who can open doors to public-speaking opportunities, introduce you to decision-makers, and promote your brand.
When hiring a director, there’s a lot to consider. This individual will be your partner, advocate, co-strategist and a key investor in your success.
Here are some key questions to ask when hiring a director:
- What else have you invested in?
Explore whether there are synergies that can be leveraged between their investments. - Can you introduce us to your network?
Remember, this individual’s rolodex is one of his or her most valuable contributions to your company. - Have you operated a startup before?
If you only look at the financials of a startup, they don’t always make sense. The market may not exist yet, the need may not be established, and everything is new. You need someone who has been there before, and has the ability to envision a new market.
When you’re running a business, relationships are key to your success. As you scale up and even look to go public, you’ll need a board that’s behind you every step of the way, and shares your vision for the company you’ve started. Select carefully, take your time, and hire outside help if you need a professional opinion throughout this important process.
He’s the CEO of IEX, a new stock exchange that is set apart from established players like the NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange by a speed bump.
At RBC, Katsuyama figured out that high-frequency traders were skimming billions off the market, using light-speed Internet connections to the big exchanges to outrace buyers and sellers and tilt the market in their own favour.
That’s why, at IEX, everyone trades at the same speed. Every order goes through a 38-mile coil of fibre-optic cable, which adds enough of a delay—though still measured in millionths of a second—to limit the worst aspects of computerized front-running while still allowing orders to flow.
Katsuyama’s mission to uncover the worst of conflicted exchange practices and high-frequency trading was detailed in Michael Lewis’s 2014 bestseller, Flash Boys. Since then, IEX has fought for and won approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to operate as a full exchange.
Katsuyama spoke at two RBC events this month about the challenges of disrupting an unfair market, how outsiders and insiders can work for change, dealing with regulators, and why education is his most powerful sales pitch. Here are some of the highlights.
The Incumbent as Obstacle
Stock exchanges are private, for-profit companies, and it’s in their interests to make money by offering preferential access to high-frequency traders and anyone else who wants to pay for it.
Some traders use this access to get an advantage, sniffing out big orders and racing to buy up the available stocks before the original order can be completed. This all happens in microseconds, far beyond the ability of any humans to react. But for computers, such a task is trivial.
Katsuyama, who worked as a summer intern at RBC and graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University, recognized there was a problem while working on the RBC trading desk in New York in the mid-2000s.
If he tried to buy a big chunk of stock, the order would only be partially fulfilled before the price moved higher. After years of investigation, he realized high-frequency traders were using their high-speed technology to outrun his order and then try to sell the stocks back to him at a higher price. What’s more, not only were the exchanges unable to do anything about it, they were enabling the gaming —after all, those same high-frequency traders were paying millions to fulfill their need for speed.
Katsuyama worked with a small group at RBC to create THOR, an order-routing system that allowed buyers to stay ahead of the front-runners. He left the bank in 2012 to found IEX.
“We thought, ‘Why not start a stock exchange that doesn’t sell these advantages?'” he said.
Katsuyama left the bank in 2012 to pursue the idea, and IEX—and its speed bump—were born.
“For us, the speed bump was about saying let’s put as many people on a level playing field as possible,” he said.
The Insider as Disruptor
Disruption is usually seen as an external force, where outsiders bring in new ideas that can destabilize an established industry. Yet Katsuyama said an insider’s knowledge is key to the process.
Steve Jobs wasn’t new to consumer technology when he created the iPhone. One Netflix founder was a veteran software entrepreneur; the other had extensive experience in mail-order sales. Jeff Bezos worked on Internet businesses, including international financial transactions and online consumer services, before founding Amazon.com.
“You have to have experienced the problem that you’re trying to solve,” Katsuyama said. “That experience will guide you through times of turbulence and self-doubt.”
Katsuyama shies away from calling the market rigged. But he said it gives an unfair advantage to the high-frequency traders who front-run other investors.
“If you’re invested in a pension fund or mutual fund, there’s a multi-billion-dollar skim,” he said. “It’s a diffuse harm with a concentrated benefit.”
Only someone with an insider’s knowledge, he said, could have discovered the problem in the first place.
“Finance is going to be disrupted by people working in finance,” Katsuyama said.
The Regulator as Ally
When it comes to disruption, regulators can often be an incumbent’s best friend.
“Regulation makes it harder to disrupt,” Katsuyama said. “It actually benefits those who are being regulated.”
Nobody knows the complex regulatory structure of equities trading better than those who are being regulated, and they can use that as a competitive advantage to keep out new entrants stymied by the thicket of rules and requirements.
IEX began operating as an alternative trading system in 2014, and applied to the SEC to operate as an exchange soon after.
Katsuyama said the SEC received more comments on the IEX application than all the comments on all previous stock exchange applications in the history of the regulator.
The big exchanges fought hard against the application, with the head of the company that owns the NYSE calling IEX “un-American.” Members of the public also chimed in, supporting IEX and the idea of a level playing field.
One reason: Flash Boys had made Katsuyama a celebrity in the trading world. He said he participated in the book because he knew Lewis would do the story justice and bring the story of an unfair market to a much wider audience.
IEX received its certification in June 2016, and its first trading day was Sept. 2.
The Customer as Challenge
Katsuyama’s sales pitch for IEX isn’t much of a pitch. He tells CEOs how the market operates and how traders can front-run buyers. And after an hour-long meeting, he said, he’s often asked back.
Executives are often completely in the dark about the modern world of trading, he said, where always-on computers, dark pools and private exchanges have created a complex and interconnected market that is mostly invisible.
“It’s not a sales pitch, it’s about saying here’s what’s going on,” he said. “I meet corporate CEOs all the time who don’t know that 85 per cent of their stock doesn’t trade on the New York Stock Exchange.”
Front-running by high-frequency traders takes a tiny bit off a transaction. With billions of transactions on the market every day, those tiny bits add up to a huge sum—one that Katsuyama says is a tax on every listed company.
“People shouldn’t have to be experts in the stock market to have a belief that the stock market is fair, that it’s designed in their interests,” he said. “Our hope is to return that trust back to the market.”
The Business Plan as Principle
Restoring trust in the market is clearly more than a business proposal for Katsuyama. He said IEX has fielded buyout offers, but selling the company simply to cash out would violate his principles.
That’s not to say he’s not a capitalist, though.
“For us it’s more about the mission than it is anything, but we’re not going to shy away from the fact that we think there’s an opportunity here,” he said.
That was one of Katsuyama’s arguments to the SEC: that instead of regulatory action against predatory high-frequency trading, IEX represented a free-market solution to the problem.
Katsuyama noted that even before it opened the doors on its exchange, the company had already been in the black for more than a year.
Building a successful startup is a monumental task, to say nothing of challenging the basic assumptions of your industry and taking on powerful incumbents. Katsuyama said his belief in the principle of fair trading kept him going in the face of opposition.
“A lot of powerful people don’t like me,” he said. “When you’re faced with that kind of controversy, I just keep going back to ‘I know this problem exists. I faced it as a trader. And that gives me the resolve to keep battling.'”
For a room packed with (current and future) business owners, the advice and insight proffered was as valuable as it was authentic. Here are 10 tips that came out of Go North that every tech entrepreneur might want to take to heart.
1. It’s all about talent
Seriously. Hiring and keeping the best in talent is the single most important thing you can do for your company. And some words of wisdom: Hire for potential over experience, and if you’re not qualified to hire the very best for every role, get outside help.
2. Pick up senior talent
Having the best tech minds is one thing. But if you want to take your business to the next level, you need seasoned business talent that’s been there, done that. Add seniority to your team and find someone who has managed a product team, understands marketing, and has the vision and experience to scale your company.
3. Don’t sell out too early
Dragon’s Den star Michele Romanow told us that when you look at all of the companies that have been sold over the last year, and how much they have appreciated, Canadian companies rise to the top. That means our companies are the most undervalued in the world and our startups are getting wooed too quickly by big companies with big offers. Instead of getting tempted by the first juicy offer, recognize the value in your company and either hold out for more or hang on and keep building.
4. Leverage the community
Our tech community is collaborative, friendly, honest and chock full of people willing to share ideas, advice and knowledge.Use this to your advantage. Find mentors who are about a year ahead of you, since they’ve just been through the challenges you’re facing and have come out the other side.And if you’re thinking of selling? Ted Livingston of Kik and Harley Finkelstein of Shopify both said they would be willing to act as mentors for startups in the community, and discuss the process with you.
5. Don’t underestimate the value of the U.S.
While you might be thinking of steering clear of the U.S. right about now, keep in mind that they’re still likely your biggest customer (and if not, they’re your biggest opportunity). What’s more, the U.S. sets the tech agenda for the world – you need to make it there if you want to make it big.
6. Go public when you’re ready
Going public makes you think longer term about your business, and provides the capital structure you need to focus on building it. Just make sure you’re ready for it. To become a public company, you need to look like one and act like one, with buttoned-down policies and procedures, and a solid track record of performance.Need help with that? See #2.
7. Know you’re good enough
Confidence has always been one of the biggest issues for Canadians – and when it comes to our tech companies, the pattern continues.Sure, something could go wrong with your company, your IPO or your next launch. But that’s not what you should be fixating on.Focus instead on your strengths, your potential and your awesome product. A doubtful entrepreneur never wins.
8. Find the right investors
You may be at the stage where any investor seems like the right investor.Just keep in mind that you will likely be spending a great deal of time with your investors, so look for a firm that you can partner with – who shares your vision, fits your style, and can offer more than just funding. It’s also smart to seek out investors who may be lighter on capital but heavier on advice, energy and guidance. These are the people who tend to come through during clutch situations.
9. Look up once in a while
It’s easy to get so focused on perfecting your product that you spend all day every day with your head down.Once in a while, step outside your office and get ideas and feedback from the people and companies around you.Don’t lose sight of user experience.
10. Actively hire for diversity
Diversity of background, experience, gender and age brings diversity of thought, ideas and perspective. You want a mix of people around your table so that together, you can create breakthrough ideas and experiences. Keep in mind, if you’re looking in the same places or using the same hiring campaigns all the time, the same kind of people will come knocking. Expand your hiring horizons, actively look for people different from you, and see what great things unfold.
No wonder talent was one of the hottest topics at Go North, a brainstorming conference for entrepreneurs put on last month by Google and RBC in Toronto. There was a lot of talk about what Canada’s doing right—producing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) grads that are the envy of the world, for one—and what companies here need to do better. Here are some of the takeaways.
What we’re doing right
Our universities are producing top tech talent
- Canada has a highly educated talent pool, drawn from universities and institutions that produce some of the best technology graduates in the world.
- Our schools go beyond offering some of the strongest math programs around: they’re also teaching students how to apply it—in computer science, in real-world scenarios, and for the benefit of new technology companies.
What we need to (continue to) do to succeed
Empower to retain
- Engineers, by nature, thrive on learning. In order to retain top talent, it’s critical to empower them. Instead of saying “You need to build this,” an employer should be saying “Here’s the problem. Now solve it.”
- Employers also need to be mindful of overprescribing. Trust your employees with the challenges you’re giving them.
Leverage Canadians’ sense of loyalty
- Canadians have a sense of loyalty.Employees will stick with a company for years, rather than jumping from business to business, as is more common in Silicon Valley.
- What this means for entrepreneurs: employees who joined your firm when it was a startup will often ride the wave with you instead of running for the hills (or Valley).
Hire for potential over experience
- Talent is irreplaceable.You’ve got to find people who really have it. You can teach skills, and let them build experience with you.
- Other things to look for? Fit, personality, aptitude, interest, energy and passion.
- Look for people who love to solve problems—it doesn’t matter what kind. What matters: their enthusiasm for digging into a problem and their talent for finding a new solution.
Then, hire for experience
- When you’re ready to scale up your business, identify people who have experience in larger organizations.
- Find people who know how to take a company from a few dozen employees to a few hundred. Look for leaders who can manage product, finance, marketing and operations teams.
Diversify your employee base
- Don’t hire only people who are like you. Actively look for diversity of background, gender, experience and age.
- A diverse set of employees can foster a range of thought and perspective, lead to unique ideas, innovative solutions, and breakthrough experiences.
Where we need some work
Our talent pipeline needs to stay stocked
- While our post-secondary institutions are doing a bang-up job of producing exceptional talent, Canada could do more to develop early-stage tech skills.
- Other countries have integrated a coding curriculum into elementary programs—if Canada wants to compete, we need to introduce technology into the school system earlier, and more effectively.
Face the talent shortage head-on
- To build a globally competitive company, it’s critical to bring talent in from around the world. Canada makes up 2% of the global population.That means we can’t build companies with just Canadians.
- While a firm has to compete on salary, it’s also important to highlight the other benefits of living in Canada: affordable living, work-life balance, employer-employee loyalty, and an incredibly collaborative community that drives a culture of innovation.
Have efforts to improve gender diversity in the workplace stalled? Women are reaching the top ranks at Canadian companies in greater numbers than ever before. But men are still two to three times more likely to be in senior management positions, according to Catalyst, an organization focused on workplace inclusion. What gives?
We looked for some answers at Catalyst’s Canada Honours conference in Toronto in November, which featured four people who’ve championed women’s advancement in their own firms. They included Frank Vettese, CEO at Deloitte Canada; Carol Osler, Senior Vice-President of TD’s Financial Crimes and Fraud Management Group; Philip Grosch, a partner at PwC Canada; and Anna Tudela, VP of Diversity and Regulatory Affairs at Goldcorp. These executives made it clear that Corporate Canada, across a broad swath of industries, takes the issue of gender diversity seriously. But there’s lots more work to be done.
Here are some takeaways:
1. Recognizing Unconscious Bias Is Key
Even with policies in place to develop and promote women, they’re still under-represented, especially at the top. One problem: Unconscious bias is alive and well. At Deloitte, Vettese spearheaded the Canadian Women’s Initiative, or CanWin, to get women to see themselves as potential partners in the firm, and to help get them there. Then, when the numbers didn’t change significantly, Vettese decided to look at his own biases. “I realized I was bringing in people that looked a lot like me,” he said.
Bias took a more traditional form in Osler’s field of security. Male hiring managers looked for candidates who were tall or strong, or as she said, able to “bring him down.” Osler’s solution: take physicality out of the equation, and look for gender-neutral attributes like powers of observation.
Vettese raised another important point. Some people are biased against the idea of promoting diversity: seeing it as frivolous, or a diversion from a firm’s core business. How did Deloitte change that mindset? By baking diversity into its value proposition to clients, by making the business case that a diverse set of partners produce better ideas, and results.
2. Career advancement is not always a straight line up
Osler said she’s done well in security by taking every opportunity to learn, and by focusing on her skills. She also credited her success to another choice: not sitting still when she bumped up against her employer’s glass ceiling. After being passed over for a promotion she thought she deserved, Osler opted to leave and take a lower-paying position elsewhere. She eventually came back to the same firm, in a leading role.
Tudela sidestepped perceived barriers by taking a job at an exploration-focused mining firm for the varied experience it provided. She urged women in her field not to be afraid to take chances, like putting in a stint at a remote mining site. And if you aren’t getting promoted, don’t wait. “Sometimes, if you’re a woman, you need to be moving to find out where you want to go,” she said. That’s what took her from South America to the U.S. to an executive position at one of Canada’s largest mining companies.
3. Quota, no. Metrics, yes
Some European countries, tired of the slow pace of change when it comes to achieving gender parity in the workplace, have set corporate quotas for women in executive and board ranks. Norway has gone that route, as has Germany. So far, the results have been mixed. And the four panelists had no interest in importing the experiment. Quotas imply “a lack of merit,” Osler said.
But without hard targets, how do you bring about change? Grosch said “putting a lens” on your practices is key — meaning a firm has to take a hard look at its hiring, and employ numbers to measure success. Vettese suggested boosting engagement and flattening out management structures as a way to go.
4. Tone from the top. Action from the bottom, and everywhere else
Our panelists agreed that buy-in from a firm’s leadership is key to ensuring more women get promoted. When leaders take gender diversity seriously as a business issue, their employees are more likely to as well. But is change happening fast enough? Maybe not, especially for millennials. This generation is accelerating change by voting with their feet when they don’t see it happening fast enough, Grosch said. Regardless of gender, professionals under the age of 35 see the opportunity to strike out on their own, or to join a start-up, as a reasonable alternative to corporate frustration. For large employers, it’s not just a loss of employees, but a loss of diversity. The panelists advised companies to set an expectation for their staff, and then give everyone, regardless of level, the chance to make things happen.
When you think of Alberta’s economy, your mind probably turns to oil, beef — and advanced technology? Big time. Put together clean energy, info-tech, biotech and nanotech, and the province’s innovation sector generated $16 billion last year, second only to conventional energy.
To explore Alberta’s growing innovation economy, we took our monthly #RBCDisruptors series to Calgary this week and profiled three local entrepreneurs and what they’re up against. Our panel included Arlene Dickinson, former star of Dragon’s Den who is building a business accelerator and venture fund to finance food and wellness start-ups; Kip Fyfe, CEO of 4iiii Innovations, his second wearable technology business; and Trent Johnsen, founder of Hookflash, a real-time communication firm whose customers include Google and Microsoft.
The economic context isn’t pretty. Two years into the oil slump, joblessness across the province is edging toward 10%, and more people are leaving Calgary than moving there. Venture capital funding is paltry, too, with barely 3% of the national total going to Alberta.
But in the face of low energy prices, the entrepreneurs felt it’s time for human ingenuity to launch the next Alberta boom. Here’s some of what they said is needed:
1. Recognize what you’re good at — and own it
Alberta needs to pick its spots. Clean energy is an obvious one, given the province’s engineering talent and deep knowledge of energy. Agricultural is another, especially coupled with healthy living. In fact, food and beverage shipments surpassed refined energy products last year in exports. Looking ahead, Dickinson argued, Alberta food and wellness products should be seen globally as the new standard for quality. “That is exactly what the world needs,” Dickinson said. She argued the same brand value should be attached to Alberta oil and gas. All of which means a lot more value-added processing will be needed in the province, along with better marketing abroad.
2. Push oil money to think beyond oil
There’s plenty of private wealth in Alberta, and a lot of business-building brainpower to go with it. That’s what every startup needs. But getting successful entrepreneurs and business executives who’ve made their fortunes in oil and gas to look to other sectors is a challenge. They like to know what we buy, and buy what we know. And as oil prices creep back, there will be more and more opportunities for that oil wealth to stay in the patch. The provincial government recognized as much this year, announcing a new 30% tax credit for investment in alternative industries — areas like IT, clean tech and health tech. Even more could be done to bring together angel investors, matching them with entrepreneurs and matching their investments with additional government- and bank-generated capital, as is the case in Quebec.
3. Use the economic downtown to engineer a talent upturn
It’s a common theme across the country, the war for talent. Once a champion, Alberta is now on the losing side, with the oil exodus continuing. Some of the labour migration is inevitable. But even in boom times, creative coders and dreamy entrepreneurs were making their way to places like Vancouver and San Francisco, where the software startup scenes are more vibrant. Case in point: Garrett Camp, the Calgary-born engineer who moved to Silicon Valley, co-founded Uber, wrote most of its code, and is expanding his new venture, Expa, in San Francisco and Vancouver. Calgary may not win him back, but it can use the downturn to woo a lot of other talent. Housing is at last affordable, office space is plentiful and the lifestyle options — mountains, rivers and wide-open spaces — compete well with anything Portland, Seattle or Austin has to offer. Then there’s immigration. As the federal government steps up Canada’s economic immigration program, Alberta has a chance to make its case to the world’s best and brightest. It offers great universities, relatively low taxes, liveable cities and increasingly diverse communities, all at 40%-off sale compared to Vancouver and Toronto.
4. Infect Alberta’s universities with Alberta’s business mindset
One complaint shared by all three panelists was the relative inability of Alberta’s universities to commercialize their research. In fact, they all said they’d look elsewhere for R&D. That may be a tad unfair to the schools, but not entirely so. Take the University of Alberta. It’s been quietly building top-drawer expertise in artificial intelligence — something campus entrepreneurs should be able to turn into massive business opportunities, whether it’s using machine learning to cut the oil sands’ carbon emissions or improve the efficiency of the province’s hospitals. But to get there, such campuses will need an IP culture that encourages professors and their students to turn academic ideas into commercial gold.
5. Use Calgary as an international gateway
With mountains to the west, prairies to the east, arctic to the north and badlands to the south, Alberta can seem detached from much of the startup world. Not so. Trent Johnsen is building his company with open-source partners from around the planet, and he rarely needs to leave home. His connectivity is superb, and time zones play to his favour. Kip Fyfe works from the small town of Cochrane, where he prefers to keep people on staff and have them close at hand — but he’s never felt far from the U.S. or the world. Through two ventures, he said, nearly all of his sales have been international. And if he needs to get to key markets for athletics wear, he’s just 45 minutes from the airport and a quick flight to the west coast. That’s about to get even better. A $2-billion expansion of the Calgary International Airport opened this week, calling itself “the most advanced airport terminal in Canada.” Innovation from the moment you land.
Digital technology now accounts for 4.4% of economic activity, 600,000 jobs and $172 billion in economic output. We’re in the game, for sure. We’re just not on the podium. What do we need? Canada’s prospects and pitfalls were on stage last Friday at Go North, a brainstorming conference for entrepreneurs put on by Google and Royal Bank of Canada at Toronto’s Evergreen Brickworks.
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Here are 10 big insights that emerged — and some ideas to help get us there:
1. Pick a lane, and stick to it
Canada moved up the Olympics standings by focusing more money on fewer sports. Same approach is needed for technology. Mike Lazaridis, co-founder of Research in Motion and Quantum Valley Investments, stressed it’s hard for 35 million people to be great at everything. He said we should double down on clusters of excellence. His point: If you’re not in the top 5, you won’t be in the game when it comes to attracting investment and talent.
Idea: Declare artificial intelligence and quantum computing as national priorities, and measure Canada’s success at them globally.
2. Attract. Retain. Rinse. Repeat.
№1 issue was talent. In digital, it’s not a game-changer; it is the game. Why? The biggest expense for any tech company is people. The top question for any investor is people. Trouble is, while Canada has a lot of engineering and start-up people, we’re way behind on “senior talent” — people who have taken a $10-million company and 10x’d it. Michael Litt from Vidyard, a video intelligence business, said he has three executives who commute from the United States, because he can’t find the senior talent in Canada.
Retaining such talent matters hugely, too. Ted Livingston, founder of the social messaging company Kik, said he recently asked a University of Waterloo audience, how many graduates planned to stay in the area. Of 500 present, 3 raised their hands. How many planned to go to Silicon Valley? Roughly half.
Once we can retain our top engineers and attract some exceptional, influential senior leaders, the domino effect will be huge. Tax rates have an impact. House prices and creative environments often matter more. Most of all, global talent wants to be around global talent, and often those are the people working for world-class firms and world-class universities. Getting those firms needs to be a priority.
Idea: Mandate a pan-Canadian agency to source, recruit and retain global talent.
3. Create Canadian headquarters
Small fish need big fish to survive, and Canada’s lost a lot of big fish. We just got back Thomson Reuters, which is moving its executive team from New York to Toronto. That’s huge, as it will lead to all sorts of decisions that benefit Toronto-area firms and talent. British Columbia is driving the same agenda, persuading Chinese firms to use Vancouver as a North American base. Bottom line: global HQs are the big fish. We need to restock the pond.
Idea: Charge a single public-private, federal-provincial agency with the challenge of winning global mandates.
4. Buy Canadian
Strong HQs lead to more local procurement and talent sourcing. Our banks and insurance companies already do a lot — and can do more. So can our big auto parts firms, food producers and retailers. The biggest fish may be government, which can do much better supporting digital entrepreneurs through procurement and partnerships. Several entrepreneurs said they need government to be an early customer, to give them cred when they go abroad. Today, Ottawa spends $9 billion on outside goods and services. A lot more coordination is needed, as too many firms get snagged in a complex procurement process when they should be building products.
Idea: Design a Canadian procurement pact that sets a standard for all large companies and governments.
5. Sell American
For any tech firm, the U.S. is not just 10 times bigger than Canada; it sets the global standard. If you’re not big there, good luck anywhere. Several panelists admitted their biggest mistake was not going to the U.S. sooner — whether it was to look for customers, attract investors or spend time working in the Valley.
Idea: Ensure any new public capital comes with U.S. growth targets.
6. Declare national problems
Governments can help shape the tech game by setting big horizon goals such as climate change, cybersecurity and immigration — and then incenting entrepreneurs with prizes and support to solve those problems. By acting as a broker between private and public sectors, government can also boost funding in key areas and kick-start research. One good sign: Ottawa has committed $1 billion to help develop clean technologies. Mike Lazaridis stressed the importance of strategic philanthropy — witness his support of Waterloo’s Perimeter Institute — as a further catalyst for government funds. Or consider Google.org: It just announced an Impact Challenge that will award $5 million across 10 Canadian organizations to bring world-changing ideas to life through technology.
Idea: Read 6.
7. Attract smart capital
The Go North entrepreneurs recognized there’s never been so much capital available to help companies grow. It’s just not always smart capital. Startups need capital that provides a 10-year window to carry great ideas forward, with intellectual support as well as money. Most of Canada’s smart capital now comes from the U.S., where venture firms have a lot more experience getting companies to the world stage. In response, Canadians need to look for investors outside the current ecosystem, and attract angel money from individuals who have street cred. Harley Finkelstein, the COO of Shopify, says the Canadian mindset needs to change, with more focus on secondary liquidity. That’s the pool of money that not only helps firms grow; it rewards founders without forcing them to sell.
Idea: Incent global VC players to expand to Canada.
8. Attract smart people
Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains reminded the crowd that importing top talent does not take jobs from Canadians. Rather, skilled immigrants — entrepreneurs especially — add jobs. Trouble is, Canada’s immigration system can take months, or years, to get skilled people across the border. Opportunities don’t wait for months, let alone years. To own the digital podium, we need a fast-track program that gets the right people into the right opportunities at the right moment. Just-in-time immigration.
Idea: Create a new professional visa class that can be co-administered by sectoral groups.
9. Attract smart mentors
Canada’s got plenty of accelerators and start-up programs; most think they’re doing a pretty good job, too. One gap is mentorship networks. The Go North entrepreneurs said the best mentors are a year older than they are, and still in business. They can also come from established businesses, be they banks or manufacturers. Ugly truth is, the best mentors are people who don’t have time. Time to get ’em engaged.
Idea: Build a Canadian social media platform for entrepreneurs and mentors.
10. Diversity, digital-style
Canada continues to fall short on gender diversity in business. It’s the same across the tech world, which means there’s a chance for Canada to lead the world. Today, 13.1% of corporate board seats are held by women; 40% of companies don’t have any women on their boards. Start-ups aren’t much better. Despite colleges and universities graduating more and more women in STEM programs, they’re not sticking around the digital ecosystem. The start-up, scale-up and corporate communities can change that picture by attracting a range of students to tech programs, by changing the mindset of what a “typical” engineer looks like, and by embracing diversity of thought.
Idea: Launch a public database to monitor companies, VCs and the sector on gender balance.
