Scenes from the Valley’s El Camino Real (left) and Seattle’s Pioneer Square (right).
Here’s some food for thought. Ahmed Hassan very recently wrote a comment in response to an article of mine, Ideas to Steal from Silicon Valley and Seattle, and it’s worth promoting to its own article, so here it is.
Being from Toronto and having worked in both Toronto, Ottawa, and the US, I think Toronto has severe challenges.
1. We build workers…not leaders.
We have loads of talent…but all we create is good worker bees.
2. Yes, lack of big companies is a big deal.
There are some ‘entrepreneurs’ who will just go at it on their own. yet, the vast majority of people like a decent job. So they meet up at large companies…work for a while…then maybe decide to start their own thing. All we have in Toronto proper is IBM and AMD. Anyone care to explain how RIM was founded in Waterloo. I ask that as a serious question. How does a small town create the only great Canadian tech company in operation right now? Why was it not founded in Toronto? Ask that question a few times…over and over.
3. Politicians do not understand business.
When you have someone like Miller who says he doesn’t care about companies who move to Mississauga for lower tax rates as he only wants companies who are willing to pay more to take advantage of Toronto’s urban character… you know something is wrong. They will try to push venture capital and ‘incubators…’.
As I say…mentality before process.
4. Sometimes you run out of talent.
How many high tech centers do we need? Everywhere you go, there is a lack of talent. If Toronto tech can just pickup and move to Seattle, Silicon valley, New york, boston, dallas, austin… in an already established tech base, why would they bother doing it here? Better weather, lower taxes, more like-minded entrepreneurs.
It’s not impossible. But Toronto has its work cut out for it. The biggest threat to Toronto…is actually Waterloo. Very close to Toronto and with a large tech base. It’s largely a mentality gap. Toronto embraces bureaucracy and structure. Startups are about freedom and independence. If you will…that’s why RIM was founded in Waterloo as opposed to Toronto. No Toronto bureaucracy would have ever approved of RIM. I mean they would be competing against Motorola, Nokia, MS… impossible…that’s a bad investment.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
3 replies on “Toronto’s Challenges, if it Tries to Become More Seattle- or Silicon Valley-esque”
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A lot of tech companies start out in Waterloo because of the university. As far as I recall, none of the schools in Toronto are as strong as the University of Waterloo in the areas of engineering and computer science. Disclaimer: I graduated from UW, so I’m probably a bit biased… ;-)
The same thing happens in the San Francisco Bay area, BTW. Lots of tech companies start out around Stanford and UC Berkeley, but comparatively few start in San Francisco itself.
laurence, I’m also a UW grad. I would challenge that though. UofT has an excellent engineering program. I don’t have the numbers on hand, but I’m pretty sure overall, they’re close to waterloo’s numbers. Combine that with York, Ryerson.. the numbers are probably in Toronto’s favor.
Again, here’s the question you need to ask. How did waterloo become such a great success at engineering? Was it coop? Maybe. If so, then what was it about Toronto that rejected the coop mentality. Was it too elite to be bothered with business?
It’s not enough to just say…well… it’s all because of UW as if that is history that cannot be changed. Why isn’t UofT, ryerson… in that league?
What was it about Waterloo that made it invest in technology donkeys of years ago. Why did Toronto lack that insight? Those are the questions people need to ask as to why Toronto will never be a seattle or silicon valley.