At Entrevestor, we’re about to take our annual Christmas-to-New-Year’s break, so this column will try to sum up what’s been good and bad in the startup ecosystem in the past year. The community grows each year, but here are some high and low points for the ecosystem that leap out for 2017:
GOOD NEWS
Startups are joining the oceans extravaganza. We’re seeing the first evidence that Atlantic Canada can produce waves of oceans-related startups. Last year we identified 414 startups in Atlantic Canada and 19 of them could be considered “OceanTech” companies. Today we’re looking at 36 startups in the oceans space, and they’re popping up in the broader startup programs.
Dozens of companies applied to Innovacorp’s Blue Solutions competition. Seaformatics of St. John’s went through the Propel ICT accelerator in 2016, and SeaSmart Technologies of Mahone Bay attended this year. The Startup Yard at the COVE marine industry park in Dartmouth will open next year. The oceans supercluster steering committee has made provisions for startups to help its members develop new technologies.
Startups and the Halifax business community are linking up. In Fredericton, tech startups are a pillar of the business community. In Halifax, the region’s business capital, startups have been outsiders, moving in different circles than the corporate establishment. It’s hindered the innovation community’s growth because support of traditional industry is essential for a startup community. (Brad Feld, author of the book Startup Communities, refers to them as “tentpole industries” because they elevate everything around them.)
There are more bridges now. The oceans supercluster has the potential to link startups with established companies, and the Creative Destruction Lab-Atlantic has named businesspeople like George Armoyan, Ken Rowe and Rob Sobey as fellows. It’s a healthy development.
BAD NEWS
We may not be keeping pace with the rest of the country. The Atlantic Canadian startup community is a bit like Andre De Grasse. No one would argue that the Ontario sprinter isn’t fast. The problem is there are other guys who are faster. Similarly, Atlantic Canada is producing fast-growing startups, especially in IT. The problem is the Toronto-KW Corridor, Vancouver and Montreal are producing more startups that are growing faster. This matters because of the ever-increasing race for late-stage capital, and East Coast companies have yet to join that race. There are some startup founders with colossal ambitions for their companies, and it will be a shame if they have to sell prematurely because of lack of funding. Note that I said this “may” be a problem. It’s too soon to say there’s trouble, but it bears watching.
There’s still no sales program at an East Coast university. As of New Year’s Day, 800 days will have passed since Mariner Partners chairman Gerry Pond offered $500,000 to any Atlantic Canadian university that sets up an international sales program. Yet we’re no closer to having a sales program. No university in English Canada offers a full sales program at its business school, even though Canadian businesses big and small are screaming for sales talent. Any one of our business schools still has an opportunity to offer the first such program in the country, but it’s doubtful any will overcome the bureaucratic inertia to seize this golden opportunity.
There it is — more good than bad, but still things that need some work. Many thanks for reading this column this year. Have a great holiday and we’ll be back Jan. 2 (the 801st day since Pond made his offer).
