Last week, I wrote that more institutional money is coming into Atlantic Canadian startups, which is good because the world of funding is changing.

That was the good news. But it is counterbalanced by some bad news, which is that too many Atlantic Canadian startups are failing to take advantage of these changes.

Here’s the worse news: there’s a strong belief that some startups are going to go out of business in the next year or two because they will not secure the millions of dollars that it takes to grow. Maybe it’s because of a problem with their business model or their technology, but these problems are being exacerbated by negligence in building up a profile overseas.

Talking to entrepreneurs and support personnel in the past few weeks, I get the feeling that there is a divide growing in the Atlantic Canadian startup community, and it’s not along geographic lines. The dividing line is international reach, in terms of markets, mentorship and funding. There are entrepreneurs who are spending the time and money to court expertise, clients and capital offshore, and there are the more insular, locally focused companies.

It’s difficult to come up with hard and fast examples of companies NOT doing something. But the anecdotal evidence suggests that investors and support groups outside Atlantic Canada understand that there is something exciting happening on the East Coast, and they wonder why they don’t hear from more of the startups involved.

Consider this: At the Atlantic Venture Forum in July, 500 Startups’ Venture Partner Paul Singh said the world of financing is changing and suggested startups were nuts if they weren’t registered on AngelList. The thinking is investors from anywhere will back startups from anywhere so young companies need to have their names in the go-to directory of international startups.

So now go to angellist.co and search for a few of the more prominent Atlantic Canadian startups. When I tried this, I noticed how many of them – including those that are raising money now – are nowhere to be found.

It’s a small thing, but the point is the huge number of companies that have formed in the region in the past couple of years have to use all the tools at their disposal. I estimate there have been 100 to 150 startups launched in Atlantic Canada in the last two years, and most of them have received seed funding.

As startup guru Brad Feld told Invest Atlantic two weeks ago, finding that $2 million to $10 million round of follow-on funding is difficult regardless of where a company is based. So companies looking for that money have to find every advantage they can in landing money.

And what should the response be of the funding agencies owned and backed by governments? How should they react now that scores of seeded companies are searching for A rounds? They should hold the bar higher than before. I think they are.

The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation received almost $10 million from its Radian6 effort and was recently given an expanded role by the New Brunswick government. But it is maintaining its focus on seed funding rather than moving into later stages. It believes good companies, properly prepared, should be able to raise capital elsewhere.

Here’s one final thought: Maybe I should go back and amend my first three paragraphs, because it may be good news that some companies will fail in the coming years. We’re talking about 21^st Century startups. If mediocre companies fail, all their talent will be picked up by other startups. It means the best companies – those that do find the follow-on funding – will have an easier time getting to profitability and possibly an exit.