A group of high-growth entrepreneurs heard last night that the economic development of their city, region and country depends on their own success because tech is the engine for modern growth.
Paul Singh, the founder and CEO of Washington, D.C.-based Disruption Corp., told a Tech Cocktail Halifax event that modern economic growth depends on high growth companies, and their success or failure will determine how Halifax will grow in the future.
“You choose to live here and what happens to your company will affect your life, your children’s life, your community’s life,” said Singh. “Like it or not, you are economic developers.”
Singh is renowned internationally in the startup world as an investor, mentor and speaker, largely because he travels endlessly around the world to deliver talks and find the best investment opportunities. At 34, he and the funds he has worked for have invested in about 1000 companies in 40 countries, and he has deployed about US$130 million in investments.
His ties to Nova Scotia were strengthened recently when Innovacorp became the Canadian conduit for the country’s companies entering the Disruption Corp. space in the D.C. area. So far QRA Corp. of Halifax is working at the space, and Innovacorp investment officer Dawn Umlah said last night they are in the process of selecting more.
Singh has now made several trips to Halifax, and his message Wednesday night is that the city’s future will be shaped by people developing high-growth companies. It’s a message that can apply to any city because of the low costs in developing tech companies.
One term he does not apply to such companies is “startups”, because he says everyone knows that most startups fail. These ventures must be thought of as “high-growth companies” because then decision makers will start to take them seriously.
Tech companies generally do not become high-employment businesses, he said, because the whole idea of technology is to do as much as possible with few people. But the growth of a tech hub in an area underpins economic growth, leading to a range of employment across the economy.
Singh cited the example the Crystal City district near Washington. He initiated a campaign in which banners with photos of founders and funders are placed around the community. It delivered the message that these people were shaping the city.
The average wage in D.C. is about $90,000 but tech employees on average make about $125,000, said Singh. So the growing tech community in Crystal City has led a revival of the city. “Tech companies have to be at the top,” he said.