Scott Stirrett, the Halifax-born Founder and CEO of Venture for Canada, has been named the Telus LGBTQ Innovator of the Year. Stirrett won the national honour for his work at the non-profit that recruits and trains youth to work for Canadian startups.

Stirrett, 26, founded Venture for Canada in 2013 while working as an analyst with Goldman Sachs in New York City. He modeled Venture for Canada after its American counterpart Venture for America. He was honoured last Friday at the INSPIRE Awards in Toronto.

“Going to work at a startup can have a transformative impact on a young grad in terms of growing their entrepreneurial skills,” said Stirrett in an interview “The idea came to me right before I started with Goldman Sachs. I worked there even though I knew it wasn’t the best fit for my skill set.”

Stirrett grew up in Dartmouth, before moving to Washington, D.C. to attend Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.  After graduating, he took a position as an analyst with Goldman Sachs on a cross-product client experience team.

He incorporated Venture for Canada while in New York and left the Big Apple in April of 2014 to pursue the non-profit full-time.

During its most recent cohort, Venture for Canada selected 60 grads from a pool of roughly 2,300 applicants. Stirrett said his organization now employs 16 full-time staff across the Atlantic provinces and Ontario with over 90 young grads in its fellowship program, which takes in recent graduates and pairs them with Canadian startups. 

Last April, Venture for Canada received $4.4 million for its internship project which will place at least 500 interning graduates in startups across the Atlantic region in September.

V4C Lands $4.4M for 505 Interns

Stirrett came out nearly six years ago as a gay man. He discussed the challenges that LGBTQ entrepreneurs face and how his identity factors into his entrepreneurial drive.

“I’m proud to be gay and I think it’s shaped who I am as an entrepreneur,” he said. “In the sense that growing up when you are gay, or LGBTQ in general, you’re to some extent always looking at things from the outside. It makes you more empathetic for other people especially for those who might be discriminated against.”

He added: “When you’re gay or marginalized and you look at those power structures, it gives you an incentive to create your own thing. So that’s why I think being gay and my entrepreneurial identity are somewhat interlinked.”

Stirrett is fortunate and said he has not experienced direct hatred or discrimination in the startup world but the community as a whole needs diversity.

“The startup community and innovation community in general are very inclusive. If anything there is just a lack of LGBTQ entrepreneur role models. There are diversity challenges because it’s often an older, straight, white man’s game.”

Last March many of Venture for Canada's fellows attended Venture Out, a conference organized by LGBTQ organization Start Proud, which brought together LGBTQ entrepreneurs from across the country.

“It’s important to see role models,” said Stirrett. “Because you can feel very alone and isolated. But Venture for Canada actually has a large number of gay fellows so I think LGBTQ individuals are starting to be well-represented in the startup community.”