the toronto startup environment - a talk for the 2014 sage canada conference

THE TORONTO STARTUP ENVIRONMENTAn Insider Perspective from SoJo’s Zainab Habib

WHAT IS A STARTUP?

THE DICTIONARY DEFINITIONS…“… a fledgling business enterprise”

- Merriam-Webster

“… a business or undertaking that has recently begun operation”

The American Heritage Dictionary

… OR THIS ONE FOR TECHNICAL PURPOSES“… categorically that after about three years in business, most startups cease being startups. This often coincides with other factors that indicate a graduation from startup-dom: acquisition by a larger company, more than one office, revenues greater than $20 million, more than 80 employees, over five people on the board, and founders who have personally sold shares. Somewhat ironically, when a startup becomes profitable it is likely moving away from startuphood.”

Natalie Robehmed at Forbes, “What is a Startup?”

AND WHERE DO I FIT ON THIS MAP?

ENTREPRENEUR AT SOJO…SoJo is about helping you take your ideas into action.

… AND AT THE DIGITAL MEDIA ZONEThe DMZ is an incubator for tech startups like us, where we can get the resources and business support we need to grow.

AT SOJO, I DO ALL THINGS CONTENT AND COMMUNITYMy job is to connect our users to ideas, resources, and other people!

BUT FIRST, WE NEED TO CLEAR UP SOME MYTHS…1. You have to be a white male Ivy-League school

dropout to make it.

2. It’s all about the money and the competition.

3. There’s nothing left to invent/change.

4. Startups live only in Silicon Valley, New York, and London.

BUT THERE’S A REASON TORONTO RANKS #4 WORLDWIDE

At least according to Startup Genome, a California-based research organization…

TORONTO’S GREATEST ASSET: DIVERSITY

1. DIVERSITY OF PEOPLE… AND ENTREPRENEURS

“Our world is not homogeneous, so why should startups and the

products/services that are being created be so vanilla?”

Jesse Martinez, cofounder of Spark America, a non profit that also consists of the Latino Startup

Alliance

2. DIVERSITY OF STARTUPS… AND MOTIVATIONS

“If you’re passionate about something and you work hard, then I think you

will be successful.”

Pierre Omidyar, Ebay founder and chairman

DIFFERENT TYPES OF STARTUPS Lifestyle startups work to live their passion

Small-business startups work to feed the family

Scalable startups born to be big

Buyable startups acquisition targets

Social startups driven to make a difference

Large-company startups innovate or evaporate

Steve Blanks, serial entrepreneur, author, and lecturer in “Steve Blanks: The 6 Types of Startups”

3. DIVERSITY OF PROBLEMS… AND OPPORTUNITIES

“The beautiful thing about innovation is that it moves industries forward, often times taking standard ways of doing

things in other industries or cultures and applying them in new ways.”

Angela Benton, founder of the NewMe Accelerator

4. DIVERSITY OF RESOURCES… AND POSSIBILITIES

“Don’t worry about funding if you don’t need it. Today it’s cheaper to

start a business than ever.”

Noah Everett, Twitpic founder

THERE’S SO MANY RESOURCES! BUT…

ONE STUDENT’S JOURNEY WITH SOJOWollette Brown, C.W. Jeffries

From the DMZ’s YouTube channel, uploaded on January 24 2014

BUT WHAT ABOUT IT?

IT’S ABOUT THE MINDSET

“Startup is a state of mind. It’s when people join your company and are still making the

explicit decision to forgo stability in exchange for the promise of tremendous

growth and the excitement of making immediate impact.”

Adora Cheung, cofounder and CEO of Homejoy, one of the Hottest U.S. Startups of 2013

MY CHALLENGE TO YOU?Pick a statement or two (or more) that resonates with you.

Then knowing what I’ve told you today about the startup environment in Toronto, do something about it.

THANK YOU!

I mean it. I really do.

CONNECT@THESOJO.NET

TWITTER/INSTAGRAM: @THE_SOJO

Or come see me at the SoJo booth here today!