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Toronto, Vancouver, Waterloo, where is Montreal?

Startup Genome Ecosystem Ranking

The state of the Canadian cities in the StartupCompass Startup Ecosystem Report 2012 (Get the Report) is interesting. The Startup Ecosystem Report 2012 lists 3 Canadian cities:

  • Toronto # 8
  • Vancouver # 9
  • Waterloo # 16

It leaves Montreal out of the top 20, it might very well be # 21. But it is very hard to determine without the full report that is due out later in the year. I also find it very strange, given the strong Montreal supporters in the  “Local startup ecosystem supporters” listed in the document:

The data reminds me of other analyst driven research companies (think Gartner, Altimeter, etc.). The methodology leaves it open to bias. But it is a great stick in the sand based on our own community survey responses.

“The index is based on data from more than 50,000 startups around the world who are using the Startup Genome’s Startup Compass, an automated analyst in the cloud that helps businesses make better decisions via benchmarks and actionable recommendations.”

It will be interesting to continue to read the report and lessons for Canadian entrepreneurs.

David Crow focused on product design, customer development and go-to-market implementation on $0. He is available as a consultant. He is a mentor at UW VeloCity, Jolt and FounderFuel. Follow him on Twitter @davidcrow or at DavidCrow.ca

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  1. I contacted the Startup Genome folks about this. This is the response I got:

    “I agree that Montreal was left out by mistake, but we didn’t create the report. A company called Startup Compass (https://www.startupcompass.co) made that report. Unfortunately they named the report the Startup Genome report, thus confusing everyone especially us.

    If you have the data on Montreal, you can give it to me and I’ll both import it into Startup Genome and forward it along with your email to Bjoern at Startup Compass and emplore him to update his dataset.”

    The data they want is pretty comprehensive so it may take a while.

    The takeaway is: there is no conclusion about Montreal to be drawn from this (of course, we can have fun speculating about why it was forgotten in the first place).

  2. That report’s findings are questionable, so don’t feel bad Montreal. 

    LA & Seattle ahead of New York? Vancouver way ahead of Waterloo? I don’t think so. 

    The only “compass” that the Canadian ecosystem needs is what Brad Feld prescribes in his book Startup Communities http://www.startupnorth.ca/2012/08/14/book-review-startup-communities-its-about-the-entrepreneur/

  3. These types of lists are fun to look at and like all lists they generate arguments. However this particular list loses a lot of credibility because it is missing Montreal and it has Waterloo ranked so low!

  6. I think it speaks to the bias that comes from all analyst and survey based methodologies. They are not inherently bad, but they are subject to biases and gaps. Just because they publish their methodology doesn’t make the methodology valid.

  7. I was hoping that the analysis would include more insightful conclusions for how each ecosystem can change. The end result was be more like Silicon Valley, which might not be the right conclusion.

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