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Do Canadian Startups Get Enough Attention?

October 6, 2011 BY Mark Evans

During the meshwest conference earlier this week in Edmonton, a startup panel featuring Jevon MacDonald, Maura Rodgers and Dups Wijayawardhana spawned a discussion about whether Canadian startups get enough media and blogger attention.

At the risk of being assailed by newspapers, magazines, Web sites and blogs that do write about Canadian startups, I would suggest the answer to whether startups get enough attention is “No”.

Granted, I’m biased because I’m fairly immersed in the startup world. But the fact is there are a lot of great startup stories that go unreported or receive a smidgen of the coverage they deserve. It is a situation that frustrates entrepreneurs, investors and people within the startup community who believe the spotlight should be burning a lot hotter.

Where’s the Love?

So why aren’t Canadian startups getting more love and attention?

When it comes to traditional media, I would suggest startups aren’t that big of a deal for most business editors. Unless a startup raises a lot of money – let’s say more than $25-million – or gets acquired for a lot of money – let’s say $50-million – there’s not much appetite for stories about startups.

When I was a newspaper reporter, one of the most common questions I got from editors when pitching a startup story was “What’s their revenue?”.  As privately-owned companies, I didn’t know, which does little to get an editor excited. Another issue is smaller newsroom, which means there are few, if any, reporters devoted to technology.

Within the Canadian blogosphere, the situation is somewhat better, although not overwhelming.

There’s a solid group of blogs such as Startup North, TechVibes, Next Montreal, Maple Butter and Startup CFO writing about startups, but selfishly I’d like to see a lot more blogs writing about startups. (Note: If you’re a blogger who writes about Canadian startups, wave the flag in the comments!).

A Great Time for Startup Coverage to Flourish

If there was ever a time for startup coverage to flourish in Canada, it’s now. As I have mentioned several times before (let me know if I’m sounding like a broken record!), this is the most exciting time for Canadian startups in the past 15 years. There’s never been so many entrepreneurs doing so many interesting things.

At the same time, it appears Canada may finally be getting a solid enough investment ecosystem to support more of these entrepreneurs so they can turn ideas or bootstrapped businesses into something with real traction and customers.

What do you think? Do Canadian startups getting enough attention? Who are the traditional media or bloggers doing it?

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  • http://startupcfo.ca Mark MacLeod

    Mark, we definitely do not see enough coverage here in Canada. The issue goes way beyond the media. It is cultural and economic. In the U.S. startups and VC are huge. The NASDAQ is dominated by technology. Tech entrepreneurship and VC are taught at University. Until we have that kind of cultural saturation here and until technology becomes a meaningful 3rd leg of the economic engine of Canada (after resources and financial services) expect startups to continue to be absent from mainstream media.

  • http://www.canuckseo.com Jim Rudnick

    Hi Mark…
    while I do not blog usually about startups – my focus is on Canadian SEO – I do work hard and long with our local RIC – the Innovation Factory here in Hamilton, mentoring and coaching startups to improve everything from their elevator pitches, to their slide decks and coach our own Innovation Night entrants and our recent Lion’s Lair finalists too….it’s a job that one does to give back to your startup community and one I’m proud to do too!

  • http://www.eqentia.com William Mougayar

    They don’t. You’re 100% right. And I brought this up last year at AccelerateTO, and was rebutted on it. Mainstream media is still dominating the media in Canada, and they only write occasionally about start-up and from superficial knowledge, just to get a story out.

    It’s the sad truth. Reversing this trend would help educate everybody and also help to further lubricate the funding environment.

  • http://nesbot.com/ Brian Nesbitt

    While being involved in previous startups its pretty safe to say I agree. At my previous startup we made it into the national newspaper a few times when projects and launches were connected with a much larger brand (ex. McDonalds or Microsoft) but never for just a story on the company itself.

    I actually recently started blogging, however its definitely more technical in content than on startups as a whole. Naturally some startup content gets posted though, like my first post. Its a bit about the process of leaving my first job and taking the plunge into the startup world not really knowing what to expect but how much you gain from doing it. Its so much easier when your younger :-)

    Also, just a quick comment I think the startupcfo link in your post should be to the .ca version rather than .com.

    • http://www.markevanstech.com Mark Evans

      Brian,
      You’re right about the challenges in start-ups getting coverage for what they are doing. I often tell clients that if they are going to pitch a story to a blogger or reporter, they need to make it part of a bigger story or trend. Thanks for the comment. Mark

  • http://www.walkingspree.com Lisa Rousseau

    I would also agree. I’ve also found that startups that are privately funded and bootstrapped tend to be less mentioned than those who are VC funded as was mentioned in the post. Radian6, a company out of my city, Fredericton, NB achieved the recognition with their sale to SalesForce. It’s been a great opportunity to put NB startups on the map and give them some recognition. Again, they were VC funded and it was a large sum they were sold for.

    And perhaps the fact that for many of us Canadian Entrepreneurs that start up a company in Canada, quickly realize that our market is in the USA and we move our companies south of the border, probably doesn’t help provide Canadian recognition. Our company has become one of the top technology based corporate wellness companies with fortune 500 companies and large health insurers as clients. Yet, most Canadian have never heard of us. Ironically we were nominated this year for a TechRev Innovator Award, but we’re officially a US company now, so no longer eligible.

    • http://www.markevanstech.com Mark Evans

      Lisa,

      While it was great that Radian6 attracted a lot of coverage when it was acquired, it should have attracted a lot of attention beforehand given its success as one of the leading players in the social media marketplace. The same goes for Sysomos (a client and another Canadian start-up) that was also thriving in the social media monitoring market before it was acquired by MarketWire last July. There are start-ups with lots of traction and sales, and we just need to put the spotlight on them more often. Thanks for the comment. Mark

  • http://conniecrosby.blogspot.com Connie Crosby

    I completely agree, Mark.

    While I don’t blog specifically about the Canadian start-up scene, I do try to cover Canadian startups in the legal industry when I can over at http://Slaw.ca. I feel the legal industry relies heavily on a few providers for their information technology and generally has an inherent distrust for any tech or services not already proven. So, I see it as helping to give exposure to innovative entrepreneurs.

    Some people in this niche also put together LawTechCamp in Toronto back in June as a way to pull this specialized community together: http://lawtechcamp.com/

  • http://www.techvibes.com Rob Lewis

    We’re trying to do our part at Techvibes.com with our startup coverage but would love to do more.

    If you’re a Canadian startup that is under the radar, please reach out to us so that we can track your progress on our Startup Indexes and cover your story when you’re ready.

    • http://www.eqentia.com William Mougayar

      Rob, You are doing a great job. Please continue, and do more. Thanks.

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  • https://www.mylegalbriefcase.com Monica Goyal

    I recently started blogging for itBusiness.ca, and I have a blog at https://www.mylegalbriefcase.com/blog. I enjoy writing and covering startups. And I would like to point out that itBusiness does cover Canadian technology startups.

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