Skapinker gives his homeland the Bronx Cheer

6 responses

  1. Gary Will says:

    "We used to get referrals, and that’s not happening now."

    Apparently, I take a different message from this than he does!

    I suspect that many people could have found them Canadian investment opportunities every bit as exciting as istopover.com … some even started by repeat entrepreneurs.

  2. Vanity, the first cardinal sin for any venture capitalist.

    As a VC there is a temptation to think you can see it clearer or run it better, unlikely. Half the battle is the sweat and determination needed to keep things going, most VCs just don’t have the attention span.

    An even more deadly incarnation of this sin is the trap of investing in one’s own ideas. If the founder wasn’t bright enough to come up with the idea and more importantly, doesn’t own it, the deal is just not going to work.

  3. Brill Pappin says:

    Actually, his article is simply regurgitating the view of entrepreneurs in Toronto, that have been festering and public for at least the last year (long before the current economic problems).

    His comments are not new, not even by a long shot and if it’s only now being recognized, then maybe there *is* a problem that needs to be addressed by the VC community.

    BTW – A tattered Canadian flag is also contrary to law, however we tend not to enforce it too rigorously.

  4. Gilligan says:

    From the perspective of a repeat success story.

    I think Mark is frustrated in his attempt to secure deals b/c at the end of the day these new ventures really do not need his money.

    For what you give away…the risk does not match the reward.

    Now let’s see if Mark still has the touch?

  5. noname says:

    Canadian VC industry is indeed broken. It is run by accountants without much technological expertise or imagination. They bet on copycats, and they care more about quick exits than about building long-term success stories.

  6. Unimpressed says:

    If you read the post closely, you’d see that the concern is legitimate: Canada does not support serial entrepreneurship well at all, and there are relatively few serial entrepreneurs in Canada. Mr. Skapinker is going back to his roots and being a serial entrepreneur.

    The torn “flag” in the stock photo, in case you didn’t notice (oh yes, you didn’t notice that, either), is a piece of paper.

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