The ‘big exit’ Canadian startups need is an IPO

Great article looking at the need for the “big exit” to shake up the Canadian start-up scene.

A huge exit is the ying to the funding yang, that is best illustrated by OMERS’ recent VC announcement. To make an ecosystem vibrant you need (among other things) value-added funders and the ability to make outsized returns. That keeps people coming back into the ecosystem… hence the PayPal mafia reference

“We need a PayPal mafia here,” he says. “People that come back after a big exit and double down.” He’s referring to the super-rich founders of PayPal, who reinvested their money and their knowledge in the next generation.

But I would go one step and say the big exit would ideally come in an IPO. I say that because all the recent sales have been sucking people and products out of the Canadian ecosystem and into the US one.

I’m not for restrictive economic nationalism, but finding ways to keep the experience, technology, talent and wealth generated via an exit is a laudable goal. Selling to foreign firms doesn’t help, maybe promoting Canadian IPOs will.

Startup scene waits for ‘big exit’ | Entrepreneur | Financial Post.