Rachel Zimmer discusses the power of geographic arbitrage and the current obstacles to Canadian entrepreneurship.
These are strange times for entrepreneurship in Canada. As you know from watching this podcast, BDC released a report saying that there are 100,000 fewer entrepreneurs in Canada now than there were in 2000.
“When you think about the American shark ethos, about playing to win … and then also the Canadian friendliness, I think there’s a really great opportunity here for Canada and Canadians.”
Rachel Zimmer
CEO of Simple Ventures
And there are many things in Canada that you would like to have but just can’t get. Things that exist in the rest of the world but aren’t available here for a variety of reasons.
So some leading Canadian tech companies are pushing to fill those gaps with a new venture studio called Simple Ventures. Co-founders are Rachel Zimmer, formerly of 5Crowd, and Michael Katchen, currently of Wealthsimple, and a number of other names you may recognize are backing the studio: Shopify president Harley Finkelstein, Knix CEO and founder Joanna Griffiths, and Ada CEO Mike Murchison. Today we talk to Zimmer about the impetus behind Simple Ventures and how its operating model differs from other venture studios in Canada.
You’ll notice in this interview that Zimmer tries to walk the fine line between being open and not revealing the exact numbers behind Simple Ventures. However, I think most listeners will understand what she means when she talks about “founder-level equity.”
All in all, it is an interesting discussion about net new business creation, the power of geographic arbitrage, and the structural, cultural, and economic barriers to Canadian entrepreneurship.
How does Simple Ventures work? Let’s take a closer look.
The BetaKit Podcast is presented by Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt LLP.
Osler, Canada’s leading law firm for startups, high-growth companies and investors, has released its third annual study of 486 anonymized Canadian venture capital and growth capital financings.
Read the Deal Points report: Venture Capital Financing.
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The BetaKit podcast is hosted by Douglas Soltys and Rob Kenedi. Produced and edited by Kattie Laur.
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