Andy McKay

Jun 30, 2006

Startups in Vancouver


Just found this post on Brian’s blog and its so good I’ll reiterate it here, where Jeff Griffiths comments on starting Flickr in Vancouver:

I would go even further and say that one of the critical success factors for Flickr *was* that they were not just 'toiling in obscurity', but that they were IN Vancouver. Up here we have lots of talent, a relatively low cost of living ( compared to the valley at least ), and all sorts of added lifestyle bonuses that San jose will never beat ( climbing / biking / snowboarding / music ). And for Flickr in particular, a major part of their early success was a loyal local following of users; witness the hugeness of the Vancouver tag. I would smugly theorize that Flickr's ability to find their users was helped in a large way by their being in Vancouver, a city that seems to breed tech-obsessed shutterbugs more than most places. I dunno, I think it's probably a bad time to start a company in San Jose, but it's hard to say when that would ever be true given Caterina's qualifications. Vancouver, on the other hand, seems to be a fine place to ( re ) start a company...

At the time I of course would have pointed out that Enfold was another company in that list that’s running in Vancouver and hiring. Since that’s not the case, point moot. However I spent many times it seems saying “No I’m not moving to Houston*” I love it here. I still do and I think its a great place to start a company.

  • Houston is the lowest ranked city in US (68), Vancouver the highest in North America (3). We’ve heard this one many times before anyway.