Startup Canada Communities

About Startup Canada Communities

Startup Canada Communities is the flagship program of Startup Canada to support the connectivity, promotion and maturation of grassroots, entrepreneur-led communities across Canada.  Through the provision of frameworks; technology; branding; impact measurement and reporting tools; national working group sessions; access to world leading advisors; national promotions; and, meaningful connections with financiers and policy makers, Startup Canada Communities is developing the grassroots infrastructure to strengthen Canada’s entrepreneurship ecosystem and culture one community at a time.

Startup Canada Communities gives entrepreneurs the resources they need to build welcoming and supportive entrepreneurial communities across Canada, and it brings them together into a national network of hyperconnected and vibrant grassroots startup communities where entrepreneurs can start and scale their ventures.

At the local level, each member community acts as a point-on-entry for entrepreneurs in their local ecosystem, providing a connection to other startup founders, and easy access to mentors, space, funding, and support to start and grow their businesses. Communities do this through online resources as well as grassroots events that welcome, engage, and encourage all entrepreneurs. Each community’s leaders also proactively engage with local stakeholders in government and industry, as well as with investors, to form a partnership with a common goal of supporting the creation and growth of new companies locally.

Startup Canada works with each member community to help build these components of a healthy ecosystem, while also giving them access to a national network of peers, advisors, experts, and opportunities. Startup Communities is laying the foundation of a Pan-Canadian infrastructure to accelerate the creation of startup communities everywhere that advance the success of Canadian entrepreneurs.

Led By Entrepreneurs

Startup Canada’s Communities are led by local entrepreneurs in each community that come together from across sectors and industries with the long-term commitment to advance entrepreneur success in their community.

Community Enterprise Partnership (CEP)

Entrepreneur leaders in each community secure a lead Institutional Partner with whom to co-chair regular CEP meetings. CEPs are made up of local enterprise support stakeholders in each community – investor groups, incubators, accelerators, co-working spaces, support organisations, chambers, colleges, universities, associations, etc. – that are mandated to support the diverse range of entrepreneurs in the community. The goal of the CEP is to enhance awareness, communication and collaboration to better support local entrepreneurs and optimize available resources. By working together, startup community stakeholders can increase awareness and engagement of entrepreneurs in their programs to deliver great impact.

Community-Wide Events

Startup Community leaders and stakeholders ensure that there are core events that bring together the entire entrepreneur community, so that entrepreneurs can connect in-person with each other and with those who can help them to take their ventures to the next level. Events like Startup Weekend, Startup Drinks and Demo Camp and campaigns like Global Entrepreneurship Week are typical of a Startup Community. The focus is to provide regular opportunities for entrepreneurs to connect, learn-by-doing, and promote their ventures to the wider community.Startup Community leaders and stakeholders ensure that there are core events that bring together the entire entrepreneur community, so that entrepreneurs can connect in-person with each other and with those who can help them to take their ventures to the next level.

National Exposure & Connectivity

Local community leaders tap into the national network of communities across Canada and receive support and exposure through Startup Canada. Community leaders connect across Canada through monthly online meet ups; receive websites, branding, guidelines, case studies and measurement tools; and, are advised by a world-class team of expert advisors to support them in advancing their own communities on the ground by leveraging best practice, precedence and critical mass.

Everyone is Welcome

Startup Communities are not just for tech entrepreneurs. They are open to entrepreneurs of all types and at all stages of their entrepreneurial journey. Whether you are a med-tech, social or creative entrepreneur, support entrepreneurs or are simply curious about entrepreneurship, get involved, connect with others and help to build your startup community.

Measuring our Impact

Building a startup nation one community at a time is a process. We will begin to measure our impact in terms of (1) speeding the access of entrepreneurs to the support that they need; (2) starting and growing more successful startup communities in terms of infrastructure, level of activity; and. (3) ecosystem maturation overtime. Our overall objective is to start and grow more successful Canadian companies.