I've spent the last two months in Canada, taking in bits and pieces of the investment landscape and technical culture I left for Silicon Valley two years ago. I'm interested in the contrast.

To preface, I love Canada. I love Toronto. I was born and raised here. (Yes, Drake's pretty cool, too). But my biggest criticism of the industry in Toronto is that it seems to be missing this spark. A meeting in Silicon Valley isn't just a meeting. Due to proximity and kindness of strangers, it's the start of propagating wave of influence. As you create more of these waves, constructive interference forms peaks that manifest in specific individuals who are not only willing to help you, they're willing to champion for you.

Toronto doesn't lack kindness of strangers. At all. But it lacks a large-scale cohesive human medium via proximity that Silicon Valley so readily provides. As a Toronto-born Canadian, I'm deeply interested in how Canada's ecosystem can better facilitate and grow this kind of critical mass of talent and connections. There are good places to start, my friend Ahmad Nassri runs TechMasters (https://techmasters.chat/) and is bringing thousands of developers together.

I think a great approach might be heading towards deepening SV ties and becoming part of a larger social medium instead of trying to bootstrap its own. I think this is a huge part of the NYC tech community that is blossoming and I've been able to witness first hand as well. I guess we'll see how far SV influence can reach. :)