Comment by mtw | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mtw | Hacker News Reader

Montreal, Canada, for:

* Strong, diverse and friendly startup scene. From 2 to 5 startup events every week. see calendar http://63sq.rs/52c (View @mtlnewtech for more). Many local developer groups (montrealonrails, montrealpython, phpquebec, js-montreal,dotnetmontreal, uxmtl, etc.)

* Strong existing angel investors + new VC funds being created. You mention Toronto but actually there is more money flowing in Quebec than anywhere else in Canada

* Montreal is half european and half north american, half-french, half-english. Lots of diversity, lots of creatives. Literature : "Nearly a fifth of the Montreal region's workforce forms a super-creative core: techies & cultural & entertainment types ... Montreal also benefits from its dense, compact geography. Most experts agree that innovation and productivity are driven by density, and Montreal ranks third among all North American cities in average population density"

* Montreal is 2nd happiest city in the world http://bit.ly/dAWLW5

* 4 universities, plus engineering and business schools, such as McGill University, Hec Montréal, @SUPINFOMontreal or ETS

* cost of living is cheap. Not as cheap as Bangalore of course, but cheaper than Toronto, Boston and of course cheaper than San Francisco or London, U.K.

* lots of initiatives, one startup incubator (@bolidea), another one coming in September, blogs and publications dedicated to the community ( http://montrealtechwatch.com or also upcoming @nextmontreal), student/entrepreneur groups (@Startupifier), startup weekends (one coming in early October), conferences drawing hundreds of attendees (wordcamp, rocococamps, startupcamp, podcamp etc), big startup space soon (@notmanhouse)

* plus of course many technology projects launched every month, in average 1 or 2 new products launching every week. OstrichApp launched 10 days ago featured on apple.com, BeyondTheRack funding, statusnet, vanilla forums, Tungle etc.

there is more money flowing in Quebec than anywhere else in Canada

I'm curious what you mean by this (and if you have any evidence) -- VC deal flow, overall economic activity, or what? The impression I've got from others about Montreal's economic activity hasn't been nearly as positive.

I also wonder if you'd be at a disadvantage trying to do business in Montreal without speaking French -- the friends of mine who have prospered in Montreal are all very good French speakers.

I'm no expert on Montreal's economic activity overall, but Montreal and Quebec have fared relatively well during this recession.

"A look inside the April unemployment numbers of 8.1 per cent shows Quebec, at 7.9 per cent, below the national average, and nearly a full point below Ontario's 8.8 per cent. You don't see that every day. In fact Quebec added 35,000 jobs in April and 91,000 since last July. When the May numbers come in, Quebec will likely have created more than 100,000 jobs in less than a year."

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Canada+recession+bette...

The language issue is always there, but Montreal's startup community is pretty bilingual. It's possible to do business here as a non francophone. But, if you want to establish a long term presence in Montreal, it's a good idea to at least try to learn French.

Montreal Start Up is a seed fund started a few years ago by a group of angel investors / entrepreneurs. It's on its way to a home run with one of it's investments. They are raising a new larger fund - http://montrealstartup.com/

Teralys Capital is a new fund of funds that has "$700 million" in capital commitments". I think 50% will be invested in Quebec. http://www.teralyscapital.com/who-we-are

On a related note, it seems that Montreal didn't get the memo about the real estate crisis in the US. Prices actually rose in the past year. Housing is still cheap compared to major cities.

Can someone explain the Montreal craigslist apartment listings to me? What does the "4 1/2" in "2br - 4 1/2" mean?

When there's a listing that states "X 1/2", it means that there are X rooms in the apartment. A 4 1/2 is usually 2 bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen area - the ad will usually indicate if this is not the case.

The 1/2 means a bathroom. Not sure of the origins; perhaps it is from the days when some apartments did not have bathrooms.

http://newtomontreal.com/apartment-hunting-ads-lingo/

Montreal is very much a renter's city. It is common for anyone under 30 to move once every two years -- some people move every single year.

Rents are not as cheap as they were in the 90s but they are still desirable compared to other major cities in Canada.

Odd, in the western US I'm accustomed to a "half bathroom" being a room with a toilet and sink but no bathtub or shower stall. Listings look like "2br 1+1/2ba" meaning two bedrooms and one full and one half bathroom.

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