Impact Ventures: Y Combinator for Canada?

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16 points·mikeyur··5 comments

Extreme Ventures launched an incubator program in Toronto last month also. http://www.startupnorth.ca/2009/06/03/extreme-university/

It's good to see something in the Waterloo area, but I'm reserving judgment until I see what they're offering. They've been a bit quiet considering they are launching a pilot this fall -- perhaps they already have the first batch companies selected through their network.

I run the ExtremeU program (http://bit.ly/WwgJR) and we are in our third week with 3 teams cranking away in our space at Yonge and King (Toronto). They can move fast because they are integrated with our agile development practices at http://www.xtremelabs.com (in the same space), they get expert onsite resources (dev, graphics, etc.), they get connected them with external gurus.

Our weekly speakers have been phenomenal (@ricksegal, @ryazwinski, @albertsupdates), they take questions and are available for help after their talks (which are recorded). I can't wait to bring in the remaining weekly speakers.

I think what Impact is trying to do is amazing. More power to them!

Farhan (@fnthawar)

Good to know. I should have been clearer in my original comment, but the second paragraph was referring to Impact, not Extreme. I know some people involved with Extreme VC/Xtreme Labs and I think what you guys are doing is great.

But correct me if I am wrong--doesn't the Y Combinator model depend on some very seasoned VC guys, namely pg? Waterloo certainly has serious technical talent, but one thing sticks in my mind is PG's suggestion to the startups that a weekly email to them can be key to their success. Without that or its equivalent, it might not quite be the Y Combinator model.

A Y Combinator for India might be something interesting.

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