I’m getting on a catch up call with @kevindahl later this week, and he asked about how I split my time between different (online) startup communities, and how Venture Scouts fits in. He was kind enough to share a list of a couple of communities.
Mighty Networks Startup Community
Not familiar with it. I kicked the tires on the Mighty Networks community platform (probably like 2 years ago?) and found it a bit clunky. It’s sort of in its own world and not very integrated into the web, last I remember.
Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE)
What Rick and the startup community in Portland have done is super cool! Here’s the description of their program in Portland:
PIE is a program predicated on providing founders — often first time entrepreneurs — with access to the mentorship and networks they need to be successful. And we do it by focusing on what each company needs, rather than being driven by a one size fits all curriculum. Think of it as an independent study, enabling you to focus on the issues, problems, and opportunities that matter most to you — all while being supported by a network of peers and mentors. What’s more, in addition to programming, PIE provides access to discounted and free services designed to equip your company with the tools you need to succeed.
As well as actively running community in Portland, PIE has an open source “accelerator cookbook”, which is available on Github – current version is from around Dec 2017.
Start Alberta
New to me, an Alberta specific community. I think regional forums are great! This is pretty much what I wanted to build with WeAreYVR, but open source. Looks to cover News, Events, Company Database, and Jobs.
Other than comments on News posts, I don’t see any Discussion.
@kevindahl what is this powered by? If it’s custom, it would be amazing to open source it so other cities and regions in Canada could run their own!
Startup North
The original that started it all! Startup North, founded by David Crow @davidcrow (Twitter @davidcrow), Jonas Brandon @jonasbrandon, and Jevon Macdonald @jevon did a ton of things, mainly centered around Toronto where they were all living at the time.
Today, it’s mostly a Jobs board and a Facebook group. They’ve got something interesting going where the website mirrors the Facebook group – very cool!
Personally, I don’t spend any time on FB, so don’t participate there any more. Also still relatively Toronto centric.
That’s all the ones from @kevindahl – thanks for that writing prompt, a great exercise for me!
Venture Scouts
A web based platform for Canadian founders & funders. This is not a general startup site, but focused on company building. That means a narrower set of topics, and participants.
It’s web based, also works quite well on mobile for both reading and writing (the forum saves drafts really well!). You can also subscribe – and reply! – by email, so may fit better into some people’s communication and reading styles.
Focused on peer discussion at its core. Pitch Deck Reviews (live now), Peer Mentoring (connect one on one with others to get feedback / help on areas they want to share).
Resources focused on leveling up founder and funder education. We want to help founders get funding, and learn about funding so that they, too, can invest in other businesses.
New funders – I want to run a fund! I want to be an angel investor! How do I support my portfolio
Scout program – not launched, but enable a broad, diverse set of people to have a pathway to learning about and participating early stage funding.
Canadian focus. There are some regional nuances, but most of this stuff applies across Canada.
And we’ll see where it goes!
What founder / startup communities do you participate in?
Let us know about communities in your local region, your sector, or anything else you find useful. Or: what are you missing? What content or type of community would you love to be a part of?
