zlacker

>>wavela+(OP)
When walking around the U of Toronto, I often think that ~10 years ago Ilya was in a lab next to Alex trying to figure things out. I can't believe this new AI wave started there. Ilya, Karpathy, Jimmy Ba, and many more were at the right time when Hinton was there too.

>>snowby+Sx
And none of them build AI companies in Toronto.

I’m Canadian and disappointed at how ineffective we are at building successful companies.

>>izend+Yx
As another Canadian, I feel the same but I'm not surprised one bit.

Canada is actively hostile towards tech and suffers from crippling salaries and investments. The idea of "business" in this country is buying a house and renting its basement.

Our government's incompetence is comical, we are nothing but more than a tech talent / immigration proxy for United States at this point.

>>swat53+981
I don't know, Canada and every-other-country-that's-not-the-US. When there's a neighbor that is flush with cash, where make-or-break is a kind of national disease ... what can you do?

(I'm an American, FWIW.)

>>JKCalh+n91
FWIW, Israel and China are the other two hotspots for building startups. It’s worth looking at how Israel did it since their model could work elsewhere. For example they have a government funded delegation that goes around to conferences solely to meet with large companies and investors and promote Israeli startups.