In many ways vancouver is at the heart of the new web in the last few years at least when it comes to making huge amounts of money with little to no resources. Flickr started here, Adware, casino’s and domainers etc.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/06/01/100050989/
What is surprising is that its actually a very small group of very smart people in vancouver that make a lot money across a lot of industries. I know some of the key players, so its always interesting to see stories like these. Probably going to turn out to be a race to see who can make a billion first from the web in Vancouver.
May 23, 2007 at 4:53 am |
I remember back in the day when LOTS of casinos were operating from Vancouver. Wasn’t Sizzle.com also from there? Or was that Seattle…
Nevertheless, the WEST has proven good on the web!
May 23, 2007 at 5:26 am |
A billion? Markus I think *you* are the only candidate for that. Good going.
May 23, 2007 at 6:09 am |
You found Vancouver just because you live there. But there are probably tens of other (especially big) cities that “produce” hundreds of millionaires.
May 23, 2007 at 2:57 pm |
I think Calgary might be the next hot spot for web. We have a lot of interesting startups, and cash, and talent. At least I hope so.
Go Western Canada!
May 24, 2007 at 8:44 pm |
Zoltan, that may be true. I hail from Vancouver Island and the examples that Markus mentioned are the ones I think about as well, not to mention Plentyoffish. But I still think that, if Silicon Valley is #1, Vancouver is (a distant) #2, or at least close to it. If you can provide some examples of other North American cities that beat Vancouver in terms of tech development, I’d love to hear about them.
May 27, 2007 at 4:10 am |
Calgary will not be the next hot spot. Calgary has a few succeses – eyewire/istockphoto/veer (all from the same lineage) and stumbleupon – but for the most part IT in Calgary means product-less consulting companies or losers like “cambrianhouse”. Very few interesting web startups (right90? canflix? others?).
Vancouver seems to be a nexus for web ventures.
June 29, 2007 at 3:10 pm |
I will probably be returning to vancouver after spending a year in Germany where I have worked in a fast growing web company (www.spreadshirt.net / http://www.spreadshirt.com) as a management trainee. I am coming back to vancouver for personal reasons, but really want to continue in another fast-growing, young, innovative firm. Can anyone provide me with resources on the industry here in vancouver or some key players that are up and on the rise?