From Invention to Frustration: A Personal Journey
I’ve been working in the field of innovation since I was 16, and have spent the last decade navigating the Canadian startup ecosystem. But from what I’ve experienced firsthand, Canadian innovation risk aversion is doing more damage than we admit. After 18 years in this space, I believe the way we support (and fail to support) early-stage invention in this country needs urgent rethinking.
What Happens After the First Funding Round
In the early stages of new funding programs, it’s relatively easy to get support. Organizations are eager to spend their budgets and build early success stories. But as these programs mature, things shift. It becomes harder to access support, and that’s expected. What’s not expected or acceptable is how winners are chosen.
Marketing Wins. Technology Loses.
In my experience, many juries and investors don’t focus on the core of a project. They focus on storytelling, marketability, and how well the startup fits into their reports. Flashy decks, polished branding, and big promises often beat technical depth or real innovation.
This isn’t about strategic foresight. It’s about optics and budget cycles.
Organizations want projects that look good on paper. That way, they can justify their own funding for the next year. This short-term thinking kills real innovation. It favors the polished over the profound.
This is a perfect example of Canadian innovation risk aversion, avoiding any project that looks too bold or unproven.
The Disappearance of Risk in a Risk-Based Game
Another issue is the lack of risk appetite. In Canada, many investors only fund projects that are nearly market-ready—TRL 8 or 9. But if a founder has already reached that point, they rarely need early-stage investors. And even if they do, they’ll likely look outside Canada for better terms and bigger markets.
Where Are Our Unicorns?
This causes a quiet but growing exodus. High-potential entrepreneurs leave for ecosystems that take risks—places like the U.S. and parts of Europe. Look at the numbers. In 2024, Canada produced just one new unicorn. France and the U.K., with similar populations, each had five or more.
This isn’t due to lack of talent. It’s due to conservative capital and a system that fears failure more than it values invention.
This Is a Strategy Problem, Not a Talent Problem
According to , Canadian VCs prefer safe, late-stage bets. Startup Genome notes that many talented founders are relocating because Canada can’t offer the risk capital they need. This is more than a funding problem—it’s a strategic failure.
We don’t have to guess what a better model looks like. Countries like Israel built entire pipelines from early-stage invention to global startup success. Their programs don’t just support risk—they depend on it. In Canada, we’ve forgotten that most great technologies begin as high-risk experiments.
Final Thought: It’s Time to Choose Depth Over Optics
I’ve spent my life working with inventors. I’ve seen brilliant ideas ignored because they weren’t marketable enough. I’ve seen innovation drowned by pitch decks. If we keep rewarding safe stories instead of real invention, we’ll lose the next generation of creators, and the future they were trying to build here.
Until we address Canadian innovation risk aversion, our unicorn count will remain embarrassingly low.