[buzzg]

Originally Posted by scryer

Are you able to expand what you mean by "out of market"? Do you mean like startups that don't originate from Winnipeg?

Yeah I just mean companies that don't already have a (physical) presence here.

Originally Posted by KellyEdwards

The problem with Winnipeg's attempt to attract the tech industry is that they're gearing themselves towards established companies only.

The tech industry is often synonymous with startups.

Totally – we (the government and post secondaries mainly) need to do a better job at fostering and supporting startup ecosystems. There's many ways to do that.

While I agree that a planned "tech hub" isn't necessarily a silver bullet or makes a lot of sense on the surface – having a density of a certain type of business in a specific area absolutely has spinoff affects and fosters more growth, collaboration, interest.

The other challenge tech startups in Winnipeg is really tied to our social norms – those good ol' hard-working, family-owned prairie businesses that stay in the family for generations: WE NEED MORE EXITS. I do lots of work with tech companies and orgs, and whenever I talk to experts from other countries, they always say exits are the most important thing to growing tech sectors/hubs. We need founders who can successfully grow companies to sell them: a) to bring money into the market b) so they go start more companies.

Many founders are serial entrepreneurs and generally go on to create another startup after an exit. If every tech startup here sold to a new investor/owner, good chance they go on to start another company and all of a sudden we've doubled the amount of tech companies here. Skip's sale has already spawned 4 new tech companies (lots more on the way) – a problem though is our government hasn't created a great tech environment here, so they're all based in other western provinces. Neo is looking to open a satellite office here this year, could be anywhere from 10-70 employees – but HQ is Calgary.

Originally Posted by CoryB

With the reports that 201 Portage (aka former TD tower at Portage and Main) have a significant vacancy rate that would be a more ideal location for something like WeWork and actually hosted one not too long ago but not sure what became of it. More than any other downtown tower they have likely been hit the hardest losing multiple floors from Agricore, Canwest, TD, MNP and TDS (major local law firm). That said as a late 80s building it would be a much better fit for something like a bit WeWork push.

Both the WeWorks in Calgary are up in office towers (Stephen Ave Place and The Edison) so that would definitely be a good fit for 201.

Originally Posted by esquire

^ On that note, it's curious how 201 Portage quickly went from being pretty much the undisputed prestige address downtown to a half-empty afterthought. I wonder what Harvard's plan is?

Well they're currently undertaking a multi-million dollar top-to-bottom renovation inside and out, so it seems like they have a plan. It fell off because it hadn't been touched in 30 years. Natural lifecycle of buildings.