by Ashley Huffman
These are the stories of the people and organizations behind some of the city’s newest startups and business incubators.
Behind the beautiful office spaces, Instagram photos and young eager faces, there’s a lot going on within the startups of Toronto. A lot of work to be exact. As well as a fair share of hacking, networking, energy drinks, and not to mention no sleep.
This is the introduction blog post in a series called “StartUp TO.” It will serve as a first-hand look into what’s going on in the city’s incubators and startups; from the new and growing, to the successes and epic fails.
“Everyone sees the funding stories of the startups on Tech Crunch and The Next Web, and assumes that it’s fairly easy to become a successful startup. Think of an idea, get money and it’s game over. But that’s not even close,“ said Elizabeth Wilson, a startup founder in the city.
This isn’t to say that Toronto hasn’t had its fair share of global senstaions, like BiblioCommons, Sprouter and LANsource. Toronto is lucky enough to have its own unique brand of startup culture. One that just so happens to be attracting more and more attention from across the border; in particular New York and Silicon Valley.
What’s TO’s secret sauce? Quite simply, our diverse culture. Toronto see’s a constant wave of different backgrounds, ages and professions, gathered from literally all around the world. The common ground? Toronto, the business stomping ground of Canada.
The first business StartUp TO will be investigating, picking apart and following is INcubes, an early-stage incubator and accelerator for disruptive startups. The coming posts will cover:
- Incubators of Toronto 101 – Focus on INcubes
- A closer look into their disruptive tech startup niche
- How their stories can make an impact in your business
For anyone who’s thinking of starting their own business or is in the midst of building their startup, this series is for you, and is meant to be an eye opener into our local community and the tech/innovation industry as a whole.
Ashley is an education & technology evangelist from the GTA. She is proudly a Marketing & PR mentor at INcubes and is the brains and brawn behind the geek blog www.chicktech.com. Ashley is also a self-proclaimed Twitter and Nanodots addict.