I delivered this talk on the Toronto Startup Environment at the SAGE Canada conference on March 1 2014. If you're unable to view it due to the PowerPoint 2013 format, connect with me for an original copy.

1. An Insider Perspective from SoJo’s Zainab Habib

3. “… a fledgling business
enterprise”
- Merriam-Webster
“… a business or
undertaking that has
recently begun operation”
The American Heritage
Dictionary

4. “… categorically that after about three years in business,
most startups cease being startups. This often coincides
with other factors that indicate a graduation from
startup-dom: acquisition by a larger company, more
than one office, revenues greater than $20 million, more
than 80 employees, over five people on the board, and
founders who have personally sold shares. Somewhat
ironically, when a startup becomes profitable it is likely
moving away from startuphood.”
Natalie Robehmed at Forbes, “What is a Startup?”

6. SoJo is about
helping you take
your ideas into
action.

7. The DMZ is an
incubator for tech
startups like us,
where we can get
the resources
and business
support we need
to grow.

8. My job is to
connect our
users to ideas,
resources, and
other people!

9. 1. You have to be a white male Ivy-League school dropout
to make it.
2. It’s all about the money and the competition.
3. There’s nothing left to invent/change.
4. Startups live only in Silicon Valley, New York, and
London.

10. At least according to Startup Genome, a California-based
research organization…

12. “Our world is not homogeneous, so why
should startups and the products/services
that are being created be so vanilla?”
Jesse Martinez, cofounder of Spark America, a non profit
that also consists of the Latino Startup Alliance

13. “If you’re passionate about something and
you work hard, then I think you will be
successful.”
Pierre Omidyar, Ebay founder and chairman

14.  Lifestyle startups  work to live their passion
 Small-business startups  work to feed the family
 Scalable startups  born to be big
 Buyable startups  acquisition targets
 Social startups  driven to make a difference
 Large-company startups  innovate or evaporate
Steve Blanks, serial entrepreneur, author, and lecturer in “Steve Blanks: The 6 Types of
Startups”

15. “The beautiful thing about innovation is that it
moves industries forward, often times taking
standard ways of doing things in other industries
or cultures and applying them in new ways.”
Angela Benton, founder of the NewMe Accelerator

17. “Don’t worry about funding if you don’t need
it. Today it’s cheaper to start a business
than ever.”
Noah Everett, Twitpic founder

19. Wollette Brown, C.W.
Jeffries
From the DMZ’s YouTube channel,
uploaded on January 24 2014

21. “Startup is a state of mind. It’s when people join
your company and are still making the explicit
decision to forgo stability in exchange for the
promise of tremendous growth and the
excitement of making immediate impact.”
Adora Cheung, cofounder and CEO of Homejoy, one of the Hottest
U.S. Startups of 2013

22. Pick a statement or two (or
more) that resonates with
you.
Then knowing what I’ve
told you today about the
startup environment in
Toronto, do something
about it.

24. I mean it. I really do. 

25. CONNECT@THESOJ
O.NET
Or come see me at the SoJo booth here today!