Smithers becomes a Startup Community
What is a Startup Community?
A startup community is an informal and inclusive network of creative business minds. The goal of the community is to create a space safe for experimenting and failing fast and encourage more startups.
The startup community can be divided into two parts: Leaders and Feeders. It is entrepreneurs that lead a startup community while everyone else feeds the community. Leaders need to be committed to their community for the long term (20+ years), have a ‘give before they get’ attitude and be willing to mentor.
Feeders include the government, universities, investors, mentors, service providers and large companies. It is crucial to distinguish that by leading, it is the entrepreneurs who champion initiatives that have been discussed in the community and the feeders support their initiatives with resources, staff and in any other way they can.
The Bulkley Valley Economic Development Association has secured $1,000 from the Bulkley Valley Credit Union to enable Startup Smithers to become one of 15 pilot communities with Startup Canada - a national network for the startup movement.
In addition to being recognized as an official Startup Canada community, Startup Smithers will receive a white-labeled website at startupconnect.ca, branding and design support, a profile feature in the Startup Communities Annual Report and access to world-leading experts and advisors in the area of entrepreneurship ecosystem building.
The Bulkley Valley is home to many incredibly creative individuals that are continually working on startups. Other pilot communities include larger cities like Montreal and Ottawa. However Startup Smithers hopes to prove that a startup culture can thrive within smaller rural towns of populations as little as 5,500. With this support of the BVCU, we are one more step towards achieving this goal.
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