What Canadian founders can learn from Silicon Valley’s speed

At Uniting the Prairies, Chris Neumann argues for learning from the US while building in Canada.

Uniting the Prairies 2026 keynote speaker Chris Neumann delivered a message to Canadian founders on april 29 that was equal parts reassuring and urgent: you don’t have to build your company in Silicon Valley, but you do need to understand how it’s operating.

“Get that knowledge, get those best practices, and then come back home.”

Chris Neumann

Speaking at “Game On! The New Playbook for Canadian Founders” on the main stage at the Remai Modern in Saskatoon, the four-time founder and early-stage investor argued that the gap between Silicon Valley and the rest of the startup world isn’t just scale or capital; it’s speed, and how that speed is achieved.

“What’s actually making it faster is they are finding new ways to skip steps,” Neumann said.

The ideas build on a blog post he published ahead of the talk, where he describes the modern startup journey less as a linear path, and more like a game of “Snakes and Ladders,” with the most successful founders aggressively seeking out opportunities to climb faster, rather than moving square by square.

Neumann also framed the shift in terms of “humility over hubris,” urging founders to stay grounded even as they push for speed. While Silicon Valley may set the pace, he said the goal isn’t blind imitation. Founders still need to understand their own markets, their own advantages, and where they can win.

A different kind of acceleration

Pushing back on the idea that Silicon Valley’s pace is simply the result of longer hours, Neumann pointed to a cultural shift in how founders leverage networks, access, and information.

In Silicon Valley, founders are increasingly bypassing traditional processes by reaching out directly to decision makers, unlocking early access to products, and tapping into dense networks to accelerate progress.

Attendees follow along during Chris Neumann’s presentation at the UP Conference.
Photo by Alex Brown for BetaKit.

That behaviour, he suggested, is becoming the new baseline.

“Go to Silicon Valley to learn how to go fast,” Neuman said, emphasizing that founders don’t need to relocate to the Bay Area to build globally competitive companies.

Instead, he encouraged Canadian founders to adopt a hybrid approach: plug into Silicon Valley to access knowledge, capital, and connections, then apply those lessons at home.

“Get that knowledge, get those best practices, and then come back home and build the company you want to build, in the place you want to build it,” he continued.

Prairie opportunity versus global competition

While much of Silicon Valley remains focused on building foundational AI infrastructure, Neumann highlighted a range of industries, many of which are prominent in Western Canada, that are receiving far less attention.

“Many of these industries are here in the prairies: agriculture, manufacturing, mining, Arctic sovereignty,” Neumann listed. “There are so many industries, opportunities that exist that Silicon Valley is not worrying about, that you guys can go after.”

At the same time, he cautioned against thinking too locally.

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“Stop navel-gazing over what other companies in Canada are doing,” he emphasized. For founders aiming to build venture-scale companies, the real competition is global.

That message resonated with attendees like Katrina German, the CEO of Ethical Digital. She said the keynote reinforced the need for Canadian founders to stay connected to the ecosystems where high-growth companies are being built.

“If you want to build the next unicorn, you have to participate in the community that’s building unicorns,” German said, noting founders can apply those lessons while still building in Canada. “We are different in Canada, and it’s a good thing. But we still need to learn important lessons from the Valley”.

Closing the gap

For Joanne Fedeyko, CEO and founder of Connection Silicon Valley, Neumann’s message reflects a reality she sees daily working with Canadian founders entering the Bay Area.

“Everything he said, I 100 percent agree with,” Fedeyko said. “You need to get your head out of the sand and get to Silicon Valley.”

“You need to get your head out of the sand and get to Silicon Valley.”

Joanne Fedeyko,
Connection Silicon Valley

Fedeyko argued that the gap between Canadian startups and their Silicon Valley counterparts is often larger than founders realize.

“If you’ve raised $2 million in Canada, your competitors have raised $20 million,” she said. “I so often see that the Canadians have better science, better technology, their products are better, but they start off so far behind.”

Still, both Fedeyko and Neumann emphasized that proximity, not relocation, is the real advantage. Silicon Valley remains a hub for capital, talent, and information, but founders can increasingly access those resources without permanently moving.

The challenge, Neumann suggests, is recognizing how much the rules of the game have changed: “Have you ever heard of anyone winning a game of Snakes and Ladders without climbing a ladder?”

For Canadian founders, the answer may determine how quickly they can catch up.

BetaKit’s Prairies reporting is funded in part by YEGAF, a not-for-profit dedicated to amplifying business stories in Alberta.

Feature image courtesy Alex Brown for BetaKit.