\u201cGet that knowledge, get those best practices, and then come back home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chris Neumann<\/p>\n
Speaking at \u201cGame On! The New Playbook for Canadian Founders\u201d 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\u2019t just scale or capital; it\u2019s speed, and how that speed is achieved.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s actually making it faster is they are finding new ways to skip steps,\u201d Neumann said.<\/p>\n
The ideas build on a blog post<\/a> he published ahead of the talk, where he describes the modern startup journey less as a linear path, and more like a game of \u201cSnakes and Ladders,\u201d with the most successful founders aggressively seeking out opportunities to climb faster, rather than moving square by square.<\/p>\n Neumann also framed the shift in terms of \u201chumility over hubris,\u201d urging founders to stay grounded even as they push for speed. While Silicon Valley may set the pace, he said the goal isn\u2019t blind imitation. Founders still need to understand their own markets, their own advantages, and where they can win.<\/p>\n A different kind of acceleration<\/p>\n Pushing back on the idea that Silicon Valley\u2019s pace is simply the result of longer hours, Neumann pointed to a cultural shift in how founders leverage networks, access, and information.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n That behaviour, he suggested, is becoming the new baseline.<\/p>\n \u201cGo to Silicon Valley to learn how to go fast,\u201d Neuman said, emphasizing that founders don\u2019t need to relocate to the Bay Area to build globally competitive companies.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cGet 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,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n Prairie opportunity versus global competition<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of these industries are here in the prairies: agriculture, manufacturing, mining, Arctic sovereignty,\u201d Neumann listed. \u201cThere are so many industries, opportunities that exist that Silicon Valley is not worrying about, that you guys can go after.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, he cautioned against thinking too locally.<\/p>\n RELATED: Panache\u2019s Chris Neumann on FounderFuel\u2019s return and \u201cshitty\u201d VC behaviour<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cStop navel-gazing over what other companies in Canada are doing,\u201d he emphasized. For founders aiming to build venture-scale companies, the real competition is global.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to build the next unicorn, you have to participate in the community that\u2019s building unicorns,\u201d German said, noting founders can apply those lessons while still building in Canada. \u201cWe are different in Canada, and it\u2019s a good thing. But we still need to learn important lessons from the Valley\u201d.<\/p>\n Closing the gap<\/p>\n For Joanne Fedeyko, CEO and founder of Connection Silicon Valley, Neumann\u2019s message reflects a reality she sees daily working with Canadian founders entering the Bay Area.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything he said, I 100 percent agree with,\u201d Fedeyko said. \u201cYou need to get your head out of the sand and get to Silicon Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou need to get your head out of the sand and get to Silicon Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n Joanne Fedeyko, Fedeyko argued that the gap between Canadian startups and their Silicon Valley counterparts is often larger than founders realize.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019ve raised $2 million in Canada, your competitors have raised $20 million,\u201d she said. \u201cI so often see that the Canadians have better science, better technology, their products are better, but they start off so far behind.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The challenge, Neumann suggests, is recognizing how much the rules of the game have changed: \u201cHave you ever heard of anyone winning a game of Snakes and Ladders without climbing a ladder?\u201d<\/p>\n For Canadian founders, the answer may determine how quickly they can catch up.<\/p>\n BetaKit\u2019s Prairies reporting is funded in part<\/a> <\/a>by YEGAF<\/a>, a not-for-profit dedicated to amplifying business stories in Alberta.<\/p>\n Feature image courtesy Alex Brown for BetaKit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At Uniting the Prairies, Chris Neumann argues for learning from the US while building in Canada.
Uniting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,14457,14461,14459,414,14460,14458,526,2393,14462,9242,14456],"class_list":{"0":"post-31787","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-chris-neumann","10":"tag-connection-silicon-valley","11":"tag-ethical-digital","12":"tag-events","13":"tag-joanne-fedeyko","14":"tag-katrina-german","15":"tag-prairies","16":"tag-saskatchewan","17":"tag-saskatoon","18":"tag-silicon-valley","19":"tag-uniting-the-prairies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Neumann-Attendees-1024x768.jpg\" "\\"Neumann")
<\/a>Attendees follow along during Chris Neumann\u2019s presentation at the UP Conference.
Photo by Alex Brown for BetaKit.<\/p>\n
Connection Silicon Valley<\/p>\n