I recently interviewed many entreprenurs on PEI as part of the Start Up Canada tour. Here is Duncan Shaw, one of PEI's best, talking about the value of having a supporting ecosystem.
Most of PEI's government support has historically gone to trying to attract larger business to PEI. The good news is that there is a growing awareness that it may be better to get behind local startups. See this new investment
Policy makers traditionally had programs to support entrepreneurs. Most of the entrepreneurs that I spoke to, felt that this program approach did not work well - it forced you into a program. They all spoke to a need to get better connected to each other and to support.
Here Rory Francis, who is the heart and shepherd of the PEI Bio Alliance, adds his support for the creation of the Ecosystem. He has done this and the Bio Alliance now employs over 800 people in its ecosystem.
Here is a quick over view of the BioAlliance. It is the working and proven model for a networked way of scaling the tiny into the large. My hope is that PEI will expand this to include all startups.
More here in my new book - You Don't Need a Job
