In Toronto, as far as the technology scene goes, it seems that there are two primary problems: 1. There’s not enough capital for startups. 2. The talent is leaving usually because of a lack of capital. But at the same time, we’re in this kind of unprecedented shift where both trends in technology and also [[Artificial Intelligence]] are making it so that it’s easier than ever to start a company with less. What if we leaned into this lack of capital, and accepted it as a constraint? What if we tried to get really good at creating bootstrapped companies in Toronto? What if we created an incubator that’s entirely focused on developing bootstrapped companies? > a bootstrapped company is one that is created and growing using only what you have access to. Your skills, available technology, and in terms of money, your own savings, revenue from early customers, and money from friends and family, rather than seeking external funding from investors, venture capitalists, or banks. One of the benefits of this would be that, instead of founders spending time going to San Francisco to spend time raising money for their company, they could just start immediately working on it right now, with whatever they have access to. What would it look like if we focused [[New Stadium]] on the development of these kinds of companies? Would there be interesting side effects? Are there any other projects like this in Toronto right now? Has something like this ever been explored in Toronto or somewhere else? If we do not do this, will a project like this ever happen in Toronto? Is this a cop out in that it doesn’t shoot for the moon, or is this more practical and even more optimal in that it would bring people together with an immediate focus on increasing collective revenue? This would not mean that these companies are opposed to outside investment, it just means that they would have an immediate focus on revenue from day one, which means that they do not need to wait for anyone to start building their companies and serving customers, there is no waiting to raise, it is an immediate focus on what is right in front of them, and by creating revenue for themselves, they are creating progress for Toronto. If their revenue continues to grow, they can hire people, creating new jobs. It’s an interesting time to explore this because, with [[Artificial Intelligence]], it’s unclear to what is and is not possible right now by individuals and small teams. Maybe an environment with an intense focus on bootstrapped companies might help reveal and understand this in new some way? Notes to develop: - [[the changing nature of startups]] - if the goal is to increase the creative and technical throughput of Toronto, then what happens if you focus on a metric like revenue or job creation? is that useful?