In 2020, entrepreneur Igor Debatur made the bold decision to relocate his startup, Uploadcare, to Vancouver.
According to Debatur, it was not an uninformed move. The founder evaluated 10 locations, ruling out Europe first and then the US. Within Canada, Vancouver was the top choice.
Recently Debatur took to Twitter to reflect on his move.
According to the entrepreneur, “it was a good decision” for several reasons. For example, Canada is more affordable to hire talent relative to the US, and there are hiring grants such as SR&ED credits which he calls “free money.”
3. SR&ED credits: free money! 15-35% of grants to hire people to R&D. Shopify and others benefit from it a lot.
— Igor Debatur July 6, 2022
Debatur also noted some of Vancouver’s unique aspects, including its beautiful intersection of ocean and mountain. He cites “amazing walkability and scenery.”
“Hundreds of trails—every mountain is ridable and climbable,” the CEO gushes. “A lot of rain in the winter but if you drive 40 minutes, it’s snowing.”
6. Infrastructure. Vancouver is a part of all the Top 5 best cities lists. Friendly for cyclists, clean, and you can see the mountains pretty much from anywhere. No one will shoot or stab you.
— Igor Debatur July 6, 2022
And despite “astonishing” real estate prices, Debatur says most people strike a healthy work-life balance in what he describes as a “well-functioning society.”
“People work hard,” he says. “At the same time everyone I know finds enough time for activities and rest. Even taxi drivers share their favourite trails instead of talking politics.”
Uploadcare is a global end-to-end cloud platform that handles file uploading, storing, processing, and intelligent delivery.
Debatur cofounded the now-Canadian company in 2011.
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