At an event at the University of Pennsylvania, what stood out to me was how accessible it felt. It was a small gathering of people working in education. You could meet people, ask questions and have a conversation.
I’m building MapleSpark, an EdTech company, and we’re still very early. I went looking for people who understand the industry. I came away thinking about the opportunities Canadian founders can explore before we need to raise money.
Sometimes we talk about the resources we don’t have close to home. I understand that frustration. But Philadelphia is a short flight from Toronto. If someone starting an education company in Ohio can get involved in a community there, it seems worth asking what is available to someone building in Toronto too.
In the interactions I’ve had so far, being Canadian hasn’t made me feel like an outsider. That’s the experience I want to share.
Finding people who understand education
We’re building relationships in both Canada and the U.S. One reason I started looking south was that I’d found it difficult to find investors in Canada who work with EdTech companies every day.
There are generalist investors. What interests me is speaking with someone who already understands the questions an education company faces: how institutions make decisions, how credibility develops and what it takes to support a product with evidence.
For example, a pilot can be part of the work that helps a school or district decide whether to buy. Digital Promise’s EdTech Procurement Framework describes a process that includes implementation, evaluation and evidence to support those decisions.
From a founder’s perspective, that raises a funding question. If an investor wants to see sales, but you need money to fund the pilot work that could help you get those sales, it can feel like a chicken-and-egg problem.
We haven’t faced that situation ourselves with MapleSpark. It’s an observation that shapes the kind of investor I want to get to know: someone willing to understand the path from an idea to evidence to a sale.
I’m also interested in what an investor could bring as we explore the U.S. market. Knowledge of the sector, an understanding of channels and useful guidance would all matter to me. Those are things I want to learn about through conversations as we build relationships.
What made Penn useful to me
The Penn event gave me a concrete example of a community I could start getting involved in.
I spoke with John, the entrepreneur in residence, who gave me advice and encouraged me to enter the competition the following year. What I appreciated was the openness to sharing ideas and the willingness to help someone who was still early.
I wouldn’t point to a specific result from that conversation. It made me think about how we approach the market and whether entering more competitions could help us refine our message or test the idea. At this stage, I find that useful.
There are also ways to engage beyond an event. Penn GSE’s Catapult virtual accelerator offers free basic membership. Separately, Catalyst @ Penn GSE lists free one-on-one mentoring with its entrepreneur in residence, John Gamba, open to aspiring education entrepreneurs.
Those are specific places a founder can explore. Learning that this kind of access exists is valuable in itself, especially when you’re still figuring out which people and communities are relevant to your work.
I’m also planning to attend EDTECH WEEK in New York. Penn is one example of what has caught my attention; I want to keep exploring other places where people working in education come together.
Starting while we’re still early
I don’t have a successful U.S. fundraising story to tell. We’re at the beginning, building relationships and learning what is available.
That matters to how I think about these conversations. Advice can help me reconsider an approach. A competition can give me a reason to work on the message. An event can help me meet people who understand the questions I’m asking. I don’t yet know where those relationships will lead.
I’m not saying Canadian founders have to go to the U.S., or that support is unavailable in Canada. We’re continuing to build relationships here. I want us to be open to the options nearby as well.
My experience so far has made me less inclined to assume that a U.S. education community is out of reach because I’m based in Toronto. I can look at what a program offers, find out whether I can participate and start a conversation.
For another founder who is still early, that would be my takeaway: explore the communities that understand your industry, including those across the border. You can begin getting to know people before you have a fundraising request.
That’s one reason I’m starting North of the Valley. I want to document this journey step by step: the people I meet, the opportunities I explore, what I try and what I learn along the way. My hope is that sharing those experiences will be useful to other founders in Canada who are working through similar questions.
I also want to invite experts and founders who have successfully navigated these opportunities to share their experiences. There’s a lot I’m still learning, and I’d like this publication to be a place where we can learn from one another as the journey unfolds.