OPENING DOORS FOR ENTREPRENEURS

By SHAGORIKA EASWAR

Sunil Sharma’s LinkedIn profile describes him as a venture capital investor/super connector. Startups around the globe that he has funded attest to his success as an astute investor.

A Managing Partner at Feedback and a founding partner of Super Advisors, over the past decade Sharma has invested in tech startups, amassing a portfolio of 150-plus active investments through various funds, including Techstars.

As the Managing Partner of Techstars Toronto, he made 100 direct investments across 16 countries.

Additionally, he supports over 450 portfolio companies launched through the Founder Institute’s pre-accelerator program, representing the largest active startup portfolio in Canada.

He has run 27 consecutive cohorts of the Founder Institute in Canada, making him one of the longest tenured accelerator operators in the world.

Sharma co-hosted the Collision Conference, an annual event attracting over 40,000 attendees to Toronto and part of the global WebSummit series held in cities like Doha, Lisbon, Hong Kong and Rio de Janeiro, handing over the reins for next year, when it moves to Vancouver.

“This is the largest gathering of startups in North America, attracting top speakers, investors and thought leaders,” he says.

With everyone wanting to be an entrepreneur, how does he select which startup to back, how does he pick the true entrepreneur from a crowd of applicants?

It’s difficult, Sharma concedes. “Truthfully, at the accelerator investing stage, it’s instinctual. You can look at a demo, ask for user numbers, how many partnerships they’ve signed, etc., and you need to spend time meeting and understanding the team – hopefully there’s more than the one person!”

That’s because, Sharma says, there’s so much work required to get a business venture off the ground and you see if the team’s interests are aligned. Where the low salaries startups typically offer at the start are not a deterrent, they are doing it for the equity in a big idea. They’re hoping that it will be bought by Google or a tech giant and so have shares in the company at the founder level.

How does he protect his investment?

“You can’t, not really. What you can do is be supportive, give advice, build a relationship with the founders, introduce them to talent in their field, to investors, government decision makers and customers. But it’s still zero control, you have to be prepared to take a risk.

“You have to know you may not get your money back. Investing in just one or two is really risky. Statistically, a vast majority of startups fail. It’s tricky, but one way to reduce the risk is to build a portfolio. And to develop a network to discover companies and co-invest – an educated group decision improves the chances of success.”

While Sharma’s vast portfolio consists mostly of software startups, he has also invested in companies involved in vertical AI – helping create solutions for the pharmaceutical or healthcare industries.

Another area is fintech, moving money cross border, crypto currency, blockchain, etc.

Also companies that invest in the needs of immigrants like ones that help send remittances home, or help with credit scoring, rental services. “In companies that are doing what the banks are not doing,” is how he puts it.

Kora is one of his big successes. The fintech company provides cross-border products for businesses in the African markets. An airline paying for fuel or airport services, for instance.

It’s a big company now, and it got its start at Techstars.

Quidax, one of the largest African crypto currency exchanges, is another. “Africa has a young population, many people are not banked, they have very unstable currencies, so crypto is a better option,” says Sharma. “It’s detached from the local currency and increases in value.”

Sharma has served as an accredited Canadian diplomat. His roles included representing Canada at the United Nations and serving as Head of consulate at the Canadian Consulate in San Diego, California. He says the segue to technology investment and entrepreneurship happened when he was asked to liaise with the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA).

“I was ‘lent’ to them, and was attracted to the pace of people working in these fields. It’s all about idea, everything is driven by ideas that they convert to reality. Systems or bureaucracy don’t hold you back, you forge ahead at the pace you create.”

This was where he had the idea to launch a pre-seed fund and Extreme Startup was created just over 10 years ago.

He now runs the Accelerator Founders Institute which he brought from Silicon Valley to Canada and has backed 700 startups.

He also started Feedback, an advisory firm to help companies grow in the Middle East. Based in Toronto, he oversees the Feedback offices in Qatar and Canada.

“I believe there’s an important role South Asians are playing in the tech sector in the Middle East,” he says. “Software developers, engineers, basically builders, people contributing to innovation in the region. Computer Science graduates from Indian universities actively contributing to the economy, and important to the future of the Middle East. I’m helping activate more of the Indian diaspora, opening up opportunities for them in the Middle East.

“In Canada, too, many recently-arrived immigrants are underemployed. The taxes are high, the cost of living very high, parents are getting older, they are missing home... there could be an opportunity for them in countries that are growing in technology and innovation but need more talent. I identify and connect people, companies and capital in Canada, India, and the Middle East.”

Sharma has been quoted in the media on the issues with the Start Up Visa (SUV) program. On how unscrupulous actors are flooding the system with people who essentially buy a visa and as a result, how processing times are up to 32 months or more.

“Some of the accelerators were a bit of a visa factory,” he explains. “Moving to Canada is still highly sought after and it can be difficult to get in. The SUV program became one way to come in for those with money. The government recently dramatically reduced the number of spots per designated entity to 10, so maybe the numbers they are trying to bring in will reduce.

“But does that mean Canada will attract higher quality talent? I don’t see that.”

Which would seem to echo the view from the outside that Canada is falling behind in innovation and technology, that we may generate the ideas, but lack the infrastructure to scale up.

“We are falling behind in our government policies,” is Sharma’s blunt take. He lists the reasons why.

“We’re not attracting the right calibre of immigrants, there’s a skills gap in the areas that matter.

“The housing policy is bad and not attractive to prospective immigrants. Growth in Canadian jobs has been mostly in the public sector. We have the highest number of government jobs among the G7 countries, I believe. Which is unsustainable and leads to lack of productivity.

“The capital gains tax is a big step back. The proposed increase is very concerning to me. Startups are already taking huge risks, they sink their all, knowing they may lose everything. There’s only a very small chance that they will make money. Now we’re saying, all the risk is yours, and if you make money, the government will take a big chunk of it. That creates a disincentive to invest in new enterprises. When interest rates are high you can get returns with doing nothing. And many high net worth individuals are taking that route. That’s a terrible thing for Canada. We’ll become a nation of job takers, not job makers.”

That he feels strongly about the country he was born in is evident.

His father had moved from New Delhi to the University of Alberta for his PhD and Sharma was born in Edmonton. With both his parents in education, they moved around quite a bit and Sharma had lived in four provinces before he finished high school.

“I’ve lived in small towns and big cities. Spent years in Moncton and Kamloops, and also Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. So I grew up with a mix of experiences, loving all aspects of Canada, the big, beautiful outdoors and city life.”

His daughter Diya is studying entrepreneurship and business at the University of Ottawa.

“She’s president of the Entrepreneurs Club at her business school,” says her proud dad. “She’s always asking me for introductions to people in technology to invite them to events at her school. She loves attending tech events with me. It makes me happy to see this because I think entrepreneurship is more her style, she will find it fulfilling.”

His son is younger and into music.

Sharma finds supporting entrepreneurs on their difficult paths very rewarding. “I am always learning new things with them.”

His tips for those who dream of entrepreneurship in Canada include surrounding themselves with smart people. “And be genuine, be humble, be generous. Draw up a simple agreement and give people share in your business. Equity creates alignment.”     

• Grant’s is proud to present this series about people who are making a difference in the community. Represented by PMA Canada (www.pmacanada.com).