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Canadians forge Valley links
Expat high-tech workers are starting to By STEVE CHASE - Globe and Mail |
| PALO, ALTO, CALIF. -- Watching TV in a dark room is the last thing you'd
think folks would want to do on a balmy Friday evening in California. But there they were: two dozen expatriate Canadians gathered at Stanford University to view footage of Pierre Trudeau's funeral. There wasn't a dry eye in this corner of Stanford's faculty club on Oct. 6 as the group -- many of whom work in Silicon Valley's tech sector -- watched Justin Trudeau's riveting eulogy to his father, the former prime minister. Even thousands of kilometres from home, at the epicentre of the New Economy, Canadians haven't forgotten their roots. Some had left work early this day to attend this memorial service for Mr. Trudeau, sponsored by the local consulate and the Digital Moose Lounge, a fast-growing association of Canadian high-tech expatriates. Here, at the memorial service held three days after the Montreal funeral, nobody needed to explain why they had come. "It just felt really good to know I was in a room full of people who understood and all felt the same emotion," said Seana Meek, a Canadian working for Yahoo Inc. who said Mr. Trudeau's death made her homesick, "and I don't think I've felt homesick in a long time." The memorial service was one of an increasing number of get-togethers for Canadians in the Valley. Canucks are banding together like never before in the Bay Area, and joining the Digital Moose Lounge. "It's filling some sort of need because you don't grow from 42 people to more than 600 in nine months for no reason," says Susan Chung, the head, or "Prime Moose," of the DML. "Every other minority group in the Valley has an association down here, so why not Canadians?" And why not. Started by the Canadian consulate in San Jose 10 months ago, the Digital Moose Lounge (DML) evolved into a standalone, non-profit organization and has quickly become the gathering point for Canucks working and living in Silicon Valley. The area is fertile ground for such a group: there are an estimated 300,000 Canadians living in Northern California, many of whom are believed to be working in the Bay Area's tech sector. The DML exists to treat that homesick feeling that eventually afflicts these expatriate Canadians by offering Canadian beer and the company of fellow Canucks. The group meets monthly at a different location in the Valley, giving tech-savvy Canadians and their partners an opportunity to talk shop or chat about life outside Canada: How maddening the U.S. health care system can be. Why California stores don't stock Coffee Crisps. How it's so hard for Canadians to get a U.S. credit card. Or why you can't get vinegar with your french fries at California McDonald's locations. One of the group's founders, San Jose consul and trade commissioner Handol Kim, hopes DML will become a powerful catalyst for networking among Canadians in the Valley. "It's fun and casualness first and foremost, but we also try and profit from it," he says of the group. "A big segment of the membership is starting to voice interest in networking opportunities." Canadians don't have the same urgent need to band together south of the border as migrants from overseas. Speaking North American English and being familiar with American mannerisms and culture makes it far easier for them to operate among U.S.-born colleagues. But the success of other minority groups at networking here is hard to ignore. Today, Dun and Bradstreet estimates that more than one-quarter of the high-tech companies in the region are led by Chinese or Indian immigrants. Foreign-born populations such as the Indian and Taiwanese have established powerful networking groups in Silicon Valley, such as TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs Network) and the Monte Jade Science and Technology Association, named after Taiwan's tallest mountain. The Monte Jade association was started in Silicon Valley in 1990 by high-tech Chinese-American executives. It now has thousands of members across North America. TiE was set up in the early 1990s and also has several thousand members stretching from India to North America. Also active are the Chinese Professionals Association and the Korean-American Professional Society. Among other things, these groups help open doors for high-tech entrepreneurs looking for support and guidance. And they have developed a reputation for helping minority entrepreneurs thrive. TiE, for example, gives Indo-American entrepreneurs a chance to rub shoulders with fellow success stories at regular dinner and networking meetings. "Let's say you are an Indian entrepreneur and you wanted to get the attention of Vinod Khosla, who's an Indo-American venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers," says Mr. Kim, referring to Silicon Valley's preeminent venture capital firm. "If you sent him something out of the blue, he would never look at it. But if you go to the TiE monthly curry, you can sit right next to the guy and talk to him. And he gives the opportunity to have undivided time." As the TiE Web site proclaims: "It's all about networking." Monte Jade also holds monthly dinner meetings, social gatherings and other events such as investment conferences. Meanwhile, the DML is already helping Canadians. A jobs section on its Web site has postings from such companies as Cisco Systems Inc. Its events have attracted corporate headhunters from Canada looking to recruit expatriates to return home from the Valley. The DML is also reaping dividends for the San Jose Canadian consulate and its efforts to assist Canadian companies entering the U.S. market. The social club has helped the consulate attract Canadian expatriate talent to the ranks of a venture capital advisory board it relies on to help companies improve their pitches for financing. "About four members of the VC advisory board have come to us through the DML," says Mr. Kim. Working with the Canadian consulate, DML is already mixing business with pleasure for Canucks in the Valley, promoting a December conference for Canadian technology entrepreneurs in San Jose. "Ultimately, Digital Moose Lounge will be the Canadian voice in Silicon Valley," says Mr. Kim. |