LEAGUE CEO and founder Mike Serbinis is known for his candor. Whether speaking at events like #BetaKitIPO, or simply talking about his company’s upcoming fundraising, Serbinis is direct and does not mince words.
This morning, the founder and former CEO of Kobo took to Twitter to unleash umbrage at a recent op-ed in The Globe and Mail on Toronto Mayor John Tory’s trip to the Valley. The full tweetstorm, which we’ve listed below, should not surprise those who have heard Serbinis in the past: listing the benefits of building companies in Canada, and rejecting the “Silicon Valley North” narrative in favor of a unique “tech and innovation success story.” The final refrain is a familiar one from Serbinis: if you’re not part of the movement, “get out of the way.”
1/ On day 6 of #whole 30, +a mess of injuries…out of my typical routine, I also picked up the paper. The actual paper. So here is my rant:
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
2/ Our new major @johntory has made innovation a priority for Toronto. It’s genuine, pragmatic, and its motivated by economics and vision
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
3/ I applaud @johntory for his stand on tech, and the thecorridor.ca, it’s a great start
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
4 / We have a thriving tech industry & it has never been so robust, even without RIM / Nortel at the top of their games.
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
5/15 thousand tech companies, 5200 of them startups, like @joinleague and my prior company @kobo. It’s a hot, growing part of the economy.
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
6/ Strong universities like @uwaterloo, @UofT that book-end the corridor
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
7/ Institutes like @perimeter that are focused on breakthroughs, and are the basis for Quantum Valley
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
8/ Recently Ipo’d @shopify, and growing @wattpad, @vidyard, @kik + others.
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
9/ hubs, incubators, accelerators like @marsdd @RyersonDMZ @communitech @creativeDlab
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
10/ entrepreneurs like @ddebow @TonyLacavera @dossip @ted_livingston and more
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
11/ And over 6 million people to be your first customers
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
12/ Not to mention a rebate on tech, currency, healthcare, minimal risk of getting shot, immigration policy, & unlimited fresh water
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
13/ A pretty great place to build a tech company. You can build global, billion dollar market cap companies here. You can invest here.
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
14/ It’s not the valley. I lived there. I go there. I love it there. This is not there.
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
15/ It does not mean that we can’t create our own, unique story.
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
16/ We can build our own tech & innovation success story here, and it can be world class. I believe we can, and we will.
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
17/ Once upon a time, Vannevar Bush wrote this letter to the President, Science The Endless Frontier
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
18/ It led to a cascade of events, and Silicon Valley was a beneficiary of it.
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
19/ We need similar, long term vision from the feds here, and a decision to make the Toronto-Waterloo corridor, our #1 tech cluster
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
20/ We need tech leaders to unite. Tell stories. We are driving innovation, job growth, and giving new grads the inspiration they need
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
21/We need the financial sector to up their investment in venture & tech because they are lagging
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
22/ We need corporates to start buying from our tech cos, and reach out to the pool of world class talent we have here
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
23/And we need the media to help us share those stories
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
24/However, in my experience, our media leans to the negative when it comes to our tech sector.
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
25/Like in this situation
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
26/ The mayor went to the valley of last week https://t.co/GMJls9fYX8
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
27/ And the view /op-ed that the globe prints…https://t.co/9eLj1bXb7X
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
28/That Canadians who have been in the valley for 15 years, are likely not to come home to be apart of tech here.
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
29 /No shit
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
30/Like a nasty big brother that hammers his younger bro for uttering a peep, and then proceeds to embarrass him in front of his friends
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
31/I’m all for balanced view
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
32/ But give me a break
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
33/There’s a quarter million canadians in the valley, and leadership groups like @C100
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
34/People do come back, and it with valuable experience
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
35/Like I did.
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
36/It only takes one.
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
37/ To build a world changing company, that creates tremendous wealth, and inspires generations @JoinLeague
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
38/So you can either get behind me, others & this movement, or you can get out of the way
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
39/If you have the will, anything is possible
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
40/So thank you @JohnTory
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
41/ I should've just read @WSJ @nytimes @Flipboard this morning…
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
42 / end of rant. happy saturday.
— michael serbinis (@mserbinis) April 9, 2016
Related: Toronto mayor Tory calls on Canadians to ‘brag’ about #ToWRCorridor ahead of Valley trade mission
