Web Summit wrapped, and one phrase echoed in my mind that I heard across multiple conversations, events and panels: “innovation ecosystem.”

Our fair city was abuzz with so many interesting companies in town, and we had a huge opportunity to showcase what Vancouver founders are doing to put the city on the map as an ecosystem to be reckoned with.

We have a solid foundation here, with over 12,000 tech companies, 182,000 skilled workers, and significant capital investments. Programs like Innovate BC’s Ignite and the Small Business Venture Capital Tax Credit exist to grease the wheels for founders. And PacifiCan’s $6.6 million move to land Web Summit for three years? Impressive!

On paper, it looks like we’ve arrived.

But in my opinion, we still have a long way to go.

The shiny press releases and excessive optimism don’t match what’s actually happening on the ground for founders, funders, and talent.

Despite our ranking as a top innovation ecosystem, the infrastructure behind BC’s innovation ecosystem has stagnated. 

My issue: performative optimism

Performative optimism is the belief that storytelling is progress. It’s everywhere, the LinkedIn stories, virtual high-fives, and excessive tags, likes, and comments. We see announcements and think they equal infrastructure – that hosting a global summit is a proxy for being ready to compete on a worldwide stage.

It’s the status quo in Vancouver: a well-meaning but disconnected narrative about innovation — told in panels, press kits, and pitch decks — while the actual machinery of scale, sustainability, and inclusion remains underdeveloped.

I’m not here to be negative, I promise. I’m one of the few born and raised Vancouverites who is fully committed to seeing this city fully realized as the innovation ecosystem in our diverse DNA. I want to share my honest opinion and invite you all to think about the change we need to see to strengthen our province’s innovation ecosystem.

What’s holding us back?

1. Few anchors, no loop

We don’t have enough anchor tech companies. I can count on one hand Vancouver’s giants that recycle talent, capital, and institutional knowledge back into the ecosystem. When exits happen, they get absorbed into larger U.S. firms, and the expertise goes with them. There’s no ecosystem feedback loop — just an off-ramp.

2. Giving startups a fighting chance

Early-stage founders are stuck in a holding pattern — post-MVP, pre-Series A — not because their ideas are weak, but because the support for startups isn’t batting at its best. Programs are fragmented. Mentorship isn’t deep. Funding can be more founder-first.

3. We can’t retain talent

We develop world-class technical and creative talent, but we can’t keep it. Why? Compensation is weak. Career paths are shallow. And the cost of living in BC makes it hard to justify staying when Toronto, Calgary, and Montreal are calling and promising huge perks to help founders keep operating costs in check. BC doesn’t have an innovative talent strategy — and has an opportunity with more Canadians returning home, to create a strong platform for Canadian talent coast to coast to coast.

4. Diversity is cosmetic

Diversity still feels aesthetic. We talk about it, but we aren’t funding enough underrepresented founders at scale. We need bolder shifts with who makes decisions, who gets mentored, or who sits on cap tables. Inclusion is still optional. And if that doesn’t change, we’ll keep building an ecosystem that only works for a select few.

Vancouver could lead — if we’re willing to get real.

Vancouver isn’t broken. But it is still underperforming. And that should light a fire, not just a branding campaign.

We have the ingredients to lead: proximity to the U.S. market, strength in cleantech and life sciences, a growing creative tech sector, and one of the most diverse populations in Canada.

What we need now is to grow up as an ecosystem:

• From pilot programs to full pipelines. Support founders from spark to scale and continue to build out robust programming that set founders up for long-term success in this economy.

• From one-off grants to long-game investment. Build the boring stuff—compensation benchmarks, repeatable mentorship, real succession plans.

• From tokenism to transformation. Fund different kinds of founders, and let them build different types of companies.

Let’s get real, BC.

The gap between what B.C. says it is and what it actually delivers is growing. And if we don’t start closing that gap, we will continue to lose talent and opportunities to retain the most imaginative and forward-thinking creators who want to build successful companies in BC.

Dana Ramnarine is COO at rhum.hr and Head of Talent at BKR Capital.