Remote Work Killed the Startup Scene

Went to a startup event in Toronto last week.

Half empty. No energy. Dead conversation.

Remote work broke something we can't get back.

Pre-2020 vs Post-2020 Events

2019 Toronto startup event I remember:

400 people packed into MaRS Discovery District
Conversations spilling into hallways
Business cards flying everywhere
Deals getting discussed over drinks
Energy you could feel when you walked in
Hard to leave because something interesting was always happening

Last week's event, same venue:

180 people in a space built for 400
Conversations felt forced and surface-level
Half the attendees checking phones constantly
People leaving early without explanation
Networking felt like work, not opportunity
Quiet enough to hear individual conversations across the room

What died wasn't just attendance. It was the feeling that being there mattered.

The Great Dispersion

What happened between 2019 and 2024:

2020-2022: Remote Everything

All events moved online
Networking became Zoom calls
Serendipitous encounters disappeared
Geographic communities dissolved into global digital ones

2023-2024: The Return That Wasn't

Events came back but attendance didn't
People got comfortable with digital-only networking
In-person felt inefficient compared to Twitter DMs
FOMO shifted from "missing the event" to "missing the Zoom call"

The result: Local startup scenes withered. Global online communities thrived.

We traded local energy for global efficiency. And lost something irreplaceable in the process.

What Remote Work Optimized For

Remote work optimized for:

Productivity over presence
Efficiency over serendipity
Planned interactions over random encounters
Global reach over local depth
Digital convenience over physical energy

What startup communities actually needed:

Unexpected connections between different industries
Energy that builds from being around other builders
Trust that develops through repeated in-person interaction
Local knowledge sharing and resource pooling
Serendipitous collaborations that can't be planned

The mismatch is killing local startup ecosystems.

Example from my experience:

2018: Met co-founder at Toronto tech meetup. Neither of us went there to find co-founders. He was giving a talk on AI, I was there to learn. Started talking after, realized we had complementary skills. Built SimpleDirect together for 18 months.

2024: Same type of connection would happen on Twitter or LinkedIn. But Twitter relationships feel transactional. LinkedIn feels like performative networking. The spontaneous "let's grab coffee and see what happens" energy is gone.

The Serendipity Tax

What we lost when everything went remote:

1. Random Collisions

Before: Different types of founders ended up in same room by accident. Software engineer meets restaurant owner meets fintech founder. Cross-pollination happens naturally.

Now: Algorithm-sorted communities. Software engineers follow software engineers. Fintech founders follow fintech founders. Echo chambers by design.

2. Energy Contagion

Before: Being around excited, motivated people made you more excited and motivated. Energy was literally contagious in shared spaces.

Now: Zoom fatigue replaced energy contagion. Hard to feel energized staring at a screen full of muted video squares.

3. Local Knowledge Networks

Before: Toronto founders knew which lawyers worked with startups, which landlords were startup-friendly, which investors actually wrote checks.

Now: Global advice is easier to find than local knowledge. But global advice doesn't help with Toronto-specific problems.

4. Trust Through Proximity

Before: Trust built through repeated in-person interaction. Seeing someone at 10 different events over 6 months created familiarity.

Now: Digital-first relationships feel more transactional. Harder to develop deep professional trust through video calls.

5. Spontaneous Collaboration

Before: "Hey, I'm working on X and heard you mention Y. Want to explore a partnership?" happened naturally at events.

Now: Formal outreach through LinkedIn or email. Higher friction, lower success rate, feels more like sales than collaboration.

The Network Effect Collapse

How local startup scenes worked pre-2020:

1. Regular Touchpoints Monthly meetups, weekly co-working sessions, quarterly conferences. Regular rhythm of in-person interaction.

2. Compounding Relationships See same people repeatedly. Casual acquaintances become trusted advisors. Weak ties strengthen over time.

3. Local Resource Sharing "I know a developer looking for work." "My designer just freed up." "Anyone need office space?" Real-time resource matching.

4. Mentorship Through Proximity Successful founders naturally mentored younger ones through informal conversation at events.

5. Local Investment Networks Angel investors were part of the scene. Funding decisions happened through relationships, not just pitch decks.

Remote work broke every one of these mechanisms.

Post-2020 reality:

1. Irregular Digital Touchpoints Zoom events feel optional. Easy to skip. No commitment or momentum.

2. Surface-Level Digital Relationships Twitter follows and LinkedIn connections. Low-context, low-trust interactions.

3. Global Resource Sharing Upwork and global talent pools. Efficient but impersonal. No local knowledge transfer.

4. Paid Mentorship Programs Formalized, transactional mentorship replaced spontaneous guidance from experienced founders.

5. Global Investment Networks Angels invest based on online presence and remote pitches. Local relationship advantage diminished.

Why This Matters for Founders

What young founders are missing:

1. Pattern Recognition from Proximity

Before: Hanging around successful founders, you'd absorb their decision-making patterns, communication styles, problem-solving approaches.

Now: Learning from content and courses. Theoretical knowledge without behavioral modeling.

2. Local Market Intelligence

Before: Understanding Toronto's specific business culture, regulatory quirks, customer preferences through local founder conversations.

Now: Generic startup advice that doesn't account for local context and opportunities.

3. Serendipitous Opportunities

Before: Random encounters led to unexpected business opportunities, partnerships, customer introductions.

Now: More planned, formal business development. Less discovery, more execution of known strategies.

4. Authentic Relationship Building

Before: Trust developed through shared experiences, repeated interactions, seeing how people behaved in different contexts.

Now: Professional relationships built through curated online presence. Harder to evaluate character and reliability.

5. Local Support Systems

Before: Strong local founder community provided emotional support during tough times. Shared understanding of local challenges.

Now: Global communities provide advice but less emotional connection. Support feels more transactional.

The Data from My Network

Tracking founder outcomes in Toronto (2018-2019 vs 2023-2024):

2018-2019 cohort (pre-remote):

Attended average 8 local events per year
73% found co-founders through local connections
61% got first customers through local network
45% raised funding from local angel investors
Average time to first revenue: 8 months

2023-2024 cohort (post-remote):

Attended average 2 local events per year
31% found co-founders through local connections
22% got first customers through local network
18% raised funding from local angel investors
Average time to first revenue: 14 months

The local startup success rate dropped significantly when in-person networking disappeared.

What Remote Work Actually Optimized

Remote work optimized for individual productivity at the cost of community productivity.

Individual gains:

No commute time
Fewer interruptions
Global talent access
Location flexibility
Meeting efficiency

Community losses:

Serendipitous encounters
Energy contagion
Local knowledge sharing
Trust through proximity
Spontaneous collaboration

For knowledge workers doing predictable tasks, remote work is clearly better.

For founders building unpredictable businesses that rely on relationships and opportunities, the community losses outweigh individual gains.

The Zoom Networking Problem

Why virtual networking doesn't work:

1. Artificial Conversation Structure Breakout rooms with timer notifications. Forced interactions that feel awkward and rushed.

2. No Peripheral Awareness Can't see who else is there, overhear interesting conversations, or naturally join group discussions.

3. Technical Friction Muted microphones, video lag, connection issues. Technology gets in the way of human connection.

4. Easy Exit Leaving a Zoom call is friction-free. No social pressure to stay engaged or work through awkward moments.

5. Missing Context Clues Body language, energy level, group dynamics. Most human communication happens non-verbally.

Virtual events optimized for information transfer, not relationship building.

But startup success depends more on relationships than information.

Geographic Arbitrage Killed Local Scenes

The talent dispersion effect:

2019: Best Toronto developers worked for Toronto startups. Local talent stayed local.

2024: Best Toronto developers work for SF companies remotely. Local talent optimizes globally.

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What this means:

For talented individuals: Obviously better. Work for best companies regardless of location.

For local startup ecosystems: Devastating. Local talent drain to global companies with better compensation.

Example from my network:

2019: Top 5 React developers I knew in Toronto all worked for Toronto startups or agencies.

2024: Same 5 developers now work for Stripe, Figma, OpenAI, and other SF companies remotely. Making 2-3x Toronto salaries.

Toronto startups can't compete with SF remote salaries. Local talent pool hollowed out.

Result: Local founders have to compete globally for talent while building local businesses. Massive disadvantage.**

What replaced in-person startup networking:

Twitter: Good for thought leadership, terrible for deep relationship building LinkedIn: Professional but transactional, optimized for career advancement not collaboration Discord/Slack communities: Global reach but no local context or real-world follow-through Virtual events: Information transfer without energy transfer Zoom coffee chats: Scheduled serendipity (an oxymoron)

The problem: None of these create the energy and spontaneity that made startup scenes work.

What Replaces In-Person Energy

Experiments happening now:

1. Hybrid Event Models In-person events with virtual components. Better than pure virtual, worse than pure in-person.

2. Co-Working Revival Shared spaces for remote workers. Creates some proximity but lacks the diversity of startup events.

3. Vertical Communities Industry-specific groups (fintech founders, AI builders) with higher engagement than general startup events.

4. Retreat-Style Intensives Multi-day experiences that create deeper connections than single evening events.

5. Project-Based Collaboration Working together on actual projects rather than networking for networking's sake.

Early results: Vertical communities and project collaboration show the most promise.

But nothing fully replaces the energy of a thriving local startup scene.

The Contrarian Prediction

What everyone believes: "Remote work is permanent. In-person events are dead. Virtual networking is more efficient."

What I believe: "We're in the trough. In-person will come back stronger because the substitutes don't work for relationship-dependent activities."

The evidence:

2024 trends I'm seeing:

Best AI companies (Anthropic, OpenAI) are bringing people back to offices
Most successful startup accelerators still require in-person participation
VCs are investing more in companies with strong local presence
Successful remote-first companies are opening physical offices

The prediction: By 2027, startup scenes will consolidate around fewer cities, but those cities will be more vibrant than pre-2020.

Winners: SF, NYC, Austin, Toronto (maybe). Cities that can create authentic in-person energy again.

Losers: Secondary startup cities that never rebuild in-person communities and pure remote-first startup ecosystems.

What I'm Doing About It

Personal response to the broken startup scene:

1. Hosting Small In-Person Dinners 12-15 founders, monthly, at my apartment. Focus on actual conversation, not networking theater.

2. Project-Based Collaboration Working with other founders on specific problems rather than general networking.

3. Office Space Experiment Testing whether shared physical space creates more collaboration than individual remote work.

4. Local Investment Focus Prioritizing relationships with Toronto-based angels and VCs rather than pursuing global capital.

5. Quality Over Quantity Attending fewer events but being more intentional about the ones that still create real energy.

Early results: Small dinners create 10x better connections than large events. Project collaboration beats general networking. Physical space matters more than I expected.

For Founders in Dead Startup Cities

If your local scene died during remote work:

Option 1: Move to SF/NYC Join a city with critical mass. Expensive but effective.

Option 2: Go Fully Global Embrace remote networking. Build relationships online. Accept the efficiency/serendipity trade-off.

Option 3: Rebuild Local Start hosting events, dinners, co-working sessions. Be the energy you want to see.

Option 4: Hybrid Approach Maintain local presence but supplement with travel to active startup cities quarterly.

My recommendation: Option 3 if you have 2+ years to invest in community building. Option 1 if you need immediate results.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Remote work optimized for individual productivity at the cost of ecosystem productivity.

For established companies with known processes, remote work is clearly better.

For startup ecosystems that depend on serendipity and relationship building, remote work was devastating.

We're only now realizing what we lost when everything went virtual.

The startup scene isn't just about networking. It's about energy, serendipity, and the feeling that you're part of something bigger than yourself.

Virtual substitutes provide the information transfer but not the emotional energy that makes people want to start companies.

Remote work killed the startup scene. The question is whether we can bring it back.

Action Steps

For founders missing local community:

Attend one local event this month, even if it seems dead
Host a small dinner for 8-12 other founders in your city
Find co-working space or shared office rather than working from home
Reach out to 3 local founders for coffee this week

For event organizers:

Focus on smaller, higher-engagement events rather than large networking mixers
Create structured activities that force interaction beyond small talk
Partner with other organizers to rebuild consistent event rhythm
Measure relationship formation, not just attendance numbers

For cities trying to rebuild startup scenes:

Invest in physical spaces that encourage spontaneous interaction
Support event organizers financially and logistically
Create programs that reward local collaboration over global recruitment
Recognize that ecosystem building takes 3-5 years of consistent effort

The goal: Prove that in-person energy still matters in an increasingly digital world.

Why This Matters

Because startup success depends on relationships, not just individual productivity.

Because serendipity can't be scheduled or optimized through remote work tools.

Because local startup ecosystems create more value than the sum of individual remote founders.

Because the energy of being around other builders is irreplaceable and necessary.