When we think of North American tech hubs our mind generally goes to the Bay Area or New York, Seattle, and Toronto, but there are so many up-and-coming tech hubs that are growing at rapid speed and producing some major talent; Montreal is one of those hubs.
If you’re looking to hire very niche and specialized talent, here are a few practical reasons you need to consider making your next Product Management hire in Montreal:
1) DTC and B2C Talent
Over the last several years our firm has done significant work recruiting for Product Management and growth talent with experience in consumer-facing brands and products. And, while it is true that many tech leaders are interested in meeting candidates from high-profile consumer brands in the Bay Area, Montreal has also developed a vibrant community of startups and talent in the B2C and DTC space. Montreal is becoming widely recognized for its emerging travel, eCommerce, fashion, hospitality, gaming, AI, and cybersecurity-focused product talent.
2) Eastern Standard Time
Let's face it, if most of your company is based in Toronto or New York having remote employees in the same time zone makes everything a whole lot easier. There is simply greater efficiency and speed when colleagues can just hop on a Zoom and not have to wait that 3-8 hour time difference to get a meeting booked or email replied to.
The other benefit is quality of life - no one team is having to consistently sacrifice their personal life for meetings outside of their work hours.
3) Proximity
Practically speaking you can get to and from Toronto/Montreal within a half day's drive or on Via Rail. If your HQ is in Ottawa, it's even faster and doesn’t rely on having to book flights. This allows remote employees to join for big kickoffs and events without making it an arduous task for HR and the hire.
4) Culture
No organization should be looking to hire one monolithic persona - instead, they should be looking for those who are culture-adds. Those experienced and well-regarded hires who can come in and inject new creativity.
Whether hiring fresh grads or seasoned tech startup executives Montreal has a great and diverse blend of talent. There are two major universities in the area as well as 42 different incubator and accelerator programs and over 179,000 IT professionals - meaning specialized and skilled talent is abundant. Montreal also has the benefit of having mostly bilingual (English/French) candidates.
4) The Hustle is Real
Montreal has had over 1.7 billion US in venture capital financing since 2018 and the candidates in this area are scrappy. Why? Because Montreal startups tend to be on the smaller side with 68% of Montreal startups employing fewer than 10 people. This means these leaders live and breathe the hustle, are often well-connected and know how to roll up their sleeves to get things done.
Montreal workers were also quick to jump on shared workspace models to accommodate the number of founders and startups in the area. There is a strong startup culture that complements the startup vibe of Toronto's tech community.
Overall, Montreal is a great place to find skilled and niche startup-focused Product Managers and Executives. Contact us today to learn more about Montreal’s unique and diverse talent pool.