Maison Notman has always represented an important meeting place for local entrepreneurs. For those in the know, the Notman House is simply “Notman.”
“Shall we meet at Notman?” », “Are you thinking of going to meetup to Notman? “, “Where is it incubated? start-up ? Ah yes, to Notman. “.
A symbol that nothing is impossible for a community that knows how to dream lucidly, Notman is a real beating heart of our digital ecosystem and a reminder that every dream starts small before becoming big.
Having once hosted the famous photographer William Notman, the house is a real silent witness to the evolution of Montreal which, thanks to the vision of the OSMO Foundation, has contributed to the birth of dreams and entrepreneurial successes of our own.
Without Notman, would there have been a FounderFuel? A wavo.mea PasswordBox, a Sonder?
For more than a decade now, the Notman House has cultivated a myriad of talents and ideas. It has established itself not only as an incubator through FounderFuel, but also as the epicenter of an important network connecting brilliant and innovative minds of all kinds. It has become the preferred place where relationships are forged, where knowledge is exchanged and where the future is created.
We often talk about Silicon Valley and what makes it unique — its network effect, as we like to call it. What is that ? Basically, it is the ability of an environment to increase in value the more it is used. What does that mean, in concrete terms? That means that in San Francisco, if you walk into any coffee shop, you’re pretty sure you’ll find someone to talk with — someone to move forward with.
This is the kind of situation we dream of in Montreal. This is the kind of thing that, as an entrepreneur, I dream of passing on to the next generation of innovators. That’s the kind of thing you get when you have common places like the Notman House.
Notman is a must-stop for innovators from around the world when they pass through Montreal. It’s a good start. That said, and even if Montreal is a hub for artificial intelligence, we are not yet Silicon Valley… and a network effect is being built little by little.
Today, with the threat of a sale looming, it is not just the Notman House that finds itself at a decisive turning point, it is the entire community start-up, and Montreal itself. If a vibrant community is built brick by brick, losing the Notman House is a bit like destroying the foundations that we have all been trying to put in place for decades.
The community start-up is resilient and innovative — we will make our way despite everything. On the other hand, it would be important that as a Montreal and Quebec society, we ask ourselves what future we really want.
We often talk about the importance of creating jobs — it would also be good if we talked about the importance of creating creators of jobs. And that’s a bit of a problem when saving Notman.