That's a very good question. It's quite complex.
A start‑up is created to bring something innovative to the market. That's different from a small or medium-sized business that is looking to innovate or change how it does things.
The approach is what needs changing, whether we are talking about the Business Development Bank of Canada or another organization. We need to accept the fact that we don't support a set of companies in a distinct way. Instead, we support a pool of companies in a geographic- and sector-specific way, in the hope that some of those companies will succeed.
The approach to risk is different. We don't measure the individual risk of each company. We take a pool of companies and hope that some of them will be successful. For an investment fund, sometimes it's enough for one company to succeed in order to replenish the entire fund. That one transaction out of the 20, 30, 40 or 60 can be enough. According to the information, a company has a one in 250 chance of making it. We need to take a pool-based approach and accept that some companies won't make it.
The benefit of IP is that, when a company doesn't make it, that property remains. It can be reused and transferred to another company in that sector. It can be resold and enhanced in different ways. Let's not forget that entrepreneurs who didn't succeed are still entrepreneurs. They'll go on to start other companies.
That's why I think a pool-based approach is a good way to go.