Almost 10 years ago, Victor Salinas was one of the first founders to walk through our doors when we were still called LatAm Startups. He tried our bootcamps twice, went through our market entry programs, joined us in New York, and navigated the Startup Visa program before any of those paths were well-worn. Some things went very wrong. Others went very right. What happened next is a story about what it actually takes to build something in Canada as a newcomer founder, and what a community looks like when it grows alongside the people it serves. Victor went on to join DMZ, MaRS, and the Accelerator Centre. He hired locally, taught in colleges, volunteered, and became a coach and advisor to founders coming up behind him. And along the way, he taught us as much as we taught him. This is his story. And a little bit of ours. As Global Startups turns 10 this September, we are celebrating with a week of expert-led masterclasses at our Toronto HQ. Sessions are free to attend and open to founders, operators, and business leaders at every stage. See the full lineup and register at luma.com/globalstartups