Learning that a 3 min pitch isn't the most important thing in the world changed everything for us. We launched PORCH 💚 just over 2 years ago. It remains hard out there. It has only gotten more difficult to be an immigrant entrepreneur. While most people have the right intentions, the landscape is even more complex and bad actors are everywhere. When we started PORCH, we thought the primary need to help immigrant entrepreneurs was to support them on their BUSINESS journey - from helping them learn to pitch more effectively, to how to raise money, to how to sell and market in a new country. And, yes these things are needed. But there are a ton of accelerators and other organizations doing this already. Some are doing it pretty well and many are not (but that's another story 😜). What we learned over the last two years is that 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿'𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝗮 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝟯-𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵. Don’t get us wrong, this is critical for a founder to learn, but it pales in importance to the 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺. 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗹𝘆. This means different things to different people. - some people need help with opening bank accounts - some with how to invest in Canada and U.S - who to trust for accounting and tax support - some with mental health and wellness - some just need a few friends going through the same challenges as them - and some people want to know where to have some fun in their new city There is an endless list of topics that immigrant entrepreneurs struggle with that many of us take for granted. 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. Enter the renovated PORCH :) PORCH is an exclusive club of international entrepreneurs that have been there, done that, and still doing it. They have come together to support one another on the personal side of the journey (from living to finance to relationships) to learn and grow, and to share their superpowers. So to sum it up... PORCH 💚 is the club for international entrepreneurs for the personal side of the journey (𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘥𝘰). We are not doing this alone. The team; 💚 Founders – Neil & Hunter 🚀 Toronto Chapter Leaders – Ting & Olumuyiwa 👑 PORCH Ambassadors – Somayeh, Adaeze, Akos, Ronan, Marcelo, Nida, Anna 💜 #WomenofPORCH Leaders – Nida (Co-Lead), Anna (Co-Lead), Somayeh, Adaeze, Sachi, Ting

Everything we talk about comes to life through events and community. PORCH Events include topical sessions with high-profile speakers and experts and highly-engaged IRL events focused on relationships, learning and fun. See the pics below :) PORCH Community: 24/7 real-time discussion and support through the active PORCH platform, on-demand resources and content for asynchronous learning, and powerful perks. PORCH was built to level the playing field and give you a greater chance at success.

If you believe PORCH is for you, you can submit an application to join.

Every accepted member into PORCH will get a 30-day free trial to come check out the community and see if it for you! Following your trial, there are two (2) membership options: PORCH Digital | $19/month or $199/year PORCH Slack – 24/7 discussions, support, and questions PORCH Talk Sessions with incredible speakers Community Sessions Coffee Chat Program Resources & Content Library Session Recordings and Shorts 20% Discount on Open In-Person Events (Coaching & Coffee, Potluck, etc.) PORCH Plus | $49/month or $499/year This is the full member of PORCH and provides access to everything we do! Everything in Digital + PORCH Features, Spotlights & Support PORCH Perks – Over $1,000,000 in Savings on the Best Software to Scale your Business Free Access to All Monthly In-Person Events Exclusive Plus-Only Events (Dinners, Sporting Events, Socials, etc.) More information can be found on the membership page here

PORCH is an exclusive community. Everyone is welcome, but PORCH is not for everyone. Real community is not for everyone. It takes work but what you get is magical. The type of people who 💚 PORCH Constant learners - want to keep learning and growing Understands the importance of new relationships Gives to gets - enjoys helping others We give a 30-day free trial for this exact reason. We want to make sure that PORCH is for you and you are for PORCH. If you are passionate about being a part of the PORCH Club, we would love to have you come check it out.

We have two different types of in-person events: Open PORCH Events These events are open beyond PORCH members to attend for a fee. PORCH Plus Members get free admission to all events, PORCH Digital Members get a discount, and everyone else pays for a ticket (ranging from $30-$40). If you are going to be attending our events regularly (which we would love!), you are getting your moneys worth from events alone. These open events include PORCH Potlucks and Coaching & Coffee #onthePORCH. Exclusive PORCH Events All other PORCH events are exclusive to PORCH members with most being exclusive to PORCH Plus Only. These events include bi-monthly PORCH Dinners at Terroni's, socials, sporting events, picnics, and conference meetups (like Collision/WebSummit and Elevate). All PORCH Talk Sessions are exclusive to PORCH members.

We provide all new members with a 30-day free trial to check out the community (no payment method required)! We want to make sure that you find value in everything done here at PORCH. As we say, everyone is welcome, but PORCH is not for everyone. Real community is not for everyone. It takes work but what you get is magical.

Yes! We have members in 40+ countries around the world. Whether are planning your immigration, arriving next week, are new in Canada/U.S., or have been here for 30 years, there is always value in what is done here at PORCH. Being a hybrid community means we have an extensive virtual side of everything we do. From multiple sessions every month (both with high-profile speakers and experts to learn the important topics to succeed and community sessions for learning, sharing expertise, collaboration, and building genuine relationships with other amazing members) to our highly-engaged platforms (Slack and the PORCH Hub) filled with endless discussion, content, recordings, quick learnings, and more. It's important to make community part of your journey as an immigrant entrepreneur. Start building true genuine relationships, get support, and learn so that you are set up for success.

Women of PORCH is an exclusive but all-inclusive program within PORCH for anyone who identifies as a woman. The incredible women of PORCH came together to build a place where female international entrepreneurs can come together, discuss important topics, and support one another. The Women of PORCH unite to support, uplift, and empower one another. This is a safe space where all women can: Connect, Learn, and Grow together Host monthly meetings Enjoy exclusive coffee chats Meet inspiring women leaders Attend in-person meetups + more to come We are over the moon excited to have six incredible PORCH members and ambassadors leading this program. These amazing women have been part of PORCH since the early days, and we couldn’t be more honored to have them leading this. Nida Ateeq Anna Sotnykova Adaeze Zita Edokwe Sachi Kittur Ting Zhou Somayeh Akbarshahi The #WomenofPORCH have an exclusive group within PORCH along with incredible in-person socials, meetups, and events!

PORCH has both in-person and virtual components. Virtual PORCH is a 24/7 community. With members in 40+ countries around the world, we are truly the community that never sleeps. Virtual aspects of the community include: Both of our highly-engaged platforms (Slack and the PORCH Hub – see the previous FAQ) filled with endless discussion, content, recordings, quick learnings, and more. PORCH Talk Sessions with best-in-class guest speakers and experts every month. Community Sessions focused on learning, sharing expertise, collaboration, and building genuine relationships with other amazing members. In-Person PORCH is very proud to host some of the best events for international entrepreneurs! Our IRL events are highly-engaged events focused on relationships, learning, and fun. We host these in-person events every single month (often multiple per month). From the PORCH Potlucks and Coaching & Coffee #onthePORCH to exclusive PORCH Dinners and Blue Jays Games, we believe events shouldn't be filled with selling, way too long talks, long panels, and getting pitched to. We want all attendees to walk away smiling, laughing, some learning, and with new friends. It's not hard to organize real events when you care and that's what we do.

There are two (2) platforms that make up the PORCH Club. Slack The everyday platform used by PORCH members for messaging. With a focus on quality over quantity in PORCH, we are very proud to be a highly engaged and active group. The Slack platform allows for 24/7 real-time discussion and support, organized channels and topics, focused groups, ongoing messaging, and built in coffee-chat programs. PORCH Hub (built on Disco) The Disco platform is the community hub of PORCH. This platform gives members access to our exclusive event calendar with live topical sessions with high-profile speakers and experts, hours and hours of event recordings, #PORCHshorts featuring quick lessons from speakers, a community content library filled with resources and support, a member directory with custom profiles, and the PORCH Perks platform featuring over $1,000,000 in savings on software for your business.

We were hoping you would ask that! Shoot us a connection and message on LinkedIn. We are always happy to chat! Hunter – Co-Founder & COO Neil – Co-Founder & CEO Or email us! Hunter – hunter@porchcommunity.ca Neil – neil@porchcommunity.ca Here are all of our links

We are always looking for great organizations that share our mission to support international entrepreneurs! We have various partnership and sponsorship opportunities, from sponsoring a single event or event series to annual partnerships with ongoing involvement. Check out our existing partners Please reach out to us if you want to chat and learn more! Or reach out to Neil or Hunter on LinkedIn