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While the prevailing sentiment within the technology world may be that you need to be based in Silicon Valley in order to launch a successful startup, it doesn’t mean you need to set down permanent roots in California.

Still, a little help from the Valley can be a big help sometimes.

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For companies like Vidyard, Thalmic Labs and BufferBox — all based in and around the Waterloo, Ont. technology hub — their success is proof that you don’t have to stay in California to operate a successful company once you get a head start from the right accelerator.

All three start-ups are graduates from Silicon Valley’s Y Combinator, a three-month long accelerator that connects young entrepreneurs to knowledgeable mentors and wealthy investors. The program’s growing alumni network of more than 500 companies includes the likes of Scribd, Reddit, Dropbox and Posterous.

In each case, when these Canadian entrepreneurs decided to keep their offices and operations north of the border, their mentors and investors warned against it.