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Putting arbitrary caps on visas isn't a great way to do this though. A lot of startups in India are founded & staffed by Indian folks who got their experience,

Putting arbitrary caps on visas isn't a great way to do this though. A lot of startups in India are founded & staffed by Indian folks who got their experience, capital and connections working in the US.

NTDF9 7y ago
Tell that to Trump. He can't see a win-win when it stares at him.
- zaroth 7y ago
  I think you misunderstood the parent comment. Putting caps on H1B visas isn’t a good way for India to stimulate it’s own startup ecosystem, because the claim is that many Founders are returning to India after a stint with H1B. Capping H1B is classic Trump and threatening to cap it based on complaisance with a particular pro-US policy goal, doubly so. Fundamentally, Trump believes America has tremendous amounts of value that it “gives away” too freely to competing countries in terms of access to our education, employment, and markets (visas and trade). He’s willing to leverage the value of cheap visas and cheap trade to obtain foreign policy goals.
  - NTDF9 7y ago
    > Capping H1B is classic Trump and threatening to cap it based on complaisance with a particular pro-US policy goal, doubly so. I get this. But what Trump fails to grasp is that our own ecosystem in the US relies heavily on sucking MIT, Harvard, Stanford level people from other countries. Stopping that is a boon for other countries who not only have their own smart people starting companies locally but also have fewer American companies competing in general since America hemorrhaged that innovation ecosystem.
sumanthvepa 7y ago
True, any barriers to trade are bad for both parties. India will suffer more from this. And the Indian government almost certainly would not want those caps. But it is a misconception to assume that successful Indian startups were founded by folks who got their experience in business in the US. Indeed the most successful Indian business founders are entirely home grown: (See Infosys, Tata, Flipkart -- sold to Walmart now). I say this despite being one of these who got their experience working the US on an h1b, and then came back to India to start a business. The experience abroad was useful. It certainly broadened my horizons. But frankly, I don't think it made a whole lot of difference to my becoming an entrepreneur in India.

NTDF9 7y ago

Tell that to Trump. He can't see a win-win when it stares at him.

zaroth 7y ago
I think you misunderstood the parent comment. Putting caps on H1B visas isn’t a good way for India to stimulate it’s own startup ecosystem, because the claim is that many Founders are returning to India after a stint with H1B. Capping H1B is classic Trump and threatening to cap it based on complaisance with a particular pro-US policy goal, doubly so. Fundamentally, Trump believes America has tremendous amounts of value that it “gives away” too freely to competing countries in terms of access to our education, employment, and markets (visas and trade). He’s willing to leverage the value of cheap visas and cheap trade to obtain foreign policy goals.
- NTDF9 7y ago
  > Capping H1B is classic Trump and threatening to cap it based on complaisance with a particular pro-US policy goal, doubly so. I get this. But what Trump fails to grasp is that our own ecosystem in the US relies heavily on sucking MIT, Harvard, Stanford level people from other countries. Stopping that is a boon for other countries who not only have their own smart people starting companies locally but also have fewer American companies competing in general since America hemorrhaged that innovation ecosystem.

sumanthvepa 7y ago

True, any barriers to trade are bad for both parties. India will suffer more from this. And the Indian government almost certainly would not want those caps. But it is a misconception to assume that successful Indian startups were founded by folks who got their experience in business in the US. Indeed the most successful Indian business founders are entirely home grown: (See Infosys, Tata, Flipkart -- sold to Walmart now). I say this despite being one of these who got their experience working the US on an h1b, and then came back to India to start a business. The experience abroad was useful. It certainly broadened my horizons. But frankly, I don't think it made a whole lot of difference to my becoming an entrepreneur in India.