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The catch is that if you are successful, maybe you stay in Chile and hire local workers and pay taxes. Smart plan if you ask me. State governments in the US d
by bugsy 16y ago
The catch is that if you are successful, maybe you stay in Chile and hire local workers and pay taxes.
Smart plan if you ask me.
State governments in the US do this all the time but focus on attracting big industry and factories to bring jobs, with tens of millions spent just to bring in one company, free land sometimes, and giant tax breaks like no taxes paid for 10 years.
Chile is applying this thinking to the micro side of things, small companies with high potential that don't require a lot of money to keep afloat long enough to get traction. Software companies as one example seldom have to build factories or require specialized toxic chemicals. They can be run out of an apartment, and can end up bringing in tons of money from other countries through sales of product and services.
This is like y-combinator, but you don't sell equity, you get more than $17,000 (this year's special case excepted), you are living in a LOW cost area instead of a HIGH cost area. On the downside it will be more difficult to get venture capital and you pay more for computers and stuff because there is an import tariff.
This plan has huge potential and will probably make Santiago into the next silicon valley. There are tons of states that have talked about creating a new silicon valley, and it is always nonsensical pipe dreams run by fools. This is the first time I have seen a plan laid out that has a very good chance of succeeding.
Why on earth wouldn't ANY sane country want to import as many go-getting highly skilled young entrepreneurs full of energy as possible? It's always amazed me that other countries haven't figured this out, but they are often stuck fighting the last war in that 19th century factory mindset. Most countries have entrepreneur visas that require investments of millions of dollars, etc. That means they miss out on the giant growth that occurs when these tiny tech companies take off.