It's non-trivial and often expensive to hire international employees (legally [0]). $Billion tech companies can afford to do this (staff HR teams and shell out

It's non-trivial and often expensive to hire international employees (legally [0]). $Billion tech companies can afford to do this (staff HR teams and shell out visa-related fees), whereas lean, small startups cannot. [0] There's a significant difference between "employee" and "contractor".