4 ms·

What Is Startup Chile And Why I’m Leaving Mexico

53 points by j_camarena 15y ago

byoung2 15y ago
I hope governments around the world are reading this and taking note. When you make it hard for your citizens to set up shop in your country, they are going to go somewhere else where it is easier. And all of the jobs that they would create, and money that they would pump into the local economy goes with them. It is similar to what happened to the movie industry in Hollywood. When other states and countries started offering tax breaks and streamlined permit processing, big productions moved out of California.
- binarray2000 15y ago
  A story of my friend from the time I've lived in Germany...posted to a different topic but interesting nonetheless: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3224374 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3224374
  - byoung2 15y ago
    Thank you for sharing that story. Sounds like a very daunting process. When I was in the Philippines last year, there was an initiative to create a new visa that would grant permanent resident status to entrepreneurs who set up businesses that employed 10 Filipinos. I wish more countries would adopt this approach. http://www.visasphilippines.com/sveg http://www.visasphilippines.com/sveg
    - binarray2000 15y ago
      Thanks for introducing Philippines to the discussion (in addition to Chile). Both countries provide an example of how to attract entrepreneurs. And both are emerging economies. When I follow the discussion on "entrepreneurial immigration" in USA and in Germany I see the same flawed logic: Everything's OK now, "we're on the top of the world", "why risk letting people in, maybe there will be terrorists among them"... Essentially, it's the policy of building higher walls and being, in effect, repellent. But also not realizing that entrepreneurs are a rare breed. Why do not intelligent people act differently? Why has the high civil servant from my story let a pretty sure bet (my friend) leave the country? Yes, it's the risk of being accused for letting a foreigner in but that is the surface of the problem. Underneath is the hubris. "We don't need it, we've got it all" mentality.
- nodata 15y ago
  > they are going to go somewhere else where it is easier. Not necessarily. They're more likely to go somewhere else where it is easier.
  - byoung2 15y ago
    Not necessarily. They're more likely to go somewhere else where it is easier. I didn't mean that everyone would just pick up and move, but enough might, and that could have an impact. Some people won't go anywhere, but they might stay and not start that business, which would have the same effect.
mvzink 15y ago
This is cool. I would like to see more news from accepted Startup Chile companies. Julio says there are lots of other benefits afforded by Chile, as has been said elsewhere; I'd like to hear some firsthand anecdotes about these benefits.
- j_camarena 15y ago
  Subscribe to my blog and Embrace yourself; Startup Chile and open recommendations post to my natal country are coming.
mrpollo 15y ago
While i respect your decision, I'm not really sure why you didn't stay in Mexico, I think your article needs more details about what type of Help you got from the Mexican Gov., and what was the difference in Chile what did they offer?, My big question would be, is it a totally different Market as you would expected to be? if so, what did you had to change on your business strategy?
- armandososa 15y ago
  Chile gives an entrepreneur $40k to fund an internet company and stay there for 6 months. Mexico taxes you twice because you have an internet company. Oh, and they will use those taxes to fund a stupid war.
- j_camarena 15y ago
  Hello; Thanks for your comment. To get an easy read on this reply i would divide it in main for topics: - Why didn't stay and more details about it. - Difference within Chile. - Totally different market. - Changes in business strategy. ## if you are truly interested on those topics please subscribe the blog, I'm planning to cover all of this topics on future posts. ## -> Why didn't stay and more details about it. <- This one in particular will be published soon, actually i'm just finishing the draft and maybe will be public in 2 days or something. Try to subscribe, you can be sure that i will post open recommendations, opinions and reasons why i stooped paying Taxes in Mexico .. i hope someone in the government can read it. -> Difference within Chile <-- I think its matter of philosophy .. almost all the country's will try to "get a piece of the pay", what Chile is doing here to have a clear vision to mitigate the "brain-drain" effect bringing some hope to local people. Its always good to have a guy in his 20's who did it big like your neighbor. Mexico in the other hand is focusing his self in giving "easy loans" with high interest rate to young people. This sounds like "hey, let me screw you a little, in a couple of years you will broke like 80% of the business but i will have my payback or get your home".. they are just doing it wrong.. very wrong. -> Totally different market. <-- Yes, it us a huge unknown market for us .. but we are going to keep our Mexico operations in a virtual way .. just they will be not paying to a Mexican company; Instead payment will be sent to an international company (i don't know where yet). Doing this they cant charge Taxes but we sure can attend clients in Mexico (and all latin-america) from any country in the world (Borders are so 90's). -> Change in business strategy. <- Well .. to be honest I'm a Mechanical Engineer... within my career i didn't learn anything about programming, html or css.. i just focused myself in Energy efficiency, heath transfer and entropy .. but the web was always my hobie. When graduated (2008) all the world was "in crisis" and there where no lots of Jobs .. but the web was making billions so i used my web knowledge to start something else and using as a pivot in the future.. by now the pivot is going great!. What im planning here is to have a customer-base within all latinamerica instead of just Mexico. I will also diversify to three or web apps. ### If you liked please subscribe, I'm planning to cover all this topics on my future posts ###.
fduran 15y ago
Hola Julio, your blog link http://www.blog.guali.com.mx/ http://www.blog.guali.com.mx/ is 403 right now. Good luck in Chile.
- j_camarena 15y ago
  Thanks for the info.. we are renaming our company blog to superpymes.com That's why you got the error; i don't no lots of traffic there but i will be done by today's night. Anyway i removed the link on our company website, thanks again :).
j_camarena 15y ago
If anyone is interested i also have a Spanish version of this same post here: http://jcamarena.com/startups/que-es-startup-chile-y-por-que-me-voy-de-mexico/ http://jcamarena.com/startups/que-es-startup-chile-y-por-que...
- ajarmoniuk 15y ago
  And here are the comments from noticiashacker.com http://www.noticiashacker.com/noticia/julio-camarena-qu-es-startup-chile-y-porqu-me-voy-de-mxico http://www.noticiashacker.com/noticia/julio-camarena-qu-es-s...
pedalpete 15y ago
I was accepted to Start-up Chile and arrived two weeks ago. You're in for a great ride Julio. My biggest concern when I first got accepted was the caliber of people which would be attracted to the program. I hadn't seen any start-ups which had come out of the program, and thought maybe the government was just hopping on the incubator bandwagon. Since arriving and meeting the entrepreneurs here, I've been very impressed. Amazing projects, great people from around the world. You'll have no regrets with your decision. Look forward to meeting you in Chile. If you have any questions, drop me an email, the address is in my profile.
- j_camarena 15y ago
  Hey!, thanks for the comment .. actually im kinda afraid for the quality of the people there. Would be great to get a beer (or pisco (?)) there on Santiago :).
syb 15y ago
Hello everybody. My name is Joshua, I'm also mexican and just a year away to finish my degree in computer science. I've also got my concerns about entrepreneurship here in Mexico but willing to start something. I'd like to know whether there's a place that all of us gather and discuss such topics. I think Julio's thought about leaving Mexico for further support and opportunity is something that has thrived amongst many of us young people at some point in time. Personally, I'm just to decide what to do next, and I'm inclined to keep myself here in Mexico and do some breakthrough work in the education sector. But as all of us knows, mistrust, corruption and legal/political/financial obstacles weaken our will. Concluding, I'd like us to keep in contact with each other, because for me, trust is an issue and contributing to this discussion reflect the concern and unbiased point of view (as many "bootstrappers" would like to seem, as Julio mentioned). My twitter is @syb_ and I'll be glad to keep in contact with all of you.

53 points by j_camarena 15y ago

I hope governments around the world are reading this and taking note. When you make it hard for your citizens to set up shop in your country, they are going to go somewhere else where it is easier. And all of the jobs that they would create, and money that they would pump into the local economy goes with them. It is similar to what happened to the movie industry in Hollywood. When other states and countries started offering tax breaks and streamlined permit processing, big productions moved out of California.

binarray2000 15y ago
A story of my friend from the time I've lived in Germany...posted to a different topic but interesting nonetheless: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3224374 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3224374
- byoung2 15y ago
  Thank you for sharing that story. Sounds like a very daunting process. When I was in the Philippines last year, there was an initiative to create a new visa that would grant permanent resident status to entrepreneurs who set up businesses that employed 10 Filipinos. I wish more countries would adopt this approach. http://www.visasphilippines.com/sveg http://www.visasphilippines.com/sveg
  - binarray2000 15y ago
    Thanks for introducing Philippines to the discussion (in addition to Chile). Both countries provide an example of how to attract entrepreneurs. And both are emerging economies. When I follow the discussion on "entrepreneurial immigration" in USA and in Germany I see the same flawed logic: Everything's OK now, "we're on the top of the world", "why risk letting people in, maybe there will be terrorists among them"... Essentially, it's the policy of building higher walls and being, in effect, repellent. But also not realizing that entrepreneurs are a rare breed. Why do not intelligent people act differently? Why has the high civil servant from my story let a pretty sure bet (my friend) leave the country? Yes, it's the risk of being accused for letting a foreigner in but that is the surface of the problem. Underneath is the hubris. "We don't need it, we've got it all" mentality.
nodata 15y ago
> they are going to go somewhere else where it is easier. Not necessarily. They're more likely to go somewhere else where it is easier.
- byoung2 15y ago
  Not necessarily. They're more likely to go somewhere else where it is easier. I didn't mean that everyone would just pick up and move, but enough might, and that could have an impact. Some people won't go anywhere, but they might stay and not start that business, which would have the same effect.

mvzink 15y ago

This is cool. I would like to see more news from accepted Startup Chile companies. Julio says there are lots of other benefits afforded by Chile, as has been said elsewhere; I'd like to hear some firsthand anecdotes about these benefits.

j_camarena 15y ago
Subscribe to my blog and Embrace yourself; Startup Chile and open recommendations post to my natal country are coming.

mrpollo 15y ago

While i respect your decision, I'm not really sure why you didn't stay in Mexico, I think your article needs more details about what type of Help you got from the Mexican Gov., and what was the difference in Chile what did they offer?, My big question would be, is it a totally different Market as you would expected to be? if so, what did you had to change on your business strategy?

armandososa 15y ago
Chile gives an entrepreneur $40k to fund an internet company and stay there for 6 months. Mexico taxes you twice because you have an internet company. Oh, and they will use those taxes to fund a stupid war.
j_camarena 15y ago
Hello; Thanks for your comment. To get an easy read on this reply i would divide it in main for topics: - Why didn't stay and more details about it. - Difference within Chile. - Totally different market. - Changes in business strategy. ## if you are truly interested on those topics please subscribe the blog, I'm planning to cover all of this topics on future posts. ## -> Why didn't stay and more details about it. <- This one in particular will be published soon, actually i'm just finishing the draft and maybe will be public in 2 days or something. Try to subscribe, you can be sure that i will post open recommendations, opinions and reasons why i stooped paying Taxes in Mexico .. i hope someone in the government can read it. -> Difference within Chile <-- I think its matter of philosophy .. almost all the country's will try to "get a piece of the pay", what Chile is doing here to have a clear vision to mitigate the "brain-drain" effect bringing some hope to local people. Its always good to have a guy in his 20's who did it big like your neighbor. Mexico in the other hand is focusing his self in giving "easy loans" with high interest rate to young people. This sounds like "hey, let me screw you a little, in a couple of years you will broke like 80% of the business but i will have my payback or get your home".. they are just doing it wrong.. very wrong. -> Totally different market. <-- Yes, it us a huge unknown market for us .. but we are going to keep our Mexico operations in a virtual way .. just they will be not paying to a Mexican company; Instead payment will be sent to an international company (i don't know where yet). Doing this they cant charge Taxes but we sure can attend clients in Mexico (and all latin-america) from any country in the world (Borders are so 90's). -> Change in business strategy. <- Well .. to be honest I'm a Mechanical Engineer... within my career i didn't learn anything about programming, html or css.. i just focused myself in Energy efficiency, heath transfer and entropy .. but the web was always my hobie. When graduated (2008) all the world was "in crisis" and there where no lots of Jobs .. but the web was making billions so i used my web knowledge to start something else and using as a pivot in the future.. by now the pivot is going great!. What im planning here is to have a customer-base within all latinamerica instead of just Mexico. I will also diversify to three or web apps. ### If you liked please subscribe, I'm planning to cover all this topics on my future posts ###.

fduran 15y ago

Hola Julio, your blog link http://www.blog.guali.com.mx/ http://www.blog.guali.com.mx/ is 403 right now. Good luck in Chile.

j_camarena 15y ago
Thanks for the info.. we are renaming our company blog to superpymes.com That's why you got the error; i don't no lots of traffic there but i will be done by today's night. Anyway i removed the link on our company website, thanks again :).

j_camarena 15y ago

If anyone is interested i also have a Spanish version of this same post here: http://jcamarena.com/startups/que-es-startup-chile-y-por-que-me-voy-de-mexico/ http://jcamarena.com/startups/que-es-startup-chile-y-por-que...

ajarmoniuk 15y ago
And here are the comments from noticiashacker.com http://www.noticiashacker.com/noticia/julio-camarena-qu-es-startup-chile-y-porqu-me-voy-de-mxico http://www.noticiashacker.com/noticia/julio-camarena-qu-es-s...

pedalpete 15y ago

I was accepted to Start-up Chile and arrived two weeks ago. You're in for a great ride Julio. My biggest concern when I first got accepted was the caliber of people which would be attracted to the program. I hadn't seen any start-ups which had come out of the program, and thought maybe the government was just hopping on the incubator bandwagon. Since arriving and meeting the entrepreneurs here, I've been very impressed. Amazing projects, great people from around the world. You'll have no regrets with your decision. Look forward to meeting you in Chile. If you have any questions, drop me an email, the address is in my profile.

j_camarena 15y ago
Hey!, thanks for the comment .. actually im kinda afraid for the quality of the people there. Would be great to get a beer (or pisco (?)) there on Santiago :).

syb 15y ago

Hello everybody. My name is Joshua, I'm also mexican and just a year away to finish my degree in computer science. I've also got my concerns about entrepreneurship here in Mexico but willing to start something. I'd like to know whether there's a place that all of us gather and discuss such topics. I think Julio's thought about leaving Mexico for further support and opportunity is something that has thrived amongst many of us young people at some point in time. Personally, I'm just to decide what to do next, and I'm inclined to keep myself here in Mexico and do some breakthrough work in the education sector. But as all of us knows, mistrust, corruption and legal/political/financial obstacles weaken our will. Concluding, I'd like us to keep in contact with each other, because for me, trust is an issue and contributing to this discussion reflect the concern and unbiased point of view (as many "bootstrappers" would like to seem, as Julio mentioned). My twitter is @syb_ and I'll be glad to keep in contact with all of you.