11 ms·
Being from the (rest of the) US, what disturbs me about this poll is how much entrepreneurial talent we might be missing out on. At current count, ~2/3 of read
by m0th87 15y ago
Being from the (rest of the) US, what disturbs me about this poll is how much entrepreneurial talent we might be missing out on.
At current count, ~2/3 of readers are from outside the US. These results seem to be backed up by pitdesi's post.
Since HN is so centered on startups, that's quite a few founders and potential entrepreneurs who could be working on the next Google. And all things being equal, there is a 2/3 chance that that next Google won't be happening in the US.
The Valley is amazing, but it's nothing without talent. Making our immigration law more amenable to founders obviously won't cause a mass migration of founders here, but surely some will be attracted to our awesome startup hubs. And we need every edge we can get.
We really need a startup visa.
---
Edit: A couple of the responses have misinterpreted what I was hoping to convey. Of course I don't think everyone is dying to come to the US. What I am simply arguing is that 1) HN is a decent proxy of the startup community, 2) much of that community is outside of the US, 3) is there anything the US can do to attract some of that talent?
This is a question every country should be asking themselves, because startups are engines of prosperity.
For the US, I think the startup visa is a good solution.
- foca 15y agoIn this regard I love what Chile is doing with Startup Chile. You guys seriously need something like that, where you just grant visas to smart founders. I still wouldn't like to live in the US, but I totally support that you become more open :)
- PhilipDaineko 15y agoDidn't read all previous comments, but your last sentence is really cool. Here, in Belarus, we have a startup challenge called "Belarus Startup" and the prize is a payed trip to the Valley :) Startup visa is a cool idea
- m0th87 15y agoFor what it's worth, I didn't coin the phrase. AFAIK, pg started the conversation with the founder visa post: http://www.paulgraham.com/foundervisa.html http://www.paulgraham.com/foundervisa.html And it has since evolved to the startup visa campaign: http://startupvisa.com/ http://startupvisa.com/
- davedx 15y agoConversely, not being based in the US comes with lots of disadvantages, such as terrible payment gateways, unfriendly tax and small business legislation, and smaller networks of entrepreneurs. Here in Ede, the Netherlands, I feel pretty isolated, and I imagine a lot of people in Europe also do unless they live somewhere like London or Amsterdam.
- patrickaljord 15y agoI live in Peru but created my corporation in the US in Delaware just to get the gateways and other US services.
- davedx 15y agoWould you mind emailing me with a bit of info on how you go about doing that? I assume you're not a US citizen? I'd really appreciate some pointers. davedx@gmail.com :)
- mattm 15y agoI would be interested as well - mattmccor@gmail.com
- j_camarena 15y agoNice .. Im going to chile in a couple of weeks and i was thinking about opening in deláware to .. Can you please add me to skype: j_camarena to chat a little?
- drumdance 15y agoThis sounds like a business opportunity all by itself: "virtual domicile hosting" for offshore companies to get access to US services providers.
- tren 15y agoI've also done this, it's not too hard. There are plenty of online services that let you setup an LLC in Delaware, LLCs have good benefits for non-residents. You can then setup a business bank account as a non-residents using your LLC EIN, but I had to visit the US in person to do this.
- pohl 15y agoI mistakenly bumped-up the NY/SF answer, thinking (in haste) that it was all-inclusive of the U.S. I'm in Omaha.
- kingsley_20 15y ago"We" don't need a startup visa, "the USA" might. I'd prefer that Indian entrepreneurs capitalized on the excellent opportunities available at home. I support the startup visa in the spirit of supporting choice, but I resent the implication that the whole world should send its talents to the valley.
- nekojima 15y agoI'd like it if India and other Asian countries had a 'start-up visa'. Currently its usually too difficult to start-up a company using business or tourist visas for most Asian countries, let alone the police registration issues for even short-term residency and the actual legal registration of a local business (which can take longer than the longest available visas), if that's pursued at all. I have tried start-ups in several Asian countries, and have assisted friends with other attempts, so have faced these issues repeatedly.
- mahyarm 15y agoHow about singapore? They have programs like EntrePass and so on.
- nekojima 15y agoWe did begin one start-up in Singapore, though not using EntrePass, as that required paid-up capital of at least S$50,000 and actually an operating company with bank account before applying for Entrepass. Unless there is a local partner willing to set these up ahead of time, makes using this program more difficult, especially if you want to do a low-cost start-up. There is also usually the requirement of paying the founder(s) a minimum salary to qualify for the visa, so that can artificially increase the amount of paid-up capital required in advance, some of which is then lost to govt coffers. I'd prefer to not pay myself & founders a salary and use my current/chequing account to pay those expenses. SIN was one of the easier places in general to operate. Through the use of long-term social visas and frequent travel to Malaysia (JB for an hour or a day) for monthly tourist visa. Registering a business was quite easy too.
- 15y ago
- j_baker 15y agoTwo things: 1. It's awfully presumptuous for you to assume that all these people are just raring to come to the US and the only thing holding them back is the lack of a startup visa. Perhaps people don't live in the US because they want to live where they are? 2. Sheer numbers don't mean shit. The Valley has the best concentration of engineering talent anywhere. Opening up the floodgates to anyone and everyone isn't necessarily a good idea.
- mkramlich 15y agoAlternately, they could always just SSH into the US. Much easier, faster, cheaper.
- jphackworth 15y agoAll things being equal, there is a 2/3 chance that that next Google won't be happening in the US. In this case, all things are not equal. Being located in the US and specifically in Silicon Valley makes a lot of venture-backed startup life easier, whether you need cofounders, investors, advisors, or employees. It's not a coincidence that Google, Apple, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Zynga, and Yahoo are all in the same area.
- fuzzix 15y ago"It's not a coincidence that Google, Apple, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Zynga, and Yahoo are all in the same area" Dublin? I kid. But seriously, come to Ireland startups! Tax haven! Economy in ruins! Need jobs! I might move to the states but it seems counter-productive to me to move from one insane theocracy to another.
- dusanbab 15y agoRegarding your edit - I can't understand why anyone doing a startup wouldn't want to be based in the US! Better executive talent, great engineering talent (but perhaps expensive given demand), plenty of VCs, angels etc & importantly, exit opportunities. As another commenter mentioned, the sheer amount of successes (in the Valley especially) isn't coincidence. The Startup Visa initiative is a great idea, but is that ever going to happen? The current US immigration system is an extremely good filter at keeping generally law-abiding entrepreneurs out, but letting in the exact kind of individuals it purports to protect the US from. If you're going to keep potential job-creators out in this economy, why let anyone in?