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There is, but it's in the other direction. It means fewer of the startups we fund have non-US founders than would be the case without this constraint.

by pg 17y ago

zitterbewegung 17y ago
Do you think there would be an advantage for a ycombinator like group that wasn't based in the United States? Or do other venture capitalists have this covered?
electromagnetic 17y ago
Agreed, the limits placed on immigration in the US is quite bizarre, which is likely to prevent people from paying taxes and profits into the US. I'm a writer and I see a lot of similarities in myself to start-up's and the general population here on HN. Our essential constraint for developing is access to a computer, and you can do that anywhere, but as immigrants we move for quality of life. I'm going to write wherever I am, it's a simple fact and I'm sure everyone on her will develop wherever they are, which is the same for any immigrant. I'm lucky that I benefited from my move. Any sale I make to Europe (I'm from the UK) now cover the loss for selling to a foreign market (roughly 1/3 loss due to paying translators and a foreign editor) by the exchange rate potentially doubling my income, so I still make 32% more per sale for cost of living than I would in the UK for equivalent sale without being punished for sales to the US (essentially a 1/3 cut and then a 1/2 cut on top of that for the exchange rate, meaning having to sell 5 copies in the US for 1 in the UK). Again I'm lucky that my cost of living decreased while my quality of life increased, and this isn't the case for immigrants from poorer countries. Immigrant developers are moving to the US for an increased quality of life for a decreased cost of living when compared to their job. They'll spend much more money in the US than they would in India or wherever they come from, so the whole reason they want to move is assimilation, which the xenophobes are incapable of grasping due to either wilful or unwilful ignorance.
kragen 17y ago
Startups with non-US founders, by and large, probably don't experience the same level of pain with immigration as startups with US founders. That's because most startups with non-US founders aren't in the US and never have to deal with US immigration policies, which are reputedly the most troublesome in the world. So I think Maciej's point stands: if you were funding companies that weren't in the US, you would be less likely to think immigration issues seemed to be the single biggest external source of pain for startups right now. I'm having a hard time figuring out how you could have interpreted Maciej's comment so as to think that your response might make sense. Can you elucidate?

There is, but it's in the other direction. It means fewer of the startups we fund have non-US founders than would be the case without this constraint.

by pg 17y ago

There is, but it's in the other direction. It means fewer of the startups we fund have non-US founders than would be the case without this constraint.

zitterbewegung 17y ago

Do you think there would be an advantage for a ycombinator like group that wasn't based in the United States? Or do other venture capitalists have this covered?

electromagnetic 17y ago

Agreed, the limits placed on immigration in the US is quite bizarre, which is likely to prevent people from paying taxes and profits into the US. I'm a writer and I see a lot of similarities in myself to start-up's and the general population here on HN. Our essential constraint for developing is access to a computer, and you can do that anywhere, but as immigrants we move for quality of life. I'm going to write wherever I am, it's a simple fact and I'm sure everyone on her will develop wherever they are, which is the same for any immigrant. I'm lucky that I benefited from my move. Any sale I make to Europe (I'm from the UK) now cover the loss for selling to a foreign market (roughly 1/3 loss due to paying translators and a foreign editor) by the exchange rate potentially doubling my income, so I still make 32% more per sale for cost of living than I would in the UK for equivalent sale without being punished for sales to the US (essentially a 1/3 cut and then a 1/2 cut on top of that for the exchange rate, meaning having to sell 5 copies in the US for 1 in the UK). Again I'm lucky that my cost of living decreased while my quality of life increased, and this isn't the case for immigrants from poorer countries. Immigrant developers are moving to the US for an increased quality of life for a decreased cost of living when compared to their job. They'll spend much more money in the US than they would in India or wherever they come from, so the whole reason they want to move is assimilation, which the xenophobes are incapable of grasping due to either wilful or unwilful ignorance.

kragen 17y ago

Startups with non-US founders, by and large, probably don't experience the same level of pain with immigration as startups with US founders. That's because most startups with non-US founders aren't in the US and never have to deal with US immigration policies, which are reputedly the most troublesome in the world. So I think Maciej's point stands: if you were funding companies that weren't in the US, you would be less likely to think immigration issues seemed to be the single biggest external source of pain for startups right now. I'm having a hard time figuring out how you could have interpreted Maciej's comment so as to think that your response might make sense. Can you elucidate?