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Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

wsj.com

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Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#41

Post by wayne »

foobarqux wrote: post #35
agmohit01 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alright. Let me list down some immigrants who came here on H1B visa. 1. Jyoti Bansal - Founder of AppDynamics The guy in the above mentioned article was on H1B. 2. Kevin Systrom - Cofounder of Instagram was on H1B visa. 3. Jay Scaler - Founder of ZScaler an unicorn, was on H1B visa 4. Vinod Khosla - Founder of Sun Microsystems and well known VC was on H1B visa initially Will list down some more in some time.

> 2. Kevin Systrom - Cofounder of Instagram was on H1B visa. I don't think that's correct.

He probably meant the other cofounder Mike Krieger. http://www.businessinsider.com/instagram-cofounder-mike-krie...

Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#42

Post by roflchoppa »

agmohit01 wrote: post #33
pandaman wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The three people you listed are not known for founding billion dollar startups. They are known as employees of Google and Microsoft (unless you meant somebody else with the same last names as Google and Microsoft CEO and Google's former VP of engineering).

Alright. Let me list down some immigrants who came here on H1B visa. 1. Jyoti Bansal - Founder of AppDynamics The guy in the above mentioned article was on H1B. 2. Kevin Systrom - Cofounder of Instagram was on H1B visa. 3. Jay Scaler - Founder of ZScaler an unicorn, was on H1B visa 4. Vinod Khosla - Founder of Sun Microsystems and well known VC was on H1B visa initially Will list down some more in some time.

fuck Vinod Khosla

Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#43

Post by rayiner »

mc32 wrote: post #30
staunch wrote: post #6

These are not the downtrodden masses. Immigrant does not mean poor. These are wealthy upper class people coming to the most logical place to create a successful technology company, because they can afford to do so. Poor people are usually stuck wherever they are. Investors in Silicon Valley care a lot about status and pedigree. A foreigner that can afford elite credentials is far more likely to get funding than a poo…

First, educated and immigrants of means are a great addition to any economy they go to and a drain to the economies they leave. It's understandable why educated people might want to leave a country with few economic opportunities for their careers. What I'm not so clear on is what attracts educated people of means to emigrate to the US [and AU and UK] from otherwise stable mature economies? We're better off for them,…

You can make a lot more money in the U.S. From entrepreneurship, of course, but Professionals and executives get paid way more in the U.S. too.

Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#44

Post by OmarIsmail »

foobarqux wrote: post #32
klipt wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elon Musk was an H1-B.

No, he was OPT, at least initially.

OPT doesn't last very long (18 months max I think). The standard path for students is F1->OPT->H1B->Green Card->Citizen.

Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#45

Post by sonabinu »

Most CS students want to come to the U.S. from around the world because the CS Rock Stars are here! Where else are you able to go to a meet up and strike up a conversation with the person who wrote popular software you admire? How often do you get to do that in another country? The immigrants want to start companies here because there are success stories here - especially immigrant success stories. I love the CS classes here ... I love the passion that students show, I love the side projects people are willing to invest free time in ...

Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#46

Post by bkanber »

mc32 wrote: post #30
staunch wrote: post #6

These are not the downtrodden masses. Immigrant does not mean poor. These are wealthy upper class people coming to the most logical place to create a successful technology company, because they can afford to do so. Poor people are usually stuck wherever they are. Investors in Silicon Valley care a lot about status and pedigree. A foreigner that can afford elite credentials is far more likely to get funding than a poo…

First, educated and immigrants of means are a great addition to any economy they go to and a drain to the economies they leave. It's understandable why educated people might want to leave a country with few economic opportunities for their careers. What I'm not so clear on is what attracts educated people of means to emigrate to the US [and AU and UK] from otherwise stable mature economies? We're better off for them,…

It's simple: the US economy is huge. It's bigger than Japan, Germany, France, Brazil, and the UK combined. It's got the same GDP as the EU and as China, but half the population (and 1/4, respectively).

No matter where you are, the US can be a step up -- as is indicated by the OP. These are exactly the immigrants you're asking about, and they came for a shot at exactly this, which they couldn't get back at home.

Incidentally, here's a cool infographic: http://graphics.wsj.com/global-growth/

Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#47

Post by keerthiko »

tinco wrote: post #13

I'm not a U.S. citizen, and obviously one day I hope to be one of those U.S. Billion-Dollar startup founders and I would appreciate a VISA if it would help me achieve that, but there's something shaky with the premise here. Why does the U.S. need to depend on the ~80.000 odd first order immigrants per year to generate that amount of wealth. Couldn't the U.S. somehow draw those ambitious out of its current population?…

It's not (exclusively) about being poor or about drawing ambition from the current population. It's about having a vastly different perspective and background and understanding of how the world works. It's about being more ambitious than the opportunities presented to them in their home country, and having the tenacity to search for better ones on the other side of the world. This by definition makes them better entrepreneurs than nearly any American. You can't draw this out of the current population unless you place them so far away from opportunity, further than Detroit and further than Alaska. Which, it turns out, would make them a non-US citizen.

America is a bubble, and most people growing in it don't understand that different places and people and cultures work differently. People from outside the bubble have a higher likelihood to think differently from the local populace to solve everyday problems, which is the kind of innovation that makes a unicorn happen.

Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#48

Post by ausjke »

cft wrote: post #14
ra1n85 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure H1B visas are relevant here? I would imagine EB-5 (investment) visas would be the more common route for upper class immigrant entrepreneurs coming to the US.

They are more like upper-middle classes (not upper classes).

exactly, many of them are well educated and trained indeed.

Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#49

Post by ausjke »

agmohit01 wrote: post #33
pandaman wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The three people you listed are not known for founding billion dollar startups. They are known as employees of Google and Microsoft (unless you meant somebody else with the same last names as Google and Microsoft CEO and Google's former VP of engineering).

Alright. Let me list down some immigrants who came here on H1B visa. 1. Jyoti Bansal - Founder of AppDynamics The guy in the above mentioned article was on H1B. 2. Kevin Systrom - Cofounder of Instagram was on H1B visa. 3. Jay Scaler - Founder of ZScaler an unicorn, was on H1B visa 4. Vinod Khosla - Founder of Sun Microsystems and well known VC was on H1B visa initially Will list down some more in some time.

In fact H1B has to work for an employer and can not founder a company(at least easily or legally), you have to earn your permanent residence first, which takes quite a few years at least.

Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#50

Post by ausjke »

Kenji wrote: post #8

According to the study, Mr. Bansal couldn’t leave his job to start a new company because it was unclear if he’d be able to keep his H-1B status. For 7 years. What a lock-in. And during that time, your employer can probably abuse you and freeze your salary, knowing exactly that your stay depends on that visa and you have a hard time leaving. Another point on immigrants. The US does it right: It causes brain-drain in o…

7 years is a lucky thing, I saw many 9+ years after 911, however if you have a nice PhD degree it could be much faster, the rest just have to wait and wait.
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