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YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

#601

Post by samfisher83 »

acchow wrote: post #537
curiousfiddler wrote: post #448

If you don't provide opportunity and a good civil environment to brilliant/enterprising people, they will find a way elsewhere. And once Vancouver or any other city starts working for them, Silicon Valley will lose its exclusivity. The thing to note here is that this response from YC is not a political one, but a response that came out of market demand; it is pretty significant if it works out.

How will Vancouver improve its weather? California has a powerful draw...

SF weather isn't that great. It cold and foggy. Socal has much better weather, but it isn't silicon valley.

Re: YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

#602

Post by cperciva »

acchow wrote: post #580
mck- wrote: post #576

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weather here is amazing! Vancouver has such a bad rep when it comes to rain, but honestly it's not that bad. Here's what it's really like: Between May and October, basically half of the year, you'll have very comfortable T-shirt weather, and blue skies I'd say 70% of the time! Between December and March it's gloomy, but you'll have awesome snow in the mountains, just 30 min from downtown :) from our office we can see…

Ski in the morning and play beach volleyball in the afternoon? What month of the year? Whistler-blackcomb tops out at only 8000ft. Vancouver gets 1900 hours of sunlight a year. That's not a lot. Compare to Seattle (which is considered gloomy) at 2170 hours and SF at 3000 hours.

Ski in the morning and play beach volleyball in the afternoon? What month of the year? Whistler-blackcomb tops out at only 8000ft.

March or April. We've had an exceptionally harsh winter this year (snow on the ground in Vancouver for weeks on end -- happens about once a decade) but usually around now people are admiring the cherry blossoms on their way to the beach.

Whistler/Blackcomb has a perfectly skiable alpine through to the end of April, and you can ski past that if you want (but I wouldn't personally recommend it).

Re: YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

#603

Post by nostrademons »

germanier wrote: post #251
slim wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which makes me wonder what are the most open countries? Ie. Requiring the least visas.. Is there a country requiring no visa?

Svalbard is the only region that comes to mind (though it's hard to imagine a huge tech scene starting there). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Treaty

Might be a good testbed to develop technologies needed for an eventual Mars colony.

Re: YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

#604

Post by curiousfiddler »

acchow wrote: post #537
curiousfiddler wrote: post #448

If you don't provide opportunity and a good civil environment to brilliant/enterprising people, they will find a way elsewhere. And once Vancouver or any other city starts working for them, Silicon Valley will lose its exclusivity. The thing to note here is that this response from YC is not a political one, but a response that came out of market demand; it is pretty significant if it works out.

How will Vancouver improve its weather? California has a powerful draw...

In my opinion, Silicon Valley is what it is majorly due to the kind of people it pulls in. There are several other places in the world which have a much better weather than SV, but don't have this kind of an ecosystem.

Re: YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

#605

Post by caf »

immigraway wrote: post #342
komali2 wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The obvious question is will the US government allow one of its most profitable states to leave? Highly doubtful. Great way to start another civil war, though!

I think a red government will let a blue state leave (permanent electoral majority). I don't think the same would be true the other way around, because progressive values are more, shall we say, evangelical than those of the nationalists.

(permanent electoral majority)

That's not how a two-party system works. Over time, the positions of the parties would adjust until a new equilibrium was reached.

Re: YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

#606

Post by nostrademons »

SilasX wrote: post #590
komali2 wrote: post #531

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then he would have to charge 10$/apple at the store, his follow-up point.

No. The numbers don't work. A typical apple picker (the most labor intense/apple part of the work) can do 1000 lb/hour [1] So even if you had to pay domestic workers $30/hour, and you could pay migrants nothing , that still only comes to charging 3 cents a pound more. Not $8. [1] Just an example, but others say the same: https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/jobs-making-money/side-gigs/...

It makes me wonder to what extent migrant labor features in the other parts of that apple's value chain, though.

Much of the price of that apple comes from the farmhands who loaded the truck, the truckdriver who drove it, the gas that the truck burned, the warehouse that stored it, the shopkeeper that stocked it, and the cashier that sold it. I don't know the prevalence of migrant workers in each of those industries - but looking around, I'd guess that lots of cashiers, lots of farmhands, and maybe a few truckdrivers and gas station attendants are also immigrants. If you had to pay them $30-40/hour, would the apple still cost a dollar?

Re: YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

#607

Post by pcwalton »

jpttsn wrote: post #535
mikeash wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump spent his campaign talking about banning Muslims. Rudy Giuliani is on record saying that the original order happened because Trump asked him to implement the "Muslim ban" legally. Personally, I'm willing to believe the people involved when they state their goals and motivations, and I don't think that quoting administration insiders is reasonably described as "inflammatory." Describing them as "insane" I'll gra…

Curious: Do you think Hillary Clinton is still at risk of being jailed? I mean, do you generally believe campaign promises, or do you selectively believe them?

I believe that Donald Trump wants to implement all of his campaign promises, including banning Muslims from the country and prosecuting Hillary Clinton.

I do not believe that he will be able to do all of those things. At least in some cases, either Trump or his trusted advisers know this, so he won't actively try. I suspect (but don't know) that prosecuting Clinton is in this category.

Re: YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

#608

Post by seizethecheese »

gaastonsr wrote: post #54
sneak wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

English, and Vancouver is a lot safer/cleaner than TJ.

As a Mexican I agree. Tijuana is not particularly one of the star cities of Mexico.

I'm interested in visiting Mexico, a city not a beach. What would you recommend?

Re: YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

#609

Post by ddebernardy »

Mythanar wrote: post #190
ddebernardy wrote: post #118

In light of recent events [0], there's a non-zero chance that some founders out there would rather avoid going to the US at all - if only to protest with their wallet. It might be more sensible to open a second incubator in the EU. Berlin, Amsterdam, Dublin, Barcelona, there are plenty of options. (London is a good choice on paper too but pray tell what'll happen after Brexit.) [0]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/new…

Dublin? Sure. Amsterdam - if you believe you can grow decent startup scene in location with 52% income taxes and 1.2% wealth tax and 21% VAT, I have a bridge to sell you. Silicon Valley happened before the tax madness, and there is now net wealth outflow to lower-tax locations.

An one who lives in Hungary at the moment, I'd trade this country for Amsterdam any day from a tax standpoint - but admittedly wouldn't go there either way because their extreme right wingers are on par with Jobbik. It's a matter of reference points I suppose.

Surely the land of Donald Trump is somehow better? Or not... /troll

Re: YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

#610

Post by nickparker »

samfisher83 wrote: post #601
acchow wrote: post #537

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How will Vancouver improve its weather? California has a powerful draw...

SF weather isn't that great. It cold and foggy. Socal has much better weather, but it isn't silicon valley.

This is only true if you're right up on the Peninsula. The South Bay area where YC is located is gorgeous for a huge fraction of the year, and the East bay is at least far less cold than downtown SF.
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