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Chile Wants to Borrow US Entrepreneurs for $40,000

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Re: Chile Wants to Borrow US Entrepreneurs for $40,000

#2
This is the first article on HN that specifically states it's 25 projects that get the $40.000, meaning they have an initial budget of $1M.

To put this in perspective, the iFund, which supports iOS projects has a $200M budget.

So, not that I have something with this Chile project, but I feel it's getting way too much "airtime" on HN. I don't need to see this daily on the RSS feed.

I've always disliked contests of this kind. If Chile wants to really push this industry in their country, make it really simple: reduce (or remove) the taxes for software companies. This would make them an instant target for entrepreneurs and would cost them nothing.

Re: Chile Wants to Borrow US Entrepreneurs for $40,000

#3
post #2

This is the first article on HN that specifically states it's 25 projects that get the $40.000, meaning they have an initial budget of $1M. To put this in perspective, the iFund, which supports iOS projects has a $200M budget. So, not that I have something with this Chile project, but I feel it's getting way too much "airtime" on HN. I don't need to see this daily on the RSS feed. I've always disliked contests of thi…

Thanks for your comment.

In countries with lower cost of labour, reducing or removing taxes on software companies will lead to folks starting outsourcing and service related companies. Not entrepreneurial product based startups.

India is a prime example of this. Compared to the number of software developers in the country, the number of startups that pop up from India is very very low.

So from Chile's point of view, I think its a great pilot plan.

Re: Chile Wants to Borrow US Entrepreneurs for $40,000

#7
post #4

They don't give you 40k cash, they have some sort of reimbursement plan. You also can't just go down there and give to yourself as a salary. Borderline scam.

From what I can tell[1] you can either charge your personal expenses (insurance, housing, etc) or pay yourself a salary, but not both.

Edit: It also looks can also choose whether you prefer to have the funding as advance payment or reimbursement[2]

[1] Section V, pages 4-5, http://www.corfo.cl/startupchile/download/Technical_and_admi...

[2] Section 4, page 8 of the same pdf

Re: Chile Wants to Borrow US Entrepreneurs for $40,000

#8
post #3
post #2

This is the first article on HN that specifically states it's 25 projects that get the $40.000, meaning they have an initial budget of $1M. To put this in perspective, the iFund, which supports iOS projects has a $200M budget. So, not that I have something with this Chile project, but I feel it's getting way too much "airtime" on HN. I don't need to see this daily on the RSS feed. I've always disliked contests of thi…

Thanks for your comment. In countries with lower cost of labour, reducing or removing taxes on software companies will lead to folks starting outsourcing and service related companies. Not entrepreneurial product based startups. India is a prime example of this. Compared to the number of software developers in the country, the number of startups that pop up from India is very very low. So from Chile's point of view,…

...will lead to folks starting outsourcing and service related companies. Not entrepreneurial product based startups.

IMO that is just another type of startup.

Re: Chile Wants to Borrow US Entrepreneurs for $40,000

#9
post #2

This is the first article on HN that specifically states it's 25 projects that get the $40.000, meaning they have an initial budget of $1M. To put this in perspective, the iFund, which supports iOS projects has a $200M budget. So, not that I have something with this Chile project, but I feel it's getting way too much "airtime" on HN. I don't need to see this daily on the RSS feed. I've always disliked contests of thi…

Isn't the scale of it comparable to YCombinator?

YC certainly gets a lot of mentions here (not entirely unrelated to the fact that they run the site, but still...).

Re: Chile Wants to Borrow US Entrepreneurs for $40,000

#10
post #4

They don't give you 40k cash, they have some sort of reimbursement plan. You also can't just go down there and give to yourself as a salary. Borderline scam.

How is it "borderline scam"? How are they hoping to profit at your expense by offering you $40K and then not letting you spend it?
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