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"50% of firm founders [in Silicon Valley] are foreign born"

economist.com

21–30 of 56 posts

Re: "50% of firm founders [in Silicon Valley] are foreign born"

#21
post #15

The H1-B thing seems like a bit of a non-sequitur to me. I thought H1-B was for getting hired to a specific position (i.e. not for founders)?

The article mentions that the H1-B is a path towards citizenship; citizen or green-card holders can then become founders.

you can be founder on h1b/tourist visa, but you can't work for this company and be paid unless company you (co)founded will hire you.

Re: "50% of firm founders [in Silicon Valley] are foreign born"

#22
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article mentions that the H1-B is a path towards citizenship; citizen or green-card holders can then become founders.

you can be founder on h1b/tourist visa, but you can't work for this company and be paid unless company you (co)founded will hire you.

So you could make arrangements to be a cofounder and then have your founding company sponsor your visa?

Re: "50% of firm founders [in Silicon Valley] are foreign born"

#23

Not especially surprising, nor damning of american-borns. Those with the motivation, skills, and education to move abroad (to anywhere!) and start a business are going to, on average, outperform the population which was born there. Not because they are naturally better, but because they were self-selected by being there in the first place. Just like I'd be willing to bet that americans living abroad are overrepresent…

It's also possible that due to discrimination in the hiring market, their opportunity cost is lower.

Re: "50% of firm founders [in Silicon Valley] are foreign born"

#24
I'd imagine immigrants aren't so laden with debt, so they have more freedom. Many countries don't charge their native students for higher education, those that do, are often subsidised and repayments are linked to their earnings. So if you earn a small salary, you pay nothing.

Re: "50% of firm founders [in Silicon Valley] are foreign born"

#25

What percentage of people who live in SV are foreign-born? According to San Jose Business Journal, in 2003 36.5% were foreign born. http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2003/09/01/da... I guess/estimate if you adjusted for those native-born who are either working at family businesses already (2nd or later generation of a family owned business), or are following their parent's lead on a trade or profession (…

Good question. In SV there are cities with a foreign born population that is well above 50%. Another question I would ask, what is the percentage of SV founders that are Native Californians?

Re: "50% of firm founders [in Silicon Valley] are foreign born"

#26
People who are born in the US probably have less incentive to leave 'home'. High probability that they've developed business relationships and a network of people in their hometown or place of schooling, giving them an advantage that is taken away if they move to Silicon Valley.

Re: "50% of firm founders [in Silicon Valley] are foreign born"

#27

Not especially surprising, nor damning of american-borns. Those with the motivation, skills, and education to move abroad (to anywhere!) and start a business are going to, on average, outperform the population which was born there. Not because they are naturally better, but because they were self-selected by being there in the first place. Just like I'd be willing to bet that americans living abroad are overrepresent…

That's not only true for entrepreneurs, but anyone who excels in their field. Here in Europe a lot of Americans and other foreigners stand out because they were chosen for their skills. Otherwise they wouldn't be here. The Europeans I know in Silicon Valley didn't go there on their own accord, they were invited to come.

Re: "50% of firm founders [in Silicon Valley] are foreign born"

#28

Not especially surprising, nor damning of american-borns. Those with the motivation, skills, and education to move abroad (to anywhere!) and start a business are going to, on average, outperform the population which was born there. Not because they are naturally better, but because they were self-selected by being there in the first place. Just like I'd be willing to bet that americans living abroad are overrepresent…

> Not especially surprising, nor damning of american-borns

I disagree. I wouldn't be sanguine about it. Previous major waves of technical innovation were lead by well established Americans. Something has changed.

A plausible hypothesis (not that I'm convinced) is that high immigration has driven down wages in technical professions. So native born Americans are less inclined to bother.

I think it's important to point out that two American eras of high growth and prosperity had essentially zero immigration. From 1921 to 1965 immigration was practically nothing. This was a period of extreme American innovation.

Re: "50% of firm founders [in Silicon Valley] are foreign born"

#29
post #22
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you can be founder on h1b/tourist visa, but you can't work for this company and be paid unless company you (co)founded will hire you.

So you could make arrangements to be a cofounder and then have your founding company sponsor your visa?

Technically, yes. But since it's a way to do fraud, DHS makes this way hard. But still, if you are not getting paid, you can volunteer for this company.

Also, you are free to be paid as long as you are not resident of united states. This is where tourist visa is better.

Disclaimer: I am not a immigration lawyer and all of this is just my own opinion =))

Re: "50% of firm founders [in Silicon Valley] are foreign born"

#30
Click through to the David Brooks NYTimes article. The real story here is that there is a mismatch between supply and demand. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/10/opinion/10brooks.html?_r=1...

One of the perversities of this recession is that as the unemployment rate has risen, the job vacancy rate has risen, too. Manufacturing firms can’t find skilled machinists. Narayana Kocherlakota of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank calculates that if we had a normal match between the skills workers possess and the skills employers require, then the unemployment rate would be 6.5 percent, not 9.6 percent.

The Economist article expands upon this thesis for the high-tech industry. Just as there aren't enough skilled machinists, there also are not enough skilled founders in the domestic market.

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