How to Fix the Flawed Startup Visa Act
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How to Fix the Flawed Startup Visa Act
1–10 of 18 posts
Re: How to Fix the Flawed Startup Visa Act
#2The mistake happens in these two sentences:
"The bill makes the wrong assumption that all startups raise angel or venture capital. As my team’s research has shown, nine out of 10 successful entrepreneurs don’t."
Entrepreneurs are not identical with startup founders. An entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business. Only a small fraction of new businesses are startups; most are unscalable service businesses like barbershops.
As of now, at least, nearly all successful startups have investors.
Re: How to Fix the Flawed Startup Visa Act
#3Why does the bill need fixing - it seems to function perfectly
The purpose is to make two politicians look good, to allow their respective parties to claim they are doing something while at the same time being able to reassure their supporters that nothing will change.
That's basically the point of politics since some greek guy stood up in the market place
Re: How to Fix the Flawed Startup Visa Act
#4The mistake happens in these two sentences: "The bill makes the wrong assumption that all startups raise angel or venture capital. As my team’s research has shown, nine out of 10 successful entrepreneurs don’t." Entrepreneurs are not identical with startup founders. An entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business. Only a small fraction of new businesses are startups; most are unscalable service businesses like b…
Paul: you are absolutely right. I think it is hard to find a better way to differentiate the barbershops from the startups short of having smart folks in the government who subjectively examine each application - and we all know how likely that is. Also, if we go that route, the startup visa will take years just like the current green card application which IIRC requires an in person interview.
Vivek does have a point as well though. Currently, employers who sponsor "green cards" have the power to get the sponsored employees and their families kicked out of the country simply by firing them. I don't think you'd want to replicate this with the startup visa. Using investors as an 'entrance requirement' may be o.k., but once someone qualifies for a startup visa, the path to a permanent residency should either be really short (months, not years) or independent of whether the investor continues to 'support' the entrepreneur.
I am in favor of strong filtering up front, but anyone who qualifies should then be treated just like an American citizen or permanent resident.
Re: How to Fix the Flawed Startup Visa Act
#5The mistake happens in these two sentences: "The bill makes the wrong assumption that all startups raise angel or venture capital. As my team’s research has shown, nine out of 10 successful entrepreneurs don’t." Entrepreneurs are not identical with startup founders. An entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business. Only a small fraction of new businesses are startups; most are unscalable service businesses like b…
Paul: you are absolutely right. I think it is hard to find a better way to differentiate the barbershops from the startups short of having smart folks in the government who subjectively examine each application - and we all know how likely that is. Also, if we go that route, the startup visa will take years just like the current green card application which IIRC requires an in person interview. Vivek does have a poin…
The VC investor is, I think, to stop the property loophole that used to apply here. To get a visa you had to invest $1M in a business, so people registered a company, bought a $1M house, leased it to themselves, employed all their family and moved in.
Re: How to Fix the Flawed Startup Visa Act
#6The mistake happens in these two sentences: "The bill makes the wrong assumption that all startups raise angel or venture capital. As my team’s research has shown, nine out of 10 successful entrepreneurs don’t." Entrepreneurs are not identical with startup founders. An entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business. Only a small fraction of new businesses are startups; most are unscalable service businesses like b…
What's wrong with Vivek's suggestion that we concentrate on fixing the USCIS, which (nominally but not effectively) already has statutory authority to allow startup entrepreneurs to immigrate here? Doesn't that get us out of the business of encoding in laws what a "startup" is?
Re: How to Fix the Flawed Startup Visa Act
#7The mistake happens in these two sentences: "The bill makes the wrong assumption that all startups raise angel or venture capital. As my team’s research has shown, nine out of 10 successful entrepreneurs don’t." Entrepreneurs are not identical with startup founders. An entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business. Only a small fraction of new businesses are startups; most are unscalable service businesses like b…
What's wrong with Vivek's suggestion that we concentrate on fixing the USCIS, which (nominally but not effectively) already has statutory authority to allow startup entrepreneurs to immigrate here? Doesn't that get us out of the business of encoding in laws what a "startup" is?
USCIS's main problem is that they are stretched too thin given the current resources. Adding a subjective approval process to their roster of duties without giving them more resources is only likely to lengthen the time it takes to get any kind of permit. Adding new resources at the scale required to fix it is impossible given the current budget crunch.
By adding the investor clause, the government is essentially 'outsourcing' the subjective qualification process to 'qualified investors'. I don't think it is a perfect solution but it seems like a practical approach given the constraints.
Re: How to Fix the Flawed Startup Visa Act
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Paul: you are absolutely right. I think it is hard to find a better way to differentiate the barbershops from the startups short of having smart folks in the government who subjectively examine each application - and we all know how likely that is. Also, if we go that route, the startup visa will take years just like the current green card application which IIRC requires an in person interview. Vivek does have a poin…
The VC investor is, I think, to stop the property loophole that used to apply here. To get a visa you had to invest $1M in a business, so people registered a company, bought a $1M house, leased it to themselves, employed all their family and moved in.
I assume you are referring to the way the government is constraining who they qualify as an 'investor' (someone who has made an investments of at least $50,000 every year for the past 3 years)? It does make sense to have some clause like that to avoid the loophole you mentioned.
It is still orthogonal to what I am saying though, which is that once an entrepreneur has raised the money from a qualified investor for a legitimate startup, they should essentially get a permanent residency permit.
Re: How to Fix the Flawed Startup Visa Act
#9The mistake happens in these two sentences: "The bill makes the wrong assumption that all startups raise angel or venture capital. As my team’s research has shown, nine out of 10 successful entrepreneurs don’t." Entrepreneurs are not identical with startup founders. An entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business. Only a small fraction of new businesses are startups; most are unscalable service businesses like b…
I think you're mistaken, Paul.
Most incubators including YCombinator softly exclude single-founder businesses and yet these probably constitute at least 50% of the pool of start-ups. Add to them all businesses which get profitable enough to avoid taking outside investment and those which never get funding at all and I'd be surprised if 2/10 startup founders raise outside money, even in California.
Just assuming people who aren't getting funded aren't pursuing scalable business models is myopic.
Re: How to Fix the Flawed Startup Visa Act
#10The mistake happens in these two sentences: "The bill makes the wrong assumption that all startups raise angel or venture capital. As my team’s research has shown, nine out of 10 successful entrepreneurs don’t." Entrepreneurs are not identical with startup founders. An entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business. Only a small fraction of new businesses are startups; most are unscalable service businesses like b…
Paul: you are absolutely right. I think it is hard to find a better way to differentiate the barbershops from the startups short of having smart folks in the government who subjectively examine each application - and we all know how likely that is. Also, if we go that route, the startup visa will take years just like the current green card application which IIRC requires an in person interview. Vivek does have a poin…
"Vivek does have a point as well though. Currently, employers who sponsor "green cards" have the power to get the sponsored employees and their families kicked out of the country simply by firing them."
This is exactly right. While the PG does have a point, this is the most grave issue with the act. You will see the ugly when the bill passes and as more data gathers in subsequent years about how investors abuse it. Or you can just look at similar situations right now - how employees who are sponsored for green card are exploited by unscrupulous employers.