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Ask HN: Have to invest 500K in a business – what can I do?

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Re: Ask HN: Have to invest 500K in a business – what can I do?

#31

Post by khalidx »

A good place to be right now is in the logistics industry - a necessity that isn’t going away any time soon. And with the current logistics supply shortage in the USA (specifically for trucking companies) it won’t be hard to compete and start delivering shipments.

With 500K you can afford to buy several freight trucks. All you would need is 3-5 trucks to start turning over real profit. The rest of the employees can be dispatchers. The trick here is finding drivers as they are in high demand. Dispatchers are easily trained.

I’ve bootstrapped a similar logistics business with less than $10,000 USD and had good success within the first 60 days. Licenses and certifications can be done in 2-3 days and is a fast way to have a business fully certified and up and running.

Re: Ask HN: Have to invest 500K in a business – what can I do?

#32

Post by jbjbjbjb »

sokoloff wrote: post #4

I’m no expert in the area but if I wanted something that was lower variance/expense than a software startup and that might be doable on just $500K, I’d do research on something like a pizza joint, a diner, or maybe a franchise food service place. (Looks like Subway is one of the cheaper franchise food service places to open.) In this case, I’m assuming your real prize is the green card, not the actual business, as I’…

I think OP could do a few Subways with $500k

Re: Ask HN: Have to invest 500K in a business – what can I do?

#33

Post by knonothing »

khalidx wrote: post #31

A good place to be right now is in the logistics industry - a necessity that isn’t going away any time soon. And with the current logistics supply shortage in the USA (specifically for trucking companies) it won’t be hard to compete and start delivering shipments. With 500K you can afford to buy several freight trucks. All you would need is 3-5 trucks to start turning over real profit. The rest of the employees can b…

Great suggestion. I've been looking for a way to break into logistics/ltl freight. How did you deploy your first $10k?

Re: Ask HN: Have to invest 500K in a business – what can I do?

#34

Post by chermi »

oldjack wrote: post #25
chermi wrote: post #8

Tagging so I can read about EB5 and come back later. But at first glance, and with my limited experience in tech as a founder & VP, 500k sounds far too little for 10 FTE for 2 years. Edit -- I'm sure you've looked into it more than I have, but according to the link below, I'm seeing minimum amount for TEA of 900k if filed after Nov 2019? https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/permanent...

This was rolled back to $500K after a court ruling. Congress is working on legislation to raise it again and can happen any day!! https://www.visalawyerblog.com/federal-district-judge-rules-...

Awesome! I suspected you knew better, haha!

Re: Ask HN: Have to invest 500K in a business – what can I do?

#35

Post by rdtwo »

halpert wrote: post #17
rdtwo wrote: post #16

Thinking about this some more I think your best bet is to start a medical practice with someone. Dentist, physical therapy, psychology, birthing center. Anywhere where you can provide a bunch of folks that are essentially self employed or can be self employed overhead services so they don’t have to deal with it. In many of these the fields are protected from non licensed folks being the main owner so you need to be a…

What would the ten employees do? Medical staff can be pretty expensive.

So you have say 1-2 phd level providers 4 masters 2-3 technicians 1-2 trainees and 1-2 billing and schedule people.

Each provider should be able to generate at lest income to cover 130-140% of their salary and the extra 30-40% goes to overhead and support staff salaries.

Re: Ask HN: Have to invest 500K in a business – what can I do?

#36

Post by rdtwo »

tasogare wrote: post #18
halpert wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would the ten employees do? Medical staff can be pretty expensive.

Idea from Japan: having 4 secretaries for a single MD.

No too expensive. 1 for 10. Keeping overhead low is key to profit. A tech person to integrate all the billing/phone/computing systems would be a good fit as well.

Re: Ask HN: Have to invest 500K in a business – what can I do?

#37

Post by rdtwo »

simfree wrote: post #19
halpert wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would the ten employees do? Medical staff can be pretty expensive.

Handle billable work, ideally making a profit. There are quite a few new dentists graduating every year, $500k could buy an office in a decent location, plus another $100k to $300k to build out the space and gain momentum. Figure 2 to 4 receptionists, 3 or 4 dental hygienists, the doctor themselves, OP, and whoever else they hire, and you can likely hit 10 employees.

Yep this. There are like 6 hygienists or more per dentist.

Re: Ask HN: Have to invest 500K in a business – what can I do?

#38

Post by rdtwo »

oldjack wrote: post #29
rdtwo wrote: post #11

Gas station or self storage. It’s basically a land squat. A chain of coffee shacks would be viable too. Reselling shoes is viable but not good for getting more laborers. A child care or tutoring facility would be a good choice too. But lots of work. Otherwise maybe eth mining would be profitable even on gpu in a year. Ideally you would buy some equipment that’s easy to move and retains value then sell it off after 2…

Hard to employ 10 people in gas station or self storage or etc mining!

At a gas station that’s 24-7 you need 4.2 staff to cover all shifts. If you double up you are basically there.

Re: Ask HN: Have to invest 500K in a business – what can I do?

#39

Post by iAm25626 »

My understanding is that EB5 program are currently in limbo. First step is to find a good lawyer. Good luck.

https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/permanent...

"Alert: As of Dec. 30, 2021, Congress has not enacted new legislation authorizing the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program. As a result, USCIS is reevaluating the decision to hold, or not act on, any pending petition or application of these form types that is dependent on the expired statutory authority and was filed before the end of the statutory authorization. We will provide additional guidance as soon as practical."

Re: Ask HN: Have to invest 500K in a business – what can I do?

#40

Post by oldjack »

iAm25626 wrote: post #39

My understanding is that EB5 program are currently in limbo. First step is to find a good lawyer. Good luck. https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/permanent... "Alert: As of Dec. 30, 2021, Congress has not enacted new legislation authorizing the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program. As a result, USCIS is reevaluating the decision to hold, or not act on, any pending petition or application of t…

EB-5 visa has two investment options EB5 - Direct and EB5 - regional center. The regional center program is in limbo. The EB5 direct is permanently authorized and still running. The key difference between the two is that in regional center you are more of an investor, vs Direct where you should have a management or policy formulation role in the enterprise.
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