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Get $40k grant for your startup. Live in Chile for 6 months.

startupchile.org

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Re: Get $40k grant for your startup. Live in Chile for 6 months.

#41

Post by zb »

wiradikusuma wrote: post #28

this is a very silly question, but what are the odds they will accept founders from Asia? i'm Indonesian currently working in Malaysia. if the odds are good, i'm willing to try. i don't want to waste my and their time submitting application if i know they favor certain countries of origin (i just pessimistically think they're luring people from Valley and the like, not just some random countries).

"Any globally-minded entrepreneur is eligible to apply, regardless of his or her nationality and all applications will be judged under the same criteria."

Re: Get $40k grant for your startup. Live in Chile for 6 months.

#42

Post by hugh3 »

herval wrote: post #31
te_platt wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know if they are targeting a specific geographic area? I'm guessing most everything will be coming out of Santiago.

although everyone is initially coming to santiago, Valparaiso and Vina del Mar are doing all they can to grab a piece of the action (including offering free office space for SUP alumni) :)

I've never heard of Vina del Mar, but based on the name it sounds like exactly where I'd wanna go.

Re: Get $40k grant for your startup. Live in Chile for 6 months.

#44

Post by andrewcooke »

econgeeker wrote: post #33

Chileans are interesting. I like the country, they seem to be culturally capitalist (though when we were there we did observe a communist party having a rally of some sort.) But on the street, you don't see kids bugging you for money, the poor kids go around selling coca-colas in the park. The older kids sell american cigarettes. Chileans don't seem paranoid, or to have an inferiority, nor a superiority complex like…

the political spectrum is wider than the usa, and people are more politically involved (both of which you would expect, i think, given the country's history). some of the most decent people i know here are still active communists; many of my friends were in the party during the dictatorship because that was the main coordinating movement in the resistance.

there's an active debate about how society should work. i suspect some americans will see "communists" and think they are going to have their work stolen from them. that's not the case. in practice the debate is more about where to position the country between what you might call "european" and "american" ideals. sure, some people i know advocate permanent revolution. but on the other side some people advocate eugenics of the poor (seriously - speaking from experience). there really is a wider range (and i think that's a good thing).

Re: Get $40k grant for your startup. Live in Chile for 6 months.

#45

Post by bugsy »

andrewcooke wrote: post #38
icey wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you share some of your experiences working in Chile? Where did you move there from? Did you already know Spanish? Have you enjoyed living & working there?

[having problems with hn slow response] see http://www.quora.com/Hows-life-in-Santiago-Chile for more background. i am here because my partner is a chilean academic with tenure here. in general, it's a good place to live. personally, i am not the most outgoing or relaxed person on the planet, and sometimes living in a different culture - and it could be any other culture - gets to me. but the only negative thing i ca…

Should be noted, the taxes in Chile are not only lower than Europe, they are also lower than in the US unless you are a member of the ultra elite rich that has a team of tricky accountants who shuffle assets to remote islands to make sure you don't pay your share. How can they do it? Well they don't maintain a global imperialist war machine that costs trillions to maintain, nor do they give away trillions to criminal bankers.

Re: Get $40k grant for your startup. Live in Chile for 6 months.

#46

Post by gcb »

herval wrote: post #27
gcb wrote: post #25

how much is 40k in chile? can i and 2 other cofounders move there and have a good place to stay each? ...maybe one or two with the wifes?

you can only spend 350k pesos per founder, from those 40k. The rest should be used for other expenses, such as hiring, software (housing/rent is also refundable outside the 350k cap), etc. 350k pesos = 760 usd/month, which allows for some pretty ok living (a decent meal runs for 3-4k pesos, subway tickets are 500 pesos and so on). I'm here with my wife, there's a guy here with SEVEN kids. :)

3-4k pesos per meal is already over 500k for one month, two people.

meal price * people * two meals day * 30 days

3k * 2 * 2 * 30 = 360k

other comments mention rent $300 (150~200k pesos?)

Re: Get $40k grant for your startup. Live in Chile for 6 months.

#48

Post by andrewcooke »

bugsy wrote: post #45
andrewcooke wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[having problems with hn slow response] see http://www.quora.com/Hows-life-in-Santiago-Chile for more background. i am here because my partner is a chilean academic with tenure here. in general, it's a good place to live. personally, i am not the most outgoing or relaxed person on the planet, and sometimes living in a different culture - and it could be any other culture - gets to me. but the only negative thing i ca…

Should be noted, the taxes in Chile are not only lower than Europe, they are also lower than in the US unless you are a member of the ultra elite rich that has a team of tricky accountants who shuffle assets to remote islands to make sure you don't pay your share. How can they do it? Well they don't maintain a global imperialist war machine that costs trillions to maintain, nor do they give away trillions to criminal…

heh. that happens here too. i had someone come round trying to sell me some off-shore banking services here in chile. the "salesman" was the son of an english diplomat. i am from "normal" english stock. it was a socially uncomfortable meeting.

Re: Get $40k grant for your startup. Live in Chile for 6 months.

#49

Post by bugsy »

hugh3 wrote: post #42
herval wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

although everyone is initially coming to santiago, Valparaiso and Vina del Mar are doing all they can to grab a piece of the action (including offering free office space for SUP alumni) :)

I've never heard of Vina del Mar, but based on the name it sounds like exactly where I'd wanna go.

I agree, it sounds like they have vineyards that overlook the southern pacific ocean.

Now if that was in the US, something called "Vina del Mar" would be McMansion tract housing built on salt flats in Nevada next to a nuclear waste disposal site.

Re: Get $40k grant for your startup. Live in Chile for 6 months.

#50

Post by herval »

dmvaldman wrote: post #32
herval wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they get you 40k and u have to put in 4k from your own pocket (the 40k are in the form of reimbursements - u spend something, they give u back in the following month). U have to spend the 40k during the 6 months (can't spend it all in one month for instance) and of course, you have to spend it in business-related stuff, like salaries, software, marketing, etc (they won't reimburse coffee or if you buy a car!) The con…

What's to stop you from giving a salary of $40,000 to a member of your team?

the contract. You can only take 350k pesos as a salary...

and when u contract services, they ask you for some sort of proof if the value is suspiciously large. So you can TRY subcontracting a friend in US and paying him 40k USD, no problem. I wouldn't expect it to go through unnoticed, though...

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