

Chile Wants to Borrow US Entrepreneurs for $40,000 - organicgrant
http://blogs.forbes.com/maureenfarrell/2010/08/20/chile-wants-to-borrow-us-entrepreneurs-for-40000/

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fierarul
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.

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ankeshk
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.

~~~
fierarul
By definition startups have a chance of failing. Betting Chile's software
strategy on 25 startups is a risky business.

I don't see why lower taxes will reduce entrepreneurship there or introduce
only outsourcing -- won't the locals use this chance to create their own
startups ?

There are many things to discuss here but I assume some countries either
culturally or financially encourage enterprises. If Chile doesn't have the
right legal, tax and socio-educational framework then startups will never
migrate there.

There are just too many aspects to look at but I do believe that a contest
with some $40K prizes can't beat lowering taxes.

~~~
jbooth
Eh, lowering taxes puts money in the pocket of everybody who makes any money,
and you're primarily taking less money from already existing income. Chile's
looking to create new high tech startups. Entirely different problems.

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adamstober
_First-time poster, go easy on me!_

Lowering taxes may be better from a textbook economics perspective but this is
creative real-world marketing that has already been somewhat effective simply
by generating so many headlines.

I'm just one data point but I would have not considered Chile as a potential
base for a small venture I'm working on otherwise. Now I will likely apply for
this program and keep Chile in mind for future reference. I recognize most
people aren't as geographically flexible as I am but the opportunity to spend
time in Chile and speak Spanish sounds exciting to me.

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ecaradec
This reminds me of PG article <http://www.paulgraham.com/maybe.html>

May be they should give 1M and not 40k ? That would surely move some more
interesting startups...

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fmendez
I'm not sure if i missed something when I initially read about the startup
Chile program, but i don't quite remember the documents stating they only
wanted US entrepreneurs, am i wrong?

~~~
organicgrant
They're not limiting it to US entrepreneurs, just limiting their recruitment
efforts to California at present. K-Swiss and Apple have convinced the world
that the world's best stuff is "Designed in California"

~~~
laut
The world doesn't know what K-Swiss is.

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jacquesm
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1621583>

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DanielBMarkham
At twice that, I'd consider it.

From what I hear, lovely country, great weather, and wonderful people. The
offer is just a little too cheap for my circumstances.

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known
Why isn't govt offering software development services?

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pinksoda
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.

~~~
robfitz
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...](http://www.corfo.cl/startupchile/download/Technical_and_administrative_mandatory_guidelines_start_up_chile.pdf)

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

