

Canada Creates New Class of Visa to Attract Tech Entrepreneurs - techvibes
http://www.techvibes.com/blog/canada-creates-new-class-of-visa-to-attract-tech-entrepreneurs-to-launch-startups-here-2012-09-11

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eduardordm
Or maybe you could just... open a company in the US (or Canada), release your
product. If you need funds, don't have enough and can't get it from people you
already know, maybe it's time to reevaluate your model. Sorry, you will never
get funded by any investment funds. And I don't understand what those
investors expect they will find overseas. It's just a lot more of the same.

But my point is:

I don't understand why people are so obsessed about being in the US/CAN all
time. Really, if you want to go there you can get a US B1 (business) visa,
that does not requires much. I have a LLC in the US and I'm there every few
months. But maybe that is not what we want, am I right? Maybe we want to live
the life techcrunch is selling us. We tend to be pathetic sometimes.

Believe me, being there personally and trying to talk to those guys will just
make you realize how insignificant we all are to them - no matter how cool you
are on twitter, no matter how cool you product is. It will drain the very
energy you need to succeed.

~~~
coryl
<http://paulgraham.com/hubs.html>

Location matters, that's why people want to be in the US/Canada.

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eduardordm
Valid, but see:

"... I said something to a partner at a well known VC firm that gave him the
(mistaken) impression I was considering starting another startup. He responded
so eagerly that for about half a second I found myself considering doing it."

Those startups get founded, not yours, not mine. We do not have that kind of
access. I never talked to a VC partner in my life and I couldn't if I wanted.
They are just these mythical creatures you always hear about but never get to
see. Maybe accelerators are a way of doing it right, but they do not mean a
whole lot, those startups are special cases.

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coryl
Startups that get funded are startups that have a high potential to make
money, period. Be building the next Facebook, and nobody cares how old you
are, or where you're from.

Connections are nice, but at the end of the day VCs don't invest money to lose
it. This visa isn't for early stage entrepreneurs who are shooting in the
dark. VC funding usually happens at a stage where risk is much more
marginalized.

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bwb
A war is coming :)

"There are never enough brains in a country," Version One Ventures founder
Boris Wertz is quoted as saying. "Every country's going to compete for the
best brains in the world."

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mahyarm
Is this going to be a relative downgrade like the TN visa was compared to the
old TC visa was for Canadians in the USA? I wasn't of working age when that
happened, but from my brief reading, it sounds like it was.

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varunsrin
Interesting that there is a link back to the HN thread from the post - I've
seen it happen a lot on personal blogs, but this is the first time I've seen
it done by a company.

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ithora
This is great news for me. I am already moving there on international
experience Canada program and wanted to work on my ideas and since Canada have
similar market as us, I could test my idea if it holds and take it to next
level. Location really matters, if you are living in small country with small
population speaking unique language and the general population is conservative
consumer then you will see why location matters.

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richardjordan
Giving VC firms the power to dictate visa eligibility creates perverse
incentives in the fundraising cycle. If you want to say if you raise $x from
accredited investors you can get visa for one or more founders that's one
thing...

As a side question what's VC success rate with entrepreneurs-in-residence?

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ericbrooke
This is great news. Of course the details will matter e.g. how will the
investors choose the startups (and thus the founders). It has being a journey
to get here though looking at <http://startupvisa.ca/blog>

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devb0x
Flip, I need to get into Canada. Unlike mylittlepony, I do have a family and
want the best for them. From October, serious thinking to be done.

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jacques_chester
From an Australian perspective the E3 visa is probably still more attractive
for getting a track record first.

They're not directly comparable, but still.

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sjagger
Awesome.

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story
nice

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mylittlepony
If only there was a visa for IT experts, who speak english and french
fluently, but don't have a degree/wife/999 years of comprobable work, mostly
due to local problems (like hyperinflation, which makes working pointless)...

Whatever, I'm now moving to one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I will
probably have to make a living with a crappy php job, but I won't care.

~~~
mirsadm
Canada offers a 2 year work visa which is quite easy to obtain. I've been
living in Canada for s year now (from Australia)

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mylittlepony
Yes but it's not available anymore (it was 1 year when I read about it, though
I wouldn't complain about that). And I don't want to be negative, but it's not
the same to do that from a developed country like Australia. I'm from
Argentina, and from what I see on TV, tourists, and the Internet, most people
think only monkeys live here. Next time I send an application I will try not
mentioning it (I will only say that I want to move to Canada or something) and
see what happens.

Australia was on my list too, but I'm scared of all the crazy animals/insects
that can kill me in my sleep. Canada is too cold, but still I wanna give it a
try. Just curious: did you get a job before moving?

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mirsadm
Canada is great and not too cold at all :). I moved to Canada with the
intention of working here. Instead I worked on my startup full time for a
year.

It was silly of me to assume that work visa is available for everybody. I
think the visa I am on is a special one for Australians. It was pretty easy to
get and lets me work in Canada in any profession for 2 years. I can understand
your frustration though.

Australian is an awesome place but if you have your own startup (or are
thinking of going down that path) then Canada is the way to go. It is close to
the US so you can travel there quite easily if you need to.

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mylittlepony
Okay, thanks for sharing your experience. =)

