
Support the Startup Founders Visa with a tweet - peter123
http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2009/09/support-startup-founders-visa-with.html
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gruseom
_The EB-5 visa is designed for foreign investors to get a green card if they
are willing to bring capital to the US and create at least ten full-time jobs.
Unfortunately, this program applies to the investor who holds the capital, and
not the entrepreneur who discovers how to put that capital to use. A small
change in the law could have a big impact on entrepreneurship in this country,
and that's what [McClure] proposed_

If all they did was extend that same provision to founders, it wouldn't do
much good, because few early-stage startups create 10 full-time jobs out of
the gate. Indeed, that would be an anti-pattern. However, these guys must know
that.

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davemc500hats
we hope to lower both the capital rqmt from $1M to perhaps $250K, and the job
creation rqmts from 10 jobs to perhaps 2-3.

currently, a modified form of the EB-5 in economically targeted areas requires
only $500K, and an equivalently smaller # of jobs.

the goal would be to structure the EB-5 modification around the typical seed-
round startup investment size & team.

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ajju
Another distinction is that the EB-5 requires that the person desiring a visa
_personally_ invest $1M (not raise it from investors). Additionally, in areas
where the limit is lowered to 500K, the person still needs to have a personal
net worth of $1M.

Linking a founder visa to a personal net worth in high six digits will defeat
the purpose of the visa.

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gruseom
One thing I didn't notice before is that the founders visa idea (however
implemented) has the huge advantage of being testable. Startups whose founders
got in on such visas would be easy to track. Any big successes that resulted
would become prominently associated with the visa program. This would provide
political cover against the sort of attacks that are perenially made against
H1-Bs and so on. One new Google might even eliminate the controversy
permanently. (Admittedly it would be hard to prove that the founders wouldn't
have gotten in some other way. But I'm not sure that matters.)

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teedex
To those who want to differentiate between the next Google and Joe's Lemonade,
\- At present the same wannabe entrepreneurs are waiting in other categories
(EB2-EB3) for 5-7 years and paying the govt and the immigration attorneys over
10k in application and legal fees. The paperwork is extensive. \- I believe
the same individuals will be more then willing to submit the paperwork in
support of their entrepreneurial efforts and be willing to pay for review of
the application. The process does not have to be completed in a weeks time but
6 months is better then 6 years. \- On the govt side if we already have a
process in which we place our trust to ensure our safety (assuming the process
works and does not let malicious individuals into the hallowed borders of the
territorial united states) then we ought to place trust in the govt that it
can put a process in place that distinguishes between a Joe's Lemonade and
something that shows job creation/positive economic potential ... yes ?

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tptacek
How do we un-support the founders visa? Because I don't think VC's should have
any say in who can immigrate to the US, and I don't think the government
should be in the business of annointing VC's.

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immad
I think you are getting to caught up in the logistics of how the Visa
administration will work. The actual delivery of it is going to obviously be
more thought out than Brad Feld's blog post.

Any effort to address the problem is better than nothing.

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utnick
I am having trouble thinking of a good way to implement this..

How will you differentiate between the next google and Joe with 2,000$ wanting
to start up a lemonade stand?

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patio11
Establish a cap on the number of visas issued, sell them at auction to anybody
who passes a background check, and let the market worry about capital
allocation between the next Google and Joe's Great Lemonade. The market works
better if they are transferable or resalable, but that isn't required.

This would encourage establish a level playing field between startups and
established companies for competing for foreign talent, get the US government
out of the business of evaluating business plans, avoid anointing any
particular VCs as the official Visa Cartel, and be easy to administer and
transparent.

You don't have to restrict it to startups in any way, either. It would easily
replace the H1B and most other work-related visas. (I can think of compelling
reasons to issue, e.g,. spousal visas outside the market.)

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gojomo
Bingo. If the rationale for the program is to feed the market for technical
and entrepreneurial talent, then the program should trust market mechanisms
for the allocation of limited visas.

And each year, the cap can be reevaluated: would a larger number have
generated more jobs (and auction revenue) without the social costs that
usually feed anti-immigrant sentiment? If so, revise the cap upward.

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gcb
How about better regulations for international VC investments?

Or maybe, if you want to start with baby-steps, some pamphlets to VC guys
telling them about the world outside california.

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idlewords
But my tweets are already busy supporting the Iranian revolution!

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davemc500hats
just support iranian startup entrepreneurs, and kill 2 tweets with 140 stones.

