One of the H1B visa requirements is a "employee-employer relationship," which means that a) someone has the authority to hire or fire you from your company, and b) the company should continue if you are fired (i.e. not go bankrupt, and other individuals can fill your function).
Does this imply that the investment firm will have greater power over the company than an immigrant founder?
Unshackled was built with this in mind and something we don't mess with. The founder is in control of value they create. You can learn more about this on our AMA on Wed :)
Looking forward to this AMA! Longtime admirer here. I'm a particular fan of your framing of US immigration law as an ancient "legal codebase." That's my approach too. Thanks for all you do.
Does this program provide help with health insurance?
Coming to the USA from the UK the health insurance system here was utterly baffling and terrifying. It was OK for the first few years because I had an employer to sort it out, but jumping straight into a startup in a new country while needing to sort out health insurance would not be a pleasant experience.
I’m an American and I have always had health insurance through work until two months ago. It’s been baffling having to figure out my own. And crazy expensive.
The USCIS processing time is an issue here. It can require six months to a year. However, using premium processing, an H1B transfer can happen in 15 days.
Without knowing any details, I think it's a neat idea. Terrible name. Hard to remember, hard to spell, doesn't explain itself, and depends on numbers that will presumably change over time (at least one of them will, anyway).
Eighteen150 represents eighteen months of runway for $150K. Our goal is to provide enough time & money to help aspiring solo immigrant founders land on something worthy of their next 10 years. Over the past 9 years, we have seen clarity of coalesce around 18 months or less.
I've followed Unshackled for some time, but as a solo founder the funding offered seemed out of reach. It's impressive that you have established a special program catering to solo founders, which often rules out some really good ideas/businesses.
The act of leaving your home country is often times a solo entrepreneurial act by the immigrant -- won't say it's majority or minority of the time, but certainly not a trivial percentage.
Yup a lot of these woke vc firms play this game where they still put up barriers to entry which are not related to the actual idea or execution but then will play the "we help the underdog" card.
Does this imply that the investment firm will have greater power over the company than an immigrant founder?