Ask HN: Is it worth to start a Startup in the USA for a foreigner?
I'm a IT geek from Russia. And as a normal geek I have my personal side projects that I do for fun. And maybe one day I will do a business on top of them, who knows. However, I don't have any specific plans at this moment. But I would like to know what opportunities do I loose if I start software business outside of the USA.
Speaking about hiring, I think Russia is a good place to find well skilled developers and/or business partners to cooperate with. But as far as I understand building a product is just a half of work. I'm not sure how difficult will it be to promote and sell something outside of the country I live in.
If residence in the USA is vital for IT Startup, I would like to know how can I get there legally. The only opportunity I know is obtaining work permit visa(H1B etc). But I don't really need a work permit per se, since I'm not looking for a job. All of my friends who moved to the USA did it to find a job. But this is not my case, so they can't advice me.
Also I have israeli citizenship. Not sure, but maybe it could help somehow?
7 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 24.7 ms ] threadhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startup_Visa
http://www.paulgraham.com/foundervisa.html
Canada has one right now: http://www.cic.gc.ca/startup
Also: http://www.paulgraham.com/foundervisa.html
As per your comment, you could launch your startup from absolutely anywhere these days. You could position your cloud in Texas for your big US base, register a US subsidiary, etc.
Personally though, Russia seems like a great place to launch an internet security startup. The stigma of Russians being great hackers can already draw in a couple of decent-sized clients.
If you're working on anything or would like to link up to build something, we should talk. I've always wanted to build a decentralized remote micro "beyond borders" company.
It's a beautiful world - you could launch online business anywhere and offer useful services and products worldwide.
You could hire people to do bits and pieces for you from anywhere as well.
H1B-ing are for people who want to work for someone and sit on someone's chair 9 to 5.
You could launch product or service in your pajamas and test you idea without bothing with all that. If business will take off - the visa stuff will be taken care of, if needed.
Your words strengthen my faith in meritocratic world! That's excatly how do I feel it too. But it was important to me to hear it from someone else. Thank you very much.