Ask HN: Is it worth to start a Startup in the USA for a foreigner?

[eliah-lakhin]

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?

[phantom_oracle]

Well if you're super high-tech, I don't see why you couldn't go to Israel. Israel is like the R&D department of major countries/companies in the world right now.

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.

[eliah-lakhin]

It sounds interesting to me. Would you like to continue our conversation by Skype or Jabber? My email/jabber is "[e-mail]". Skype: "eliah.lakhin".

[phantom_oracle]

I've added you to Skype. We can discuss ideas, etc.

[_zen]

Stuck in the House, but related:

http://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

[eliah-lakhin]

Thanks for your reply, zen. I have heard about startup visas, but at this moment I want to understand is it possible to control worldwide IT startup from Russia, or not. Also, why do you think Canada might be a better choice than Russia or Israel?

[gesman]

Privet,

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.

[eliah-lakhin]

Hi Gleb!

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.