Process for a Person on H1B to Startup | Hacker News Reader

Process for a Person on H1B to Startup

2 pointsuser-on17 comments

For a Person on H1B to Startup, can we take below as Steps ? Please correct me if i am wrong !

1. A decide's to startup.

2. A find's 2 US citizens B & C as co-founders.

3. A gives idea to B & C and asks them to build a PRODUCT.

4. A takes 49% ownership, B & C takes 25.5 % ownership.

5. B & C finished building a MVP or SLC PRODUCT.

6. B & C apply for VC Fund.

7. B & C get X fund from Z.

8. B & C incorporate a COMPANY.

9. COMPANY sponsors H1B for A and hires A as co-founder.

10. A joins COMPANY.

11. A & B & C continue building their PRODUCT.

12. PRODUCT becomes successful.

13. A applies for STARTUP based Visa.

14. A becomes US Citizen.

15. A starts COMPANY B.

Kindly tweak or update to fix any mistake in this process. I think it will be of great help to many and benefit everyone.

View on HN

Step 7 will be the toughest. If you appear on the list of founders with %49 ownership (= biggest shareholder without being involved in the company), then it'll be a No-Go for most of the VC's out there. The team is the main factor when investing in a startup. You should aim for %0 at first. Then when the company hires you, you'll get some shares back. They could even hire you as the CEO on H1B if the investors are OK with that.

You forgot the biggest point to factor in. That is "time". Assuming you are lucky in every steps from 1 through 11 and each steps take few months that is few years. And for a product to be successful add few more. Not sure what is timeline for startup visa but if you are applying for green card based on H1b and you are from country such as India or China then add +5 or +8-10 years to your timeline. On becoming permanent resident you have to wait for another 5 years to apply for US citizenship. However you do not need to be US citizen to start a company. You can do that when you are a permanent resident.

How does 13. lead to 14.? What is the birth country of the person? Remember there is 10-15 year wait for people born in India ( few years shorter if you are born in china) to obtain a Green Card in EB2 and EB3 category.

Depending on various factors the time between 13. and 14. could very well be between 3 to 20 years (15 years to obtain GC and 5 years after that to obtain citizenship).

I understand the timeline for EB2 and EB3, but for Startup based visas like O1A, EB5, others if any isn't the timeline less for China and India?

Also if step 12 happens, (successful meaning more that 25 Million Valuation) i would believe one need not put lot of emphasis on steps after that.

Can A have 100% ownership and incorporate a COMPANY and then assign BOD to COMPANY Where BOD have control over A but no ownership in company?

In this config can A just hire a employee D and pay him minimum wage according to DOL.

https://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/america.htm

Would this setup work?

Yes all of you are correct, but a larger issue is at the least there needs to be some working process in place. Ones we know that a working process is in place, then we can look into it and see how to take next steps however complicated they may be. I see here there are questions about few steps but you think the overall steps make any sense or no?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com