H-1B Visa Changes, Immigrant Entrepreneurs, and Startup Success

Immigrant founders disproportionately create high-value companies.

### The Impact of H-1B Visa Overhaul on Immigrant Entrepreneurs
* 🌍 The recent clarity on H-1B visa applications is expected to **simplify the hiring process** for companies looking to employ immigrants and **encourage immigrant entrepreneurship**.
* 💼 Entrepreneurs with majority ownership in their companies can now apply for H-1B visas, which could lead to an **increase in new businesses being established** in the U.S.
* 🎓 This change is particularly beneficial for students who complete their education in the U.S., as it **alleviates concerns about their ability to stay and start companies** without a simplified visa process.
* 👩 The fund discussed exclusively invests in immigrant founders, recognizing that immigrants are responsible for the **majority of value generated from new companies**, with **55% of unicorns** started by them.
* 💪 The journey of immigration fosters qualities such as **grit and perseverance**, making immigrants more likely to **succeed in business ventures**.
* 🔑 Immigrants often face challenges such as **learning a new language** and **building a network from scratch**, which prepares them for the complexities of **disrupting established businesses**.
* 🚀 Notable leaders in the tech industry, including Elon Musk, are often immigrants, showcasing the **significant impact they have on innovation and economic growth**.
* 🤝 The fund aims to bridge cultural gaps and provide support to immigrant entrepreneurs, emphasizing that the **success of companies like Musk's is not an exception but a reflection of a larger trend** in the business landscape.

This news, this clarity on who can apply for H-1B visas and ideally be fast-tracked if you've been allowed one in the past. Does this make a difference to your companies?

Yeah. I mean, I think more H-1B visas and simplifying the process is certainly going to make it easier for people to hire other immigrants and occasionally for immigrants to start companies as well.

Yeah. And what was interesting is, in the news on the H-1B visa overhaul, some people are calling it—entrepreneurs, in particular, are going to be able to apply if you've got a majority holding in a company that you're building. How much have we seen entrepreneurs, those building within North America, dependent on these sorts of accesses to living in the United States?

Well, yeah. I mean, I think if there's more of a path to being able to start a company, it's going to have more companies starting. In particular, I think it's relevant to students that complete their education here, and some of them may in fact be deterred from starting a company without

a simplified visa process. That was certainly clarity given for students so that they don't see a hole in their ability to stay in the United States if they're going to be finding a job or building a business here.

We're just looking at the founders that you do indeed back; most of them being immigrant founders. Why focus on that demographic?

Well, our fund, you know, we only invest in immigrants. We are immigrants. And we know that collectively, immigrants—if you take, if you take...

Immigrants from any country to the US, they're not just slightly better at building businesses.
They are responsible for the majority of the value generated from new companies.
Most of the unicorns, the billion-dollar, multi-billion dollar success stories, are in fact started by immigrants.

Like 55% of them—people who personally made the journey and came here.
Why? Why is there some sort of causal link or correlation that people who have been driven and motivated to move and come are going to be, well, more

weighted toward being successful?
Well, there's a number of reasons. I think it's not a question of the cut of this cloth being full of people who are better at starting things. It's the people who make the journey,

right?
The experience of coming to a new country, like learning a new language, is predictive of how much grit and perseverance you have. It's almost like, you know, your own immigration is like a startup because

you're going into the unknown.
You have to have some kind of vision, some kind of belief that you can do it, but before you have real evidence. When you commit to doing that,

you often don't really have a way back,
right?
Like, it's very hard to come back and admit that, like, nobody really wanted you in America and it didn't work out.  People around you don't necessarily believe that's what you should do.
You're sort of abandoning your existing

network. Right. And so the people who have done that and had to survive. Right. Had to learn the culture, the language. Figure everything out from scratch. Build a new network; where they've done that once, they're more likely to be able to figure out how to disrupt a big

business, which, you know, a big company has its own language, its own culture in a way. And any startup, in order to win, has to be able to overcome it. Having done it once already on your own, immigrating, it's more likely that you will get there and you're not going to

give up along the way. You're not going to have as many alternatives when things get hard. It's not so easy to get a cushy job, right, because you don't have the network. Right. What's interesting, though, is you think

about the leaders of the Magnificent Seven, the CEOs; many of them are immigrants. Elon Musk himself, who has the ear of the next elected president—most of the time it feels like himself—an immigrant didn't have to change languages, but certainly came here and

built a number of incredibly successful companies. But what does the next administration look like to you? Do we see a pushback against immigration in some way? Well, you know, it's hard for me to tell. I personally believe that all immigrants, even folks without

education, should be generally welcome, not illegally. Right. They should have a path to legality, of course. And I think it just tremendously benefits the country to have these select few people who are willing and able to make the journey. You know, we want to welcome them.

But like I said, there are other reasons why they might do well, like having a different culture and language. It makes it more likely that you'll figure out some new cultural insights, some new thing. And of course, immigrants tend to be

able to build technology offshore often. There are places you could get engineers cheaper, far away, where normally a startup couldn't really do that in the beginning because you want to be close to the customers. You want to be like a real team. You don't outsource.

You want to have people on your core team from the beginning that build it. But when you are an immigrant with those connections, it's very likely you'll be able to find people somewhere else where salaries are lower and where that

because you actually feel like they're really part of a group, you can make that connection. And of course, but you're missing... you're nuts! We have all certainly missed a lot of things that it takes to be successful. And so we, as a fund, we are immigrants

ourselves. But we came here as kids, right? So we're kind of like a bridge. We understand a little bit more about the culture of building a business in America. And we are able to see these unusual qualities that make someone

potentially able to build a really big business, right? That level of ambition, vision, thoughtfulness, and perseverance. And so we kind of help them unlock it. We find the missing pieces. Sometimes it's a question of storytelling or just building a

network, right?
And so that's what we specialize in.
I just want to say people like Elon Musk or Sergey Brin, who built these big
businesses. It sounds sometimes to people like it's
kind of an exception, but it's not.

It's truly the majority of big
businesses—over half—started by people like that.

Backing Immigrant Tech Entrepreneurs Amid H-1B Revisions

Welcome to the Bloomberg Technology YouTube channel. Subscribe for original series and mini-docs on game-changing technologies, profiles on innovators, live conversations with experts, and breaking technology news & analysis from Bloomberg TV.

Bloomberg Technology

Discussion on the impact of clarified H-1B visa application processes on companies.

Increased H-1B visas and simplified processes ease immigrant hiring and company startups.

Focus on how the H-1B visa overhaul benefits entrepreneurs with majority holdings in their companies.

Simplified visa processes encourage student entrepreneurs to start companies in the US.

Focus on the fund's investment in immigrant founders.

Immigrants are responsible for a majority of value generated from new companies, including many unicorns.

Exploration of the correlation between immigration and business success.

The experience of immigrating builds grit and perseverance, similar to starting a company.

Immigrants often lack alternatives and are less likely to give up when facing challenges.

Immigrants' experiences in adapting to a new culture and building networks make them more resilient.

Immigrants' ability to overcome challenges in their own immigration experience translates to success in business.

Discussion on the potential for pushback against immigration in future administrations.

Advocacy for welcoming immigrants and providing them with a path to legality.

Immigrants bring diverse cultural insights and often build technology offshore.

Immigrants' ability to leverage lower salaries in other countries for technology development.

Immigrants often have pre-existing networks that enable them to build teams in different locations.

The fund's role in helping immigrant founders unlock their potential.

The fund assists in areas such as storytelling and network building.

Highlighting that the success of immigrant entrepreneurs is not an exception, but a common trend.