Screw it
I wrote this post a few days ago, and let it marinate for while... unsure whether to post it or not. But here it is
--------------------------
I'm on my flight back from Atlanta; not surprising if you know me, I have been quite (euphemism) around in the last few years.The difference is I have been escorted by a US Custom Officer to this particular flight; I was refused the entrance to the US.
The story is simple: I am, as many of you already know, a minority shareholder of Mindquilt, a Texan C Corp startup. And I was going to Austin to meet my business partner, discuss our product and strategy, see what's going wrong, and fix a few bugs in the code.I was going there totally at my personal expenses (flights, meals and even contributing to the rent) because in most of the startups there are no money but only work to do to make them happen. And I was going (ingenuously, naively, stupidly certainly) under a touristic visa because it was simply the only option (more on that later) to go there.
Refused entrance because I was going to do unauthorised work in the US, according to custom officials. Doing work from a company that I partially own and doesn't make any money at the time, that was funny.
The right process should have been, according US custom officers [1], applying for a B1 visa; however, I noticed, B1 visa does not cover the case where you are paid (in any way) for your services, and they had just argued that shareholding is a payment for my services. Oh no, H1B visa; however, H1B is very startup-unfriendly, as it requires you to be paid a market-rate salary. Whatever.
The immigration lawyer says there are actually a few options. O-1, for instance. I have written a couple of books and talked to conferences, and I might apply for this Visa for people with "extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics". I'm sure my mum would be so proud of that... but are you kidding me? Extraordinary yadda yadda? Or an investor Visa, sure, an investor Visa. It might take some time, certainly some money. Is it worth it?
I say screw it. It's just not worth it.
Yes, Austin and the Valley have an incredible weather, and thousands of startups, and events every night to grow new entrepreneurs. And local celebrities, people who 'made it', who are available to have a coffee or lunch with you, just because you have the guts to try to build your company.And moneys in the Valley are just flowing like in the nineties, with a bubble going on where start-ups are overfunded, and then just sold for too much money to the big names, creating new riches who can invest in new startups.
Yes I enjoyed the days I spent in Austin, the start-up weekend, the lean startup meetings, going to the golf range, talking to people I never met before in the coffee shops, and having lunches and beers and coffees with other aspiring entrepreneurs. I'm gonna miss that.
But if you look deep down, besides the gorgeous weather and the shiny success stories you read on Techcrunch, startups are all about passionate people, who want to build something. And I saw these people in London, Italy, Paris as I saw them in the US.I was in London a few days ago to attend the local open coffee and Lean Startup night; I saw there people trying to build their startup. I didn't see anybody from the local celebrities like Shazaam, Last.fm or Spotify, though.
Startups are all about connecting people, connecting aspiring entrepreneurs. Making them feel they are not alone in their craziness. Giving them examples, helping them connect to each other.
Guess what, you don't need a valley for that. You don't need too much money. You need to just fucking do it.
So i'm calling all the fellow crazy aspiring entrepreneurs out. Im calling out people from Spotify, Last.fm, Shazaam and from the smaller, unknown startups. Come out from your cave and talk to your colleagues. Let's find events, opportunities, and places where we can meet and learn. I'll certainly keep trying.
Notes
[1] Let me clarify that I don't want to criticise US Custom Officers in this post. I have spent 24 hours with them, and they do one of the toughest job I have ever seen. They work in 9-10 hour shifts, 24/7, with hundreds of people to check (often people who don't know any English word) during peak times. And they do their job always in a professional way. And often with great sense of humour.