Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Vivek Wadhwa, an entrepreneur turned academic. He is a Visiting Scholar at UC-Berkeley, Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School and Executive in Residence at Duke University. Follow him on Twitter at @vwadhwa.
Are you an immigrant who is fed up with waiting for years for a green card which you may never get? Or a tech entrepreneur looking to dramatically cut costs? I’ve got a suggestion for you. Move South. No, I don’t mean to Los Angeles or San Diego, I’m taking about way down South in Chile. They’ll welcome you with open arms and offer you incentives which will cut your burn rate more than half. And you’ll get to live in a land which makes even California look drab.
I just returned from a fascinating trip to Chile. Their government invited me to view the progress they had made in becoming an outsourcing hub. I was impressed with their ability to grow outsourcing from nothing to close to $1 billion in revenue over a mere seven years. But I didn’t see how they could grow much more in the body-intensive outsourcing segment without choking off local industry by sucking all the capable engineers and scientists into relatively high paying IT jobs. I told them that they had as much of a chance to compete with India in outsourcing as India had in competing with them in copper exports. India has a billion people. Chile has only 16 million people, less than some Indian cities. But Chile does have 40% of the world’s copper, a magnificent inflation hedge.
Chile may not become an outsourcing powerhouse. But this South American gem could very well morph into the new land of opportunity for immigrants in general and export-centric tech entrepreneurs. The Chilean government has put together an incredible slate of incentives for technology-based companies that export their products. The government wants you to invest $500,000 over 5 years, but is pretty flexible about how you do this.
So what do you get for your $500,000? To start with, they’ll give you a visa. You can stay as long as you want – even permanently. You need to submit a business plan but you have a lot of latitude for what’s an acceptable business. Any type of high tech products, medical or biotech products, or green or cleantech products get the stamp of approval, as does software or even online gaming or social network software. Even if you want to set up a call center or technical support service that derives revenues from sales to foreign companies and they think you’re legit, you’ll get the visa.
But first, you want to check out the country, right? The government will give you 60% of your due diligence costs, or up to $30,000, to visit and explore Chile. And they’ll grant you another $30,000 to launch your company in Chile. If you work from one of their tech centers, the government will pay for 5 years of rent (up to $1 million) or split the costs if you want to locate elsewhere in this gorgeous country.
How about workforce incentives? Chile has you covered. The government will pay you (as an approved entrepreneur) up to $25,000 for the first year of “training costs” for any locals you hire. By the way, Chile has some excellent engineering schools so it’s not terribly difficult to pick up a good Java or C# programmer. They typically make $15,000-30,000 per year. Can’t find the local talent you want? Chile will subsidize your efforts to bring folks from Sunnyvale, Mumbai or wherever you may find them. And you can train these folks on Chile’s dime as well. And if you decide to buy some land and build your own labs or offices, they’ll give you 40% of your costs up to $2 million. How about for H-1B immigrants or other talented folks who want to move to Chile? Simple. Get a legitimate tech job and they’ll give you a visa, no questions asked. Are you starting to get my drift? (Note: If Chile took even one-quarter of all the H-1B holders current working in tech jobs in America, they would probably come close to doubling the size of their technology workforce).
But wait, there must be a catch. Not that I can find. I visited Vina Del Mar, a beautiful beach resort about an hour from Santiago. The weather and landscape is just like California (except they’ve got their seasons reversed – when its summer in the U.S., it’s winter down under). Vina del Mar is located right next to Chile’s wine country, boasts magnificent beaches and looks like a modern version of Miami. Guess what a fully furnished 2 bedroom apartment on the beach costs? $500 per month. Even the capital city of Santiago looks and feels like a new European city, with very low crime rates, great weather and friendly natives. For those true California boys, Chile even has great surfing.
To top this off, Chile is a thriving democracy with one of the most open economies in South America. In fact, if I was starting a new tech company and didn’t need to be in any particular area, I’d start it in Chile in a heartbeat. What really struck me was how many Chileans I met who boasted of their country being a “land of immigrants.” Everyone told stories about how Chile was built by immigrants and welcomed the world’s most skilled and most oppressed. This reminded me of how America used to be before the xenophobes started blaming immigrants for all their own shortcomings and misery. Seems too good to be true, doesn’t it? There are some downsides. Chile is a 15 hour flight from the West Coast. And if you’re going to stay long-term, you’ll need to learn Spanish. That’s not a big price to pay for all the benefits.
Yearning to be free of the costs and constraints of the tech landscape in North America? Go South, young techie.
I think i’m moving to Chile.
Agreed, now that’s a stimulus package.
+1
also in Chile we have a very several, very alive startup & entrepreneur communities, so if you have a chance, come here and check out whats happening in this side of the World, Saludos!
Argentina has been more successful in terms of startups: patagon.com / olx.com / mercadolibre.com / officenet.com / clasilistados.org and the list goes on and on…
Definitely liked Buenos Aires more…by far
@George
are you kidding??
Differences between Chile and Argentina.
Chile IS stable
The currency is stable
There is very little corruption
High Tech is cheap to buy
Chile is NOT a Banana republic: see http://andreinc...anana-republic/
Chile is fantastic to live. Great people. Amazing Climate. Santiago specific: sea side is 90 minutes by car and top ski resort is 60 minutes by car. Cost of living is very reasonable
Andre is right. And to his list of advantages over Argentina I would add:
- Rule of law (not the whims of politically-manipulated “sindicatos” ==the labor unions).
- Better infrastructure –roads, rail, telecoms, light & power.
- Minimal anti-americanism.
I agree at first glance these incentives looks as a “no-brainer” choice to launch a startup in Chile. If the plan is to cut the “burn rate” by half I would focus more on saving on operational costs (including taxes) as the business ramp up, and not only on cutting startup costs, and Chile has 17% flat corp tax. That’s only $170,000 in taxes for each million of profit.
Putting that on perspective, probably there would be several countries that offers better tax incentives for startups. For example, Panama does not require a minimum investment to get a visa and has great incentives as well: zero “0″ tax if income comes from overseas business, which is great for tech/services/export businesses, also a free trade zone, a tech park, no property taxes for 20 years if buying real estate, US retirees program, 2 hr flight from Miami, local currency is USD, multi-cultural, more US-friendly, solid financial system, etc. The only drawback is high-skilled local workforce is scarce, but it could be “imported” or developed.
c’mon, dont be innocent
you install your business in chile and take all the advantages described here. chile win all jobs and experiences. but you sell in the us, so chilean taxes dont apply.
Interesting article. I’m in Buenos Aires, Argentina at the moment and there seems to be a similar community of tech ex-pats building up here.
Chile definitely has the reputation of being the most developed economy and embracing property rights, economic freedom, etc the most.
I think that figure of $500 US for a 2b beach apartment is a bit low, check Craigslist. Things in Chile aren’t super cheap, but overall probably still better than the U.S.
One thing I wasn’t clear on: It seems like they will subsidize all sorts of stuff but require a $500k investment. This seems like a weird combination (are they paying you to come or requiring you to pay?). If you want to get those subsidies you’d still have to do something all entrepreneurs hate: deal with the government. I’d personally rather see a country just take a completely hands off approach: anyone can come, we don’t subsidize anything, but taxes are low.
Anyway, interesting article thanks!
yupp. i heard the same thing vivek wrote 3 years ago and i though damn i have to move to chile or argentina. south america is where it’s at i think personally if you want to stay in this hemisphere. i think the government knows what it needs to do. good for them.
That price is accurate. A couple years ago, when I was a college student in Viña del Mar, I rented a full furnished, 2bedroom /2bathroom appartment in the coast for CLP$200.000 (Chilean pesos) which at the time was around US$350.
Now I live in Santiago in a small 3 bed/ 2 bath appartment for which I pay less than CLP$250.000 (around US$500). You can certainly go bigger and more expensive but it’s your choice
It is not rare to require an investment in order to secure visa’s and get into the subsidy program.
It is there way of ensuring that you actually have some skin in the game and are serious about developing a company and employing their workers and helping to grow their economy.
What it does mean of course is that the subsidies aren’t available to those who don’t have the investment, and therefore is somewhat closed off to true start-ups.
But if you have managed to build a solid business, Chile will help you grow that business further.
The US has similar requirements for moving a company to the US and getting a visa for the founders. Though I’m not familiar with such large subsidies coming from the US to foreign start-ups.
@pedalpete “The US has similar requirements for moving a company to the US and getting a visa for the founders…”
To apply for a similar visa in the US you need to invest $1 million “at-risk” (for under-developed zones just $750,000) and employ at least 10 US citizens. Those are only the minimum requirements, and there’s no tax, real estate, or employment incentives like the Chile’s program is offering.
Why would you want to open a business in Argentina, whose inflation is into double-digit and climbing, cold like hell, and the gov is going Chavez way (just passed law to censor free media)?
“cold like hell” That is something you don’t hear that often
Only if you’re not Trinidadian
@StartBreakingFree.com — I agree … why would anyone want to deal with the government (pay them $500 USD just to set up shop for a startup? You’ve got to be kidding me). Ayn Rand had it right all along — government should be mostly hand off. Also if you read Michael Milken’s recent Financial Times op ed titled “Prosperity rests on human and social capital” he notes how government played a role in the recent financial crisis saying:
——————————-
The disruption of the past two years was caused by other factors, including unrealistic ratings that failed to reflect underlying credit risk, government encouragement of questionable investments, flawed underwriting practices and deployment of excessive leverage by financial managers who did not see the need for credit research.
——————————-
Furthermore, I’d like to see Vivek Wadhwa try and challege Paul Graham’s essays:
How to Be Silicon Valley
and
Can you Buy a Silicon Valley? Maybe.
Anyway, the world is flat and its getting flatter (as the clouds will be changing the game once again).
Wadhwa is selling a lot of roses and rainbows in his little story. When someone is willing to shell out incentives like this, there is tremendous risk. Conveniently Wadhwa leaves this out of the story. He does manage to throw in that great little jab at the end, inferring American are xenophobes, for demanding that the US government enforce its immigration laws and stop the issuing of H1B’s as unemployment continues to climb here.
It’s the same thing from this guy every time he writes, blasting US immigration policy and blasting Americans. I got and idea of who can pick up and move to Chile, but I think he likes it here too much.
You know what really aggravazes me? It’s them immigants. They wants all the benefits of living in Springfield, but they ain’t even bother to learn themselves the language.
US immigration policy deserves to be blasted to its component quarks. To describe it as a moronic and counterproductive would be very charitable.
Very true. As far as I can tell there are no checks on immigration whatsoever. At least there are some checks on handing jobs over to foreigners. Seems like the guy wrote whole piece just so he could get his dig n at the end about America being xenophobic. Why doesn’t he criticize the xenophobia of India? I won’t even begin to list all the groups that are treated like raw sewage in India because the country is so damn xenophobic. Don’t believe me? Spend a few weeks in Mumbai.
Immigration is good for the country and the economy- check it- shortly after the xenophobes started raising a fuss about immigration the economy started to tank- not a coincidence. The thing is about the xenophobes is that they feel entitled to work they are not qualified to do and it burns them up when an immigrant gets a better job then them- Answer: Go To SCHOOL stop blaming others for your own short comings!
@Tinus – super inarticulate. please what are these risks? i mean your premise is basically like my grandmother telling me nothing in life is free. a truism on its face but nothing more then a tautology in substance. Is it so unimaginable that the government has decided that they receive dividends from every company that goes there outside of just taxes and employment? Further, it seems like your logic would equally apply to the economic policy of many successful countries that have subsidized specific industries with the longterm plans that becoming the leader will ultimately create more value added from their work force (I’m looking at you Japan and Korea).
As for xenophobia I think its clear that Wadhwa is referring to something a little longer then the most recent immigration problems but the history of identifying, blaming, and persecuting specific immigrant groups affect on individual jobs rather then taking the broader perspective about the strength of the American economy. But I’m sure you identify with that shortsighted logic as it is the basis for your entire position.
Sidenote: India’s constitution actually has specific provisions for minority group to be able to organize and create new states based on these identifications. So not to say there arn’t problems but they have a constitutionally based mechanism to help alleviate it
Hablas espanol?
what about the 45% income taxes?
Sounds amazing! I have other plans though…
Jon @ WoodMarvels.com
I have some questions:
1) Do they respect individual property rights, or is your property subject to state confiscation at their whims?
2) Do they have a government run central bank or do they have a free banking system?
3) What are the individual and corporate taxes that a person would pay, including all hidden taxes?
4) Do they have any state-funded social programs?
Nice job highlighting the kind of right-wing, xenophobic attitude the author described in the post.
Jon – Those are perfectly valid questions that hardly point to xenophobia.
Tom – According to the Index of Economic Freedom:
Personal taxes max out around 40%. Private property rights are strong and contracts are enforced. State confiscation is rare and owners are typically compensated when it happens. Opening a business is easier than the world average, closing one can be a pain in the ass. Banking is stable, corruption seen as minimal.
Chile ranked #11 on the 2009 list of economic freedom.
??? not sure why you think think the questions are xenophobic….but anyway, Tom this might help:
http://en.wikip...orical_rankings
They are moving up there. Not the best in the world, but almost certainly best in S. America
Lol this question is xenophobic because the author just heard South America and spanish and just assumed socialist chavezesque policy. just the talking points of a glen beck race baiting.
1) Yes, there is a strong sense of individual property rights, specially in high technology
2) Chile has a central bank, very aclaimed in the last crisis
3) Taxes are really low compared to USA, but in this moment i don’t have to much information. But i can say you that as a person if you make $24.000 by year, you just pay $250 in taxes.
4) Yes there are severaly
Chile is the place to be at the moment. If you need any contacts over there (here), or additional information let me know.
Hey, I need some info… can we chat somehow?
@Tom, individual taxes goes from 0 – 40%, while corporate tax is a flat 17%.
Indivudual taxes includes a 9% that goes to your health plan, a 10% for a retirement savings account and a 1% for unemployment benefits.
Main taxes in Chile are 17% corporate tax, 0 – 40% income tax, and 19% VAT (similar to sales tax).
There are no taxes for health plan or retirement: these are mandatory deductions that go to the health insurance company and retirement savings company of your own choice.
1) Do they respect individual property rights, or is your property subject to state confiscation at their whims?
Chile respects all international agreement about personal property, intelectual property an others.
2) Do they have a government run central bank or do they have a free banking system?
There is a Central Autonomous Bank and a free market bank system.
3) What are the individual and corporate taxes that a person would pay, including all hidden taxes?
Personal taxes is up to 40% in the highest. Corporate is a flat 17%, and value aded tax is 19% flat rate.
4) Do they have any state-funded social programs?
.
There is a lot, for poor people, for entrepreneurs, for health, all due to the High Cooper prices last years
Chile econ policy is very much influenced by the U of Chicago trained economists. The conservatives there actually believe in fiscal responsibility; not wacko fairy tales.
http://en.wikip...ki/Chicago_Boys
did you read the krugman write up about the chicago school of econ thought? it’s been an interesting thing to follow. so many people writing about i’m right you’re wrong etc…love to see old caucasian men argue fundementals.
http://curiousc...chicago-debate/
Would be more interesting if Krugman would try to take on the Austrian school. Operative word being ‘try’.
I only have one question: why does this post seem to suggest Chile’s welcoming attitude extends to North American companies only? Clearly, this is a global offering.
I thought the same too. For a techie from Asia, its almost the same flight time. Regarding language, yes Indians do have an advantage in the US as English is taught since Kindergarten and most people are pretty comfortable with it.
Indian English might be alright for basic communication, both most of the Indian’s I’ve come across either have bad grammar or are just unfamiliar with cross-cultural communication. On second thought, the bit about cross-cultural communication extends both ways and to about every culture out there.
I’m indian and I concur with thee !
I’m an Argentine attorney and i constantly work with attorneys from Chile, the US and India during US hours and the same problem I face with my Indian peers is the level Of discouragement those folks work with because of time zone issues: Indians work at night while Chileans, Argentineans and people in the US work during daylight
The one point i would never outsource AnYThing to India is because night is made for everything except working
I live in Venezuela and I’m used to bidding farewell to friends and acquaintances that move elsewhere because they are fed up with the government and hostile business environment. Name a country (Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, the US, Puerto Rico, Australia, Canada, Spain, Israel, Mexico, etc.) and I have a friend or family member that’s moved there recently.
The odd thing is that I know only one person who’s moved to Chile and she’s the daughter of Chilean immigrants who came to Vzla in the 1970’s. There are ads in the newspapers looking for people to move to Australia (different language and very far) than Chile.
What I’ve read is that as your article mentions and unlike USA or Canada, Chile is looking for startups, not skilled workers short of cash. So for the moment being, Chile doesn’t want your poor. Al contrario.
@Tomas
Shame what is going on in your country. The poor have voted for this, and the poor got what they have asked for. I wish you all the best, and hope some group in your county will see to this dictator to be thrown in jail, the sooner the better.
Dictator? Last time I checked, a dictatorship wasn’t created by voting. The poor have voted for this? Excuse me you rich, stupid man! Where were you when Bush needed to be thrown in jail?
“Dictator? Last time I checked, a dictatorship wasn’t created by voting.”
-Then you are obviously unaware of German political history circa 1930.
This was an interesting read. As far as immigration goes, a country will have to work pretty hard to be worse than the U.S.
Don’t worry English are working on it and made significant progress already.
the uk? what about france, italy?
Interesting post and good to know about the opportunities in Chile. Definitely an option for me now
Sounds awesome! How do I contact someone?
–Gautam
Guatam, if you want more details, ping me: mlong@odellsimms.com
I work with the agency that provides this support.
I wonder if they disalow idea patents?
Chile is definitely a good option to start a tech company with out huge costs. I think other southamerican countries have the possibility to offer the same, but clearly Chile is the most advanced.
I’m seriously considering moving there.
Viva Chile mierda
My wife is Chile and i live there for a couple of years.
In Chile “we” have a culture that is quite closely aligned with Europe so it’s a good access point for European and US companies to get into South America.
There is also a lot of cool mobile stuff and i had ADSL in a remote area in Chile long before i could get it at my house in the UK!
Palo Alto based Austral Capital (http://www.australcap.com) is a good starting point for those interested in exploring these programs further. Their LP’s include some of the best known entrepreneurs in Chile, and they have been working closely with CORFO, the vehicle the Chilean government has used to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in Chile.
the new liberty statue is good..the techies will build one there..
For those unfamiliar with Chile, the impression I got while talking to other South Americans when I was down there was that Chile is an economic powerhouse in South America. They considered it much more influential, economically, and stable than Brasil. So this post doesn’t really surprise me.
yeah. my football coach who lived in argentina and in chile used to tell me that they are very business minded and there is big support of small businesses and entreprenuership. he used to tell my sibling to go down there and start a socccer apparel company or a gym…basically anything because there was a need for everything there and they need business. i like this idea, plus the government isn’t crazy.
Well guys….
We are all sick and tired of US and racist mentality towards immigration as the the people do not mind shopping at Walmart ( but curse China ), do not mind buying cheap food ( but curse Mexico ), live off credit cards issued on the basis of T bonds purchased by Asia ( but curse Foreign nations buying US banks ) etc…
I have been to Chile and it is a much better place to live than California and rest of US…
Let us move the center of gravity of IT industry out of Silicon Valley…
Will some smart guy star a website / message borad to share info about opportunities / Visa process in Chile ???
I have a simple solution for you: If you think the US is racist, don’t come.
As to your points regarding trade. Many people must shop at Wal-Mart and we have little choice when it comes to where our goods were produced because our government relaxed trade laws and destroyed American manufacturing. That has nothing to do with racism you idiot. It’s about wanting fair trade.
And, we have no control over who purchases our T-bonds. You are calling the consumer racist, when they had little to do with this – and this has nothing to do with racism.
A more protectionist America is coming. And I can’t wait. This nation is worth protecting!
America is on its way to becoming a third world country. As someone mentioned previously, dictators elected by the masses.
I keep hearing this nonsense that America is racist, especially from democrats, yet a large part of the population elected a black president. I didn’t vote for him because we don’t elect presidents anymore, they’re given to us by a shady group. But I would vote for Martin Luther King in a heartbeat. It’s so refreshing when blacks see BHO for what he really is, a puppet. Tavis Smiley gets it. Next time you hear liberals like Bill Maher, Michael Moore, Keith Olbermann, Carter, or any other pundit saying that America is racist, you should remember that blacks are only 13% of the entire American population, and that such minority couldn’t possibly elect a black POTUS on its own. Please note that this 13% Census figure of 2008 includes children who don’t vote. Could you guys apply some common sense here and rinse twice? Another thing, if you need to immigrate, chances are that your countrymen helped to destroy your own country and economy. So if your own culture helped destroy your country of origin, that doesn’t seem like a good track record of citizenry, does it? And if your presence is so indispensable to the US, why are your own countries of origin are so messed up with the abundance of talent like yourself? Again, please apply some logic and common sense here. The US already gave the world the Internet, cellular, microchip, laser, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Hip-Hop, R&B, Electronic music, LED, barcode, RFID, GPS, toilet paper, A/C, microwave oven, Scarlett Johanson, among many other gems. We ain’t Mother Theresa or your rich uncle; go fix your countries while we, Americans, take a breather.
all good points. well said. I am an immigrant myself from the same country as the write of this article is. People need to be objective in their criticism. Nobody is perfect and no system is perfect, people can’t throw random accusations when things don’t work in their favor. Lot of Indians are brought up in a system that doesn’t follow the rule of the law in any strict sense and they are used to getting things done thru someone’e influence or using money aka.Bribery.
+1 on Scarlett
So the US gave the world all those things??? Keep lying to yourself xDD
Internet: A project initiaded by Timothy John “Tim” Berners-Lee (british) and Robert Cailliau (belgian) supported by CERN (Europe).
LED: Created by Oleg Vladimirovich Losev (russian)
Rock, Jazz, Blues: All initiated by black slaves.
Electronic Music: Europe (ever heard of trance and eurobeat?)
Toilet paper: Invented during the old chinese dynasties.
So, you shine in arrogance =)
A few points:
- As you mention Chile has just 16million people, hardly an attractive market.
- They speak Spanish; whatever you do will have to be translated, you have to train your employees to suit them to the english speaking world.
- “The government wants you to invest $500,000″
If you have that kind of money why bother emigrating at all, why not just stay in your country and develop your product there?
By the way, Your postings on TC are so frequent, am beginning to wonder whether you have any time for your students.
Maybe you should start your own rival blog or officially join the TC team.
WTF? He barely posts once a week and that means he doesn’t time for teachers? Actually most of the professors at Research Universities (like Berkeley in this case) rarely teach…it’s the TAs and the RAs. Liberal Arts Colleges are where Professors are truly dedicated to teaching.
Once a week or even once a month is a lot to be considered “guest posts” it is about as frequent as Sarah Lacey posts.
“Guest” implies that he is not employed by TC and that the run of posts is limited
-As you said, chile just has 16 Million People but if you think it as a platform for latin america, is a pretty good deal.
-False, there is a lot of well trained people that has a really good english level.
-Because in fact USD$500.000 are a lot more money in chile, rents, taxes, transportation, living costs and even people are less expensive, a fairly good developer in Chile hardly cost more than USD$35.000 a year, and usually they get $25.000 a year.
you can get an equally good developer in India for $20,000.
The question still remains;
the main reasons for people start their businesses in america are;
1) to be close to the customer
2) availability of funding
now, if you already have that $500,000 and don’t need to be in america, why emigrate and have to adjust to a new culture, new language etc?
- As Claudio says, the idea is having your development in Chile while your commercial/sales offices elsewhere (the attractive market)
- English is taught at school from a very early age. General English level for the whole population is not that good, but is being improved really fast, and if you take the above advice and focus only on highly educated/trained people, you’ll be really pleased with the English level
- There’s “a hack” to this. They’ll give you a visa anyway, you don’t need to invest anything. Of course, you won’t get as many incentives, but at least you’ll be on par with us Chileans!
we’re moving into a time where this generation of ‘think’ workers can locate anywhere.
Even with the 15 hour flight to the usa it doesn’t put you outside of capital raising efforts in the USA.
The bigggest issue facing expats in the USA is the HEART Taxation Act that was slipped into law last year under the guise of supporting the troops.
(If you are an expat and dont know about it google it now)
I know that I personally will have to leave the USA before my own personal 8 years is up unless it’s repealed.
Cheers,
Dean
I hadn’t even heard of the HEART Taxation Act before. I can see both sides of it. I wonder how they came up with the 8 years. I couldn’t find that much about it (no wikipedia entry). This was the best I saw: http://www.port...oreign-Workers/
Professor, I LOVE your articles. Please do this more often!!! Now I want to move to Chile.
Chile is a great country. Lots of hotties there too. That doesn’t excuse the fact that the whole point of the article is to bash America and expound on his political agenda of trying to forment feelings of guilt in Americans by accusing them of being xenophobic.
I have a feeling that you visit was an escorted tour and you were only shown the best of Chile. Can someone else who has lived in both Chile and USA talk about the quality of life there?
“I have a feeling that you visit was an escorted tour and you were only shown the best of Chile. ”
Exactly! Not an ‘alternative’ to America by any means.
Ok, is not THAT great, but is a fairly decent country to live, specially for an american or european people.
Crime exists but still Chile has one of the lower crime rates in Latin America.
Hi Maya,
I lived in Chile from January to May and lived the entrepreneur life (no government tours or escorts, cheap food $200/mo rent). I have also spent time in Buenos Aires, Lima, and some years in Colombia. I have lived 10 years in the U.S. and all my startups have been here. However, I chose to create my newest startup in Chile with chilean entrepreneurs recently. And regarding quality of life: Excellent, perhaps not better than SV but better than Miami, LA, and NY.
Maya,
I’m chilean and having lived in NYC and in the UK I can say that quality of life is way better down there. For the last two years Santiago has developed a new transport system which is similar to what you can find in European cities (most notably Budapest) or places here in the US, which makes it an easier city. Weather is similar to the US, it gets hot in the summer (up to 35° C) and cold in winter (down to -2 or -3°C), and the food is really good. Chile is a fruit and vegetable export country, so you’ll have plenty of cheap options to eat healthy. As pointed out, it has also a really good comunications system, and you can have mobile broadband in every part of the country. Crime rates are similar to any developing country and, from december on, Chile would be part of the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development), which groups the 30 most developed countries in the world and gives special incentives to green economies. BTW, something overlooked by the author was Chile’s potential in green economy, sustainable development and issuing carbon bonds for the rest of economic powerhouses. In summary, its an awesome country which has its drawbacks, as all, but definitely worth to go and try to set something up down there.
I lived in Argentina, Chile and the USA
There is no doubt All these posts were written by biased Chileans.
In order, the quality of life I experienced tells me the US far exceeds Argentina & Chile but had I have to choose again that would definitely be Argentina… Besides Chileans are awful English speakers.
well… as we have to learn english when moving to USA, you should learn spanish when moving to South America… you cant expect to live as you live in USA here.. you have to adapt yourself as every human being that moves from his native country..
Slut!!!!
Great post, in contrast to Mr. Wadwa’s usual rants.
Having visited chile, I must say i was hugely surprised. Very civilized and focused on economic growth. No hint of Pinochet left.
That said, there is one important piece missing in the equation. Capital. While the Chilean government may hand out small incentives, there are no venture capital firms in Santiago…
Rainier, there are VC firms in Chile. As somebody posted before, Austral Capital (www.australcapital.com) has funded many companies in Chile and out of Chile. They are headquartered in Santiago, Chile and they have also offices in Palo Alto. Although Austral is the biggest VC, there are other firms starting to emerge in the “Santiago Valley”.
Correction! Hints of Pinochet are everywhere… he was the one who started the economic changes in Chile in the middle 70’s. The center-left coalition that follows the dictatorship of Pinochet (one of the few examples of a dictator that gave the power after loosing an election, in 1988) just continued aplying open market economy policies and promoting the respect of private property that wasn’t on their political speech 40 years ago. Pinochet was a saint? No. His dictatorship killed people? Yes, near 3,000 chileans. That this makes Pinochet the devil? No, at least for me. Chile is a different place thanks to 17 years of military dictatorship. Allende left the country with the worst crisis of their history. Argentinians, paraguayians, bolivians, brazilians, peruvians… can’t say the same, even they had military dictatorships during the 70’s.
Great article, Chile is becoming the most reliable country in the region to do business, I say this with great pain. as an Argentinean, we are heading in the opposite direction, with a “chavez style” president, a total dictator hidden behind his progresive speech…,Lot to learn from Chile…
Also, as an Argentine tech entrepreneur these kind of government and economic plans makes me envy our neighbor countries.
I look forward to Chile’s progress applying this. Hope you become an example to us. We have a lot to learn from you (and from Brazil).
For the SV guys, you should seriously consider this offer!
will they throw some $ and a visa at a 30 something guy with nothing to offer but a love of women, wine and beaches?
“a 30 something guy with nothing to offer but a love of women”
Oh, yeah, because what the male decisionmakers in the Chilean government really want is more gringos to come and reduce the supply of available attractive native Chilean women.
still worth asking
i should have mentioned i’ll teach any woman i feck a little english too
+1
They will not throw money. But if you go to Chile on a tourist visa (actually a US citizen doesn’t even need a visa to visit) and you get a written work offer, you can apply for a working permit and get it literally in a couple of days.
Santiago is one of the most polluted cities in the world
NYC ain’t much better
But just in 2 hours you can go to Viña del Mar or Valparaiso http://en.wikip...wiki/Valparaiso
yep, less of two hour to go to the beach and one hour to sky/snowboard on the Andes.
In the same season?
yes, same season
I do some business in Chile. The peolpe are great, climate is excellent and the wine is divine.
I do suggest checking out NYC’s business intiative. It’s not on the scale of Chile but Bloomberg has committed a lot of cheap space for startups (couple hundred bucks a month), access to startup professors and the biggest thing : Investor capital.
Can Chile Beat that?
aevans @ FriendsEAT.com
Chile does not have the breadth of risk capital available as NY or silicon valley. But there is private capital available from the small but thriving and welcoming startup community as well as mentorship, and something to match Bloomberg’s offering is the governments grants and subsidies for startups, something I have not seen in the U.S. at all.
And to add to Andres’ point, NOW would be the time to go to Chile, not later when everything is eual to the U.S. To those risk takers willing to go to to a beautiful country (I visited in 2006 and fell in love with the can-do attitude, friendliness of the people, clean streets, modern city, delicious food), then they’re getting in on the ground floor, just like any ground floor at the beginning of anything huge.
Need to learn spanish to move chile!..So right now started tweeting in spanish to learn more about the language by my site…
VAMOS CHILE CONCHATUMARE! great post about a great country, don’t let the opportunity go
Vamonos a Chile!
I’ve been there and loved the country. This was several years ago. I would definitely go there again. Never thought that they would be so welcoming to tech companies!!
This is really good!
I am a UCLA MBA working in high tech in Chile. If you need local contacts please send me an email to lg@zcontents.com
This is great!
It must mean that Vivek knows that the H-1B job stealing days are numbered, so he is encouraging the H-1B parasites to jump from the U.S. and go to another unsuspecting host country.
This is a great article!
Marley, you don’t own your job so there’s nothing to steal. You actually sound like a US autoworker or some other sinecured bum who blames foreigners for his indolence and mediocrity. Why shouldn’t people hire and trade freely without violent interference from third parties such as you?
Be nice heuristic. No reason to insult.
You might be surprised to know that people find the term “parasite” insulting. I’ve also noticed they generally don’t like to be accused of stealing either… especially not in the alleged “land of the free” where citizens should be “innocent until proven guilty”… sadly it appears other humans aren’t extended the same rights.
I have lived in an affluent part of southern California and now live in Vina del Mar. I can tell you all that the quality of life here is better and for half the price.
I would like to share with you my favorite Chilean tech startups:
http://needish.com – post a need, get help from community and businesses.
http://bligoo.com – create communities
http://betazeta.com – one of the largest blog networks in latin america
Andres yes they are my favorite too bliggo is amazing for communities, and needish.com very usefull
I’m the one who knows better the Chilean technology market. Anyone else is just a hobbyst. Arrignton please call me!
“I’m the one who knows better the Chilean technology market. Anyone else is just a hobbyst.”
Are you the one?
sure, THE haughty-overhyped, cualquier otro is just an aficionado
i love your translate
I didn’t leave the above comment, I would’ve never said something that stupid. Scary seeing how easy it is to comment as someone else!
Chile has a very vibrant and active IT community with very interesting projects like LoudWords, Prey, Bligoo, Needish, Orelworks, Ubiqq, Oxus, Baytex, Plataforma, AyerViernes, Bootic, Tubaloo, etc. All worth checking out!
Andres, thanks for the recommendation!
Correction: ***The media think*** you know the Chilean tech market best, and ***only you*** and every person who doesn’t bother to research a little think everyone else is a hobbyst.
Leo Prieto is the only one WHO HAS BEEN HACKED MANY TIMES .. please: “Dont lie more Leo Prieto, you are a sucker”
+1
My bad, this usually happens. At least it can give a taste about some of the cultural issues you can face in Chile
Brazil is the place to invest and live in So. America.
Research Brazil !!
Not when your government makes it Impossible to easily get into the country. Americans dont even need a Visa to get into Argentina or Chile for up to 90 days.
If anyone needs more information or help i think many Chileans including me can help you.
I have right now a software development company, and digital agency startup.
Chile is a really great country to live.
Feel free to contact me.
Hola,
The article describing the opportunities in Chile was very interesting.
I am a tech entrepreneur and I founded HighThought Solutions(www.highthought.com) at US while my 5 year stay at US. It is still legal but we are in dormant stage there.
Now, I am back to India and started working on – http://www.hireplug.com
I wanted to explore Chile due to it’s better life -style and more tech opportunities and benefits.
Is there a community/group of enterpreneurs at Chile I can join?
Any other information would be helpful too.
Thanks and regards
Rajan Chandi
since i don’t come from a tech background i can’t add anything to this conversation except for the fact that what vivek is saying is true. people might like to close their eyes but business is happening and growing in chile. environment, government, tech, medical, whatever companies. if you can do it they will help you and you won’t just be an immigrant because despite it all that motto that chile was built by immigrants is true and the people there are unbelievable. if you go there expecting everything to be backwards you will be surprised. you can go there without knowing how to speak spanish or having a beginner’s capability in spanish…it just means a change in your life…but if you’re building a company you probably aren’t afraid of risk or change. the person’s comment about chile not having a lot of venture capital is also very true. thanks to all the people adding to this convo. i think vivek should get his own blog and deal with issues like this cause it’s important. you don’t have to move to chile, but if you didn’t have it in your radar then it’s a good thing isn’t it that vivek wrote this.
my brother plays national team soccer and all the times he’s been to argentina and chile he didn’t want to leave. i hope he or i end up taking up our old coach’s advice and start a business in chile. your money will go farther there.
noticed this too when the sufer exodus to chile began. lots of them staying there instead of coming back up. doing the whole real esteate property management, flip thing (don’t know how the recession has affected that), starting wine companies and surf companies. chile is where it’s at.
warning!!
if you don’t have “white” skin, forget Chile.
Chileans are the most racist people in LatinAmerica.
I’m chilean, kinda brown skin, no problems so far. Of course, if you are black you’ll get stares and whatever but it’s because seeing people who are very different than us captivates our attention, as it is rare to see them, the same goes for white and tall gringos – we are not a country used to multiculturalism as much as US is.
Please don’t be a troll, there are countries much worse in that issue here in South America.
I’m an Exchange student in Argentina right now, up in the North. But going through Buenos Aires, it is a Very nice city, and i can see it as pretty comparable to the US or Europe. People here generally all love Argentina and Chile, but Curse Brazil, Also saying that just about everything out of Brazil is crap, anything made there. My family has a Chevy Car that was made in Brazil and it is CRAP, and i look at the Chevy’s made in the US and they are all great, not breaking all the time. And Everything is generally cheaper down here, other then things made in the US, But that might be Argentina only because of there insane taxes they have on imports, Generally tacking on an extra $100 or less to anything Tech, Like TV’s, Video games, electronics.
I had a Renault assembled in Argentina, it broke all the time unlike the one my cousin have that was assembled in France (where my father came from before moving to Brazil), I could, like you, say that everything that comes from Argentina is crap, but unlike you I do not hate statistics and I do love Argentina (my wife is was born there, in Chubut province).
Oh Geoff you like trolling around TC, right? Of course “People here curse Brazil” (I imagine you probably mean Argentinians), Brazil’s economy has been kicking every other south american ass lately.
You should do what grown ups do: visit the country before dismissing it.
Reality check. Argentina doesn’t get along with ANY other Latin American country. They all hate Argentinians. Chile and Argentina don’t get along at all; they even had a war. Brazil has factories of Audi, BMW, Honda, Mercedes, Toyota, etc. Brazil has Embraer, whose jets you use all the time to fly everywhere around the world. Argentina’s economy is in shambles, with double-digit inflation. Not even soccer they have anymore. The GDP of Sao Paulo state alone is larger than the entire Argentina’s GDP. Don’t believe me, go ahead and look it up.
I don’t know what your sources are but, sorry, Chile and Argentina NEVER had a war. Chile had a war against Peru/Bolivia kind of 120 years ago. Argentina had a war against UK, in the 80’s.
And both Chile and Argentina are nice places to live …
Masterful photoshop.
Well, I live there, and I missed the point where you start getting paid for your business. There’s a catch, and I’m not sure if this happens in other countries, but in Chile we have a bad habit when comes to pay to providers.
Large and medium size companies will contract your services and pay you after 30 or 60 days of the service was provided. Other companies pay at 90 days. When you reach that deadline is frequent to get a response like “payments will be delayed a week”
Most SOHO are in the verge of going bankrupt because of this practise, and credit is relatively easy to obtain, so most of them are always in debt.
So if you’re planning to start a business in Chile, do it, but be aware that you’ll need a lot of money to support your business before you reach a positive balance, and there will be a lot of bureaucreacy.
This is true. I’ve been doing business in Chile for more than 10 years and noticed this tendency local companies have of delaying payments or asking for special pricing terms and conditions.
For some reason they feel their market is in some way “special” and this is kind of a hassle to deal with.
Also, I’d recommend to get into a “joint-venture” with a well-known local company in your sector before risking all your resources.
I’ve been looking through the comments to see if anyone had an issue like this…
I’ve dealt with contractors in Argentina and discovered a caveat – that people aren’t super into upholding obligations and routinely flake out on deadlines. Even really smart, professional folks have this problem..
Anyhow I was wondering if the same thing applied to Chile. Maybe not on the labor end, but this infinitely delayed payments problem I imagine would be a huge problem in terms of getting things done…
It may be cheap, with clever people, open markets, subsidies, beautiful etc but if people’s attitudes are that its ok to not follow through on obligations or uphold contracts thats a major issue..
I had a roommate from Chile when I was in college and my current boss at work is from Chile too. They are great people, very friendly and helpful.
But they never want to go back to Chile to live. I am not sure why, but that might give you some ideas.
Don’t worry, it’s because we want to see the world, most of us end up liking Chile more once when we’re out, we normally emphasize the good stuff about other countries without looking at our side of the fence, we don’t value it till we are far from home.
Saludos.
As a chilean myself, I can add that one of the biggest issues in Chile it’s the huge economic inequality, and being a very market driven country for the last ~30 years, that implies great inequalities at all levels: funding access, education, etc.
So, for a foreigner with global networks of clients and collaborators, it comes easily. But for locals, it’s not that simple and everything happens much more slowly if you don’t have contacts with the few people who run the country, slower if your tech company needs to scale globally.
i’m chilean and i work as a digital creative director. If any of guys want to work in our agency as a programmer, interactive art director or copywriter, and know this beautiful country, we will help you in anything. (We are looking strong as3 programmers ) Great article!
I will be very happy to help giving info. can be your local contact.
Feel free to contact me at soportecad.cl
AR
Xenophobia is the new “N-Word” for all those who do not want to intelligently debate National Immigration Policy.
More Whadwa immigration propoganda. Vivek, you make it sound in your headline as if anyone with a job can show up and work. The fact is that Chile is being much more protectionist than the United States.
Our H-1b visa simply requires an application fee from a sponsoring company. No investment required. This results in a flood of temporary workers who drive down local wages.
I would gladly trade the H-1b for what Chile has – meaning you can immigrate here if you are prepared to invest $500,000 in a tech business. Chile is trying to attract investors. They are smart enough not to sell out their local workforce.
I wish the people of Chile luck. However, if you want to be a success you need more than investors. You either need good colleges to educate your own people, or you will need to import them. I suggest educating your own and building a solid foundation.
The US government and businesses only care about short term profits. This isn’t a sprint – it’s a marathon. The Chilean goverment should not lose site of that. US immigration policy is a horrible model to copy.
The US government doesn’t seem to have done a very good job of teaching you basic grammar skills, has it?
Thanks for checking my grammar. How much do I owe you? No more than minimum wage, I suspect.
When I need some cheap labor to push around, I’ll be sure to give you a call. Of course, someone else is probably already pushing you around. Might have to stand in line.
Very deceptive article on several levels. Anyone with the kind of money they want you to invest in Chile would be much better to take some of the incentive packages in their own country. I live in Peru and I know chile, ecuador and bolivia intimately. Do your sums *very* carefully, and be ready for some interesting aspects of the language and culture, both personally and commercially.
And I forgot to mention that property ownership is *not* clear-cut – you need to know the tricks.
I would recommend anyone that wants to know more about moving to Chile, to please visit the Chile Forum at http://www.allchile.net/
This sounds good on paper, but execution is a much more complicated matter. Anyone planning on doing this is going to have a serious learning curve about doing business in Chile and is going to need serious legal and other help. Thus, stop by the Chile forum to find how to start and just more about Chile in general.
For those who think that “hey wait: it can’t be all flowers and sunshines living in Chile” I suggest to get this book: http://www.amaz...7864&sr=8-1
On top of everything, Chile has:
- Non stop flights to Madrid, NYC, Miami, Auckland and LA.
- Uncorruptable Police.
_ Awesome seafood and steakhouses.
- Great skiing.
- Low taxes on cars (you can choose between 30 or more brands) and tech, compared to our Latam neighbors.
- Pretty good international schools.
Drop us a line if you are coming here.
Instead of inviting H1B and people , invite Infosys or other Indian companies.
They can help in creating the eco system.
Govt can invite and support but they cannot build the outsourcing industry
They are already doing that. For example Evalueserve (www.evalueserve.com) has already opened offices in Chile because of this.