I found Mohul’s post interesting especially StartupChile.. which offers 40k USD if you get selected in their 6 month boot strapping program along with free office and wifi for your high scalable venture!
Has any one applied / Successfully got / know of any one who has got a start up visa for any country?
I am keen to know Rodinhooder’s & their friend’s experiences in this context.
Neeraj Mehta
Dear Omkar,
Yes… Rodinhooders apply for Startup Chile and few have them have been successful too.
Nadeera, Ajay Pal Singh, Amit Kumar and Nayana to name few who have been with SUP.
SUP is an unique experience and is a closed group, which helps each-other a lot. If you have any specific query, I would be glad to help you.
Neeraj
Nayana Somaratna
I was part of round 2 of Start-Up Chile (we were the first Sri Lankan team to be selected).
Overall, Start-Up Chile was a great experience – but it is not for everyone. Here are some of my thoughts:
Pros:
– Equity free funding (in this way, Start-up Chile is more like a grant, rather than traditional funding)
– Exposure to entrepreneurs from many different countries
– The extremely supportive Start-Up Chile team – all great folks, some of whom became good friends of mine.
– Extremely strong network of business and academic contacts in Chile and Latin America (which unfortunately was not of much use to my startup, as our focus was more on the USA)
– Access to follow-up funding from the Govt. of Chile (I know of several teams which raised sums from $100,000 to $150,000)
– A 1 year temporary residency visa to Chile (which can be extended to 2 years). Do not underestimate the power of this visa – if you stay for more than 6 months in Chile, you can directly apply for permanent residency. Most foreigners (even if from a developed country) are never given this chance.
– Special treatment. For most foreigners, working and living in Chile is a nightmare of red tape. When the Govt. created the Start-Up Chile program / visa, they effectively created a new set of rules for entrepreneurs entering the country that way. Expect govt. departments to go out of their way to try and help you (as long as you treat them with due respect, of course).
Cons:
– Poor access to ‘senior’ mentors (i.e. successful entrepreneurs who have experience in your selected domain). This wasn’t a big deal to me, since we already had some great mentors (from India !).
– Poor access to follow up funding. My company was break-even at the time we entered the program, and significantly profitable by the time the 6 months were up, so we did not require follow up funding.
However, I saw several companies fail by the wayside, because they were unable to raise money from investors – and Start-Up Chile (at that time at least) did not have a clear pathway for startups to raise funds (as opposed to say, Y-Combinator or TechStars, where followup fundings is pretty much guaranteed).
– Strong competition for talent. Given that there is a massive fountain of money (thanks to Start-Up Chile and several other Chilean-only programs by the govt), there are a LOT of active startups at any one time (around 300+, I’d estimate). You’ll have trouble finding and attracting good people – especially technical talent.
– Reimbursements. This is *the* royal pain of Start-Up Chile. In my round, we had to spend money each month, collect the receipts, etc and then meet our ‘account executive’ who would then review them and reimburse the expenses.
Because of govt. regulations, you need to obtain a Chilean ID card and sign a contract with the govt. before even submitting your expenses; in practice this means that it will take you around 1.5 to 2 months before you get any money from the program.
Since round 6 (which started in Jan 2013), this process has been improved somewhat, as you get $20,000 as a lump sum upfront, and the next $20,000 after 3 months (I believe).
However, again, due to the necessity of obtaining an ID card, etc it still takes around 1.5 to 2 months to get that $20,000 in your bank account.
– More time than you expect: although the program is 6 months, the catch is that it is 6 months *from the date you signed the contract*.
Because of the red tape necessary before this (obtaining ID card, etc), it takes around 1 month before you do this. Which means that you’ll effectively end up spending 7 months in Chile (which was a nasty shock to folks who booked return flights sharp for 6 months).
Stuff which might be either a pro or a con, depending on your viewpoint:
– Peer to peer mentorship. Most teams organize meetups and events where they present stuff they are experts in (for example, we did a couple of meetups on outsourcing and mobile app dev.).
This is a great way to learn new stuff – with the caveat that the quality of presentations tends to vary widely.
– Spanish speaking country. Only about 25% of Chile speaks any english at all – and I’d estimate that <5% of the population speaks it fluently.
The entire Start-Up Chile process is in English and all staff members speak good english, so you won’t have a problem with the program. However, trying to converse with your average Chilean in the street is an entirely different matter.
I look at this as a pro though – I was effectively forced to learn Spanish. While I still cannot speak coherently, I can understand and read the language to a decent extent now. Definitely a plus, especially if you like to travel.
Overall
In practice, the pros of Start-Up Chile significantly outweigh the cons. I had a wonderful experience during my 6 months, and I definitely recommend that you apply if the program meets your goals.
asha chaudhry
wow nayana. thanks for this detailed review. and welcome back!!
Omkar Nisal
Amazing insights. Thanks for sharing your experiences at length. Definitely precious. 🙂