Image via Wikipedia"I will prepare and perhaps my time will come."
- Abraham Lincoln
I think I am about six, seven months from my green card. Too bad they have not started work on immigration overhaul in DC yet, or they might have heard a mouthful from me already.
I can't incorporate a company. The last time I raised 100,000 dollars - for my last startup - I put the money into a bank account run by someone else on the team, an American citizen. That was not my first choice.
I have figured if I can raise some money now, I can always get someone else to do the incorporating and arrange for them to get me as the first hire at 99.9% ownership. That would be a $10,000 value for them for the simple act of incorporating.
This is such a fucked up situation to be in. This is not about not having a good idea, this is not about not having the smarts, this is not about not being able to build a team, this is not about traction or product-market fit, this is about stupid paperwork. This is a shame.
Image via WikipediaOnly a few months back I got out of my immigration mess/humiliation. The immigration laws in this country are insane. They are racist. They make no logical, economic sense. They make no globalization sense. They make no internet sense. They make no 21st century sense.
I am not even fully out of it yet. But now I got a little bit of a legroom in these United fucking States. This fucking country. Thank God for the internet, or there would be no breathing room.
For a few years now I have gone from tech event to tech event like some guy whose startup never really took off. It has been humiliating to say the least. I know that is not who I am. I am as good as they come.
It is said we live in an era when people will have not a few different jobs over a lifetime but a few different careers. The one job for life thing went out the window a long time ago. It has been so very true for me.
The immigration humiliation of the past two plus years has been a major blow to self esteem. You show up for enough tech events in town and you leave the impression you are one of those people whose startup never took off. The truth is I am about a year from my green card, and the startup thing will have to wait until then.
What to do has been no minor struggle.
A lot of people who know me think of me as a politician, and I have done some political work, sure, some pretty cutting edge stuff, I would like to believe. But I am who I am. I am a Third World guy. I don't think I have ever seriously contemplated running for office locally. I can get excited about microfinance, but affordable housing? I am not so sure. I am glad plenty get excited about that, and the people are well served, but I am not in that rat race personally.
It is not just a demand issue. It is not just about what the world wants. It is also a supply issue. In politics what excites me is the executive. The US presidency I find fascinating. But I could not say the same about the legislative branch. And that tells me I am cut for tech entrepreneurship. That fits into my personality type. I need much action.
Minus the web I am a fragmented person. I was born in India, grew up in Nepal, now live in America. America is not one country to me. There is the rest of America. And there is New York City. I try to think of New York City as a country on its own. I make a point not to step outside the city boundaries. And I am someone who has been to all parts of America. No one who ran for president of this country has seen as much of America as I have.
Larry Ellison takes his sailing pretty seriously. I take my politics pretty seriously. But I don't see myself in politics. I don't even see me doing the Bloomberg thing. I am perhaps too global. It is a mindset, it is a world view. In my case, it is just who I am.
I set out to raise 100K for my startup in 2008, and I did. I put the bank account in my business partner's name. ("Are you sure you want to trust me with all this money!") The Democratic primary over, I was going to focus on the startup like a laser beam. The McCain thing was not going to be much of a contest. I did not think so.
Back then it was about getting into the ISP space that I had started to call Web 3.0. How do you bring another five billion people online? By now I am much more interested in the mobile web. Looks like the mobile web has already engulfed much of humanity. Well, it is Mini Me for much of the world, but it is a start. Being able to do mobile phone banking is nothing less than revolutionary.
I have yet to buy my first smartphone. I have been pretty much broke during these two plus years of immigration humiliation. But I also look down upon that screen size. The goal has to be big screen wireless broadband for everybody. Third World people are not Mini Me people. And I spend so much time online everyday already that when I am offline I like being offline, untethered. You have to smell the roses, or in the case of New York City, the foul smell of the subway. I think that is also important.
When I do my startup in a year, right now it looks like it is going to be something in the mobile web space. I have a few ideas. I am going to learn some coding in the mean time, enough to lead teams.
In the mean time I will do pro blogging, social media consulting, I have coders who will work for you, I give them their pay and take my cut: let me know if you need some cheap, remote coding done. I am open to getting a job. I am about to put my profile up on a modeling site. I believe I could handle that on the side. I did get a call. I need to call back. I am open to more.
I could use some help with the pro blogging. Every startup worth its salt has a social media presence. This is like outsourcing some of the blogging. You let me do a post or two or three. On your part that would require you giving me an hour or two of your time, in person or on the phone, in person preferred, when you tell me your full story, your full story, and your startup's full story. And by full, I mean full. And you let me talk to the key people on your team. And you email me all the pictures you want to go with the posts. And I would spend hours on the posts. And after the posts come out, you should want to link to them from your site. If you get the full story out, that helps with your hard core users, they feel more included, and become more loyal, and it helps with the press. If they can do all the background research on you with little effort, they are more likely to do stories on you. And more stories the better. Every article written about you is so much free advertising. And it helps with your future investors. I don't have space issues like the mainstream media. I can give as much space to you as needed.
The attraction of the mobile web is that you are working with a pool of five billion people. There has to be an app for that. It is about becoming whole as a person. To me it is. I have a mobile web app in mind that grows to also end up with a big screen web presence. But one year is a long time in tech entrepreneurship. Maybe I will go back to my original idea. Maybe I will set up shop in Queens. But software speaks more to my butterfly effect instincts.
So my Employment Authorization Card arrived earlier today in the mail. What that means in my case is I can't go anywhere outside America for the next year. As a practical matter, I don't see me going anywhere outside New York City. There is so much to explore right here.
But ultimately I do want to have been to all parts of the world just like I have been to all parts of America. I got time. I plan on staying thin.
Then I show up in immigration court in June 2011 and hopefully the judge waves a magic wand and turns that piece of paper into a green card. Then I become eligible for entrepreneurship. Before that I get to blog about it.
The next best thing to entrepreneurship is joining a small, early stage team. You can not be the founder, but you sure can be a founding member.
There has been more drama behind this little piece of paper than I would have liked. But I am glad to have it in my hand. Now let's go get a job.
"I will prepare and perhaps my time will come."
- Abraham Lincoln
“Between 1980 and 2005, virtually all net new jobs created in the U.S. were created by firms that were 5 years old or less,” said Litan. “That is about 40 million jobs. That means the established firms created no new net jobs during that period.” ..... “Roughly 25 percent of successful high-tech start-ups over the last decade were founded or co-founded by immigrants,” said Litan. ...... What made America this incredible engine of prosperity? It was immigration, plus free markets...... “We ought to have a ‘job-creators visa’ for people already here,” said Litan. “And once you’ve hired, say, 5 or 10 American nonfamily members, you should get a green card.”
Voices like that of Friedman are important because we are about to embark upon the great national debate on comprehensive immigration reform. The success on health care will make it easier to wade through this new debate because success will be a foregone conclusion, but some of the debate is going to be nasty. We have to brace for that. Free speech can try you sometimes.
I was at the NYC 3.0 blog, and I was just done watching and leaving a comment on a Fred Wilson interview, and out of the corner of my eye I spotted a tweet by Nate that swiftly sunk down from the page. But it said something about submit your immigrant founder story. So I went to Nate's Twitter page, and sought out that tweet.
Born in India, grew up in Nepal, came to America for college, got elected student body president within six months of landing. Was a founding member of Chaitime.com that raised $25 million round 2. We were trying to be the top South Asian online community. They asked me to drop out of college. I said let me finish, I will rejoin you. By the time I finished, the nuclear winter had set in. I hit the road in a 18 wheeler, and hit all 48 states in two and a half years on and off, and did not understand why until I met the MeetUp CEO Scott after moving to NYC in 2005 who went to work at McDonald's for a few weeks after his dot coms went down.
There is a concrete mathematical theory called the butterfly effect. A butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon could be the reason a cyclone hit Bangladesh. During April 2006 over a period of 19 days, over 8 million out of Nepal's 27 million people thronged the streets to shut the country down completely to oust a king dictator. I was the butterfly flapping my wings in New York City. I am extremely good with vision and group dynamics.
This is my startup's relaunch. I am trying to raise 100K for my round one right now. I was done doing that, and then in February 09, reacting to the worst economy in 70 years, most of my investors walked away. I took time off, focused on social media, accumulated more followers on Twitter than Donald Trump, experimented with pro blogging, and now I am back in the game.
I am looking to sell 2% of my startup for 100K. The first 100K in Google became a billion in 10 years. I don't expect to match that. But I think I could do at least one third as good in twice as much time. I bring the passion of a freedom fighter to my startup. Internet access is the voting right for this 21st century. http://jyoticonnect.net The two Google guys had their algorithms. I have the equivalent in group dynamics. Show me some respect. What they are failing to do in Iran, what they failed to do in Burma, I succeeded to do in Nepal.
Image via Wikipedia"I will prepare and perhaps my time will come."
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u743m5yBPXnt6omAaWGGEH2Ny02gsOYFcaAC4vEm1O4Rsah-FicUMMlBXYIOuMXdM6Tm6RmU_naUfDG31YEmUXHaoq2KH6ui7CvfEnBA8T6xEtA2l6OI5NXnoD8tdAO6BTaZqymLTDH7Ho-xeql1HF=s0-d)
within six months of landing. Was a founding member of Chaitime.com that raised $25 
round 2. We were trying to be the top 
winter had set in. I hit the road in a 18 wheeler, and hit all 48 states in two and a half years on and off, and did not understand why until I met the 
in 2005 who went to work at 
effect. A butterfly flapping its wings in the 
could be the reason a cyclone hit Bangladesh. During April 2006 over a period of 19 days, over 8 million out of Nepal's 27 million people thronged the streets to shut the country down completely to oust a 
dictator. I was the butterfly flapping my wings in 
and 
in 70 years, most of my investors walked away. I took time off, focused on 
media, accumulated more followers on 
than 
in 10 years. I don't expect to match that. But I think I could do at least one third as good in twice as much time. I bring the passion of a 
to my startup. 
access is the voting right for this 21st century. 
guys had their algorithms. I have the equivalent in group dynamics. Show me some respect. What they are failing to do in Iran, what they failed to do in Burma, I succeeded to do in Nepal. ![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_v4rdK8-EBK6oohQtIibixxJFDdtQpSzeXi95IGVUmipVnqAo81ckKzrmbJjtO5Kk8xu4zx9mPNv554OCq291aWShxr8hNee_gaiM6EOo2Ki26wnHSwlkhVSa5cHKcMYV2xsjTakuxzsAmWzo_69ixX=s0-d)