There is a lot of talk about the new H1B rules (disclosure: I approve of them). And a lot of talk about how they will limit innovation and stifle startups. Nothing is further from the truth. I've been in tech for nearly 40 years. I've worked for startups, even launched a few myself. I've predominantly worked for small business, but have done a few stints in large tech companies. Overwhelmingly, startups and small businesses are bootstrapped by their founders. They save money for years. They pour hundreds of thousands of their own dollars into launching and building a company. They work a second job to keep it going. And sometimes they are successful. So how do H1Bs impact that startup and small business path? They degrade the path and stifle startups. What? That's the opposite of what you hear! But it's actually the truth. Startups especially don't really outsource the engineering and development. They'll outsource a bookkeeper, maybe a marketer. But the core technology is in the minds of the founders, and they get it going. You might roll your design out to an outside EMS, PCBA or fab shop to make the physical parts, but you do the engineering yourself. Typically hired engineering doesn't happen until you either have a revenue stream established, or you get a good chunk of raised funds (which takes a revenue stream, or a well-polished prototype with the hundreds of thousands invested in it in the first place). You simply cannot afford it. So how to H1Bs affect the path? It's simple. H1Bs keep engineering and tech salaries low. Companies use H1Bs not because they cannot find the expertise domestically, but because it's more cost effective to hire an H1B, who usually is the "front" for a few friends back home - where you'll get a local manager and a shop of 3-4 people doing all the work. It's a way to keep labor costs low, and depress wages. Now, read back up a bit. That part about founders bootstrapping companies? What happens when wages are depressed? Bootstrapping takes a LOT longer - if it ever happens. Meaning fewer startups, fewer small businesses. And those who hire the H1Bs? The big tech companies? They like that, too. Not just the lower wages, but the fact there will be fewer startups and disruptors growing out there, threatening their own stability. So H1Bs aren't really an economic benefit to startups and small business. We can't afford them, we can't sponsor them, and frankly we really don't need them (I've never been at a startup where at least of the founders was not a domain expert in the problem being solved). But big businesses love them. They depress domestic wages. They become indentured servants who have no right to be here other than their slavish devotion to their H1B sponsor. And those lower wages means less potential disruptors and competition in the future. What's not to like? The H1B system needs this kind of overhaul. If a company well and truly needs the high-end domain expertise it cannot find on the open market, then it'll pay whatever price is necessary to get it. An extra $100,000 won't matter. If it does matter, though - then the position wasn't that important to start with. It was a move to get a slave who cannot leave, at below market rates, so the company can get cheaper workers. IMHO, I'd like to see the H1B system completely end in the first place. But if it is going to stick around, then do the following: 1. Make it expensive. Annual visa costs need to be at least double median household income in the US. Peg it to that. 2. All H1B listings must be listed on ALL job sites the company uses. Use your own website, Indeed, LinkedIn, others? Then you have to list the H1B there, too - not just a few postings in a low-circulation newspaper and a near-hidden website based overseas. 3. H1Bs must reside in the same municipality as the office they'll work in. You don't get to bring in an H1B to work in your Bay area office but allow them to telecommute from Topeka, KS. 4. For every layoff you have, you lose an H1B visa. Lay off 100 people, have 78 H1Bs? You lose all your H1Bs. Good employees should not have depressed wages because you hired bad people - how do we know the H1Bs are good as well? 5. H1Bs must pass a full DOD background check. I know of no tech company that does not have some impact on defense. If you're working with tech that can affect our defense industry, you pass the background check. 6. H1Bs are 12 month contracts only; that's it. I've been a domain expert for 20+ years, and most of my contracts are for 12 months or less - because that's what it takes to get over the hurdle. No need for more than that, unless you can prove the need - and thus will refile for the H1B for the next year. 7. Venture capital cannot be used to finance H1Bs. Using VC money to build an ephemeral team makes VCs take riskier and riskier bets on companies, wastes VC money, and reinforces the "low cost/high return" bargain hunting. It stifles investments in innovation in the US and dissuades founders and early hires from trying to start a new venture - because VCs will ignore you unless you build a company with H1Bs from the start. I'm not anti-immigration; after all, H1B visas aren't a path to immigration, right? Rather, I am pro build-our-own-industries. Rekindle the desire to innovate, create startups, grow own knowledge base and strengthen the economy. H1Bs need a radical revision. Big tech will hate it. Most of those who live on the H1B gravy train will hate it. Lots of politicians will hate it (their own re-elections often rely upon it). But it's the right thing to do for the US.

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