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I woke up this morning to an image of the U.S. President meeting Mark Zuckerberg during some trip he made to Silicon Valley. Apart from the fact that Mark actually shed the floater-jeans-crewneck look for something more presentable like a suit, there was not much that struck me. It was a lazy Monday morning.

Reading up later, I found out that this meet was part of a much bigger initiative to push innovation in the U.S. It seems our friends in the West had just passed something called the Startup Visa Act.  The Act grants a temporary work visa to any foreign-born entrepreneur. Conditions? He must be able to obtain an investment of at least Rs.45 lakh from a VC or a qualified “super angel” investor in an equity financing of not less than Rs.112.5 lakh. To gain permanent residency, the entrepreneur must create five new U.S. jobs within two years, raise more than Rs.4.5 crore in venture capital, or generate sales of more than Rs.4.5 crore annually. Personally, I think the Act is a bit flawed when it assumes that all entrepreneurs need VC or angel money; but the Act is not what I am focusing on here.

Here is what I am saying: Please, dear entrepreneurs of India, get yourselves off to the U.S. At least there is somebody talking about entrepreneurs and the value they bring to the economy there, be it a struggling one. Somebody as high up as the President wants more entrepreneurs to boost the economy, rather than throwing more subsidies and bailouts. Here, in India, days away from the Union Budget, we only got in the news issues like service tax rates, sugar prices, onion prices, tax exemptions, fuel taxes, custom reforms, etc. Even when there is talk of the budget in relation to SMEs, there is a clear indication that we are talking only about MEs.

Hey, Mr. Finance Minister, can’t you notice the small guy? How about not listening only to the big firms when making your budget? How about a new funding mechanism for first-time entrepreneurs? How about more grants for innovation-led startups? How about reactivating those dead, state-owned venture capital firms? How about setting up huge shared spaces for entrepreneurs? How about telling your banks to lend funds within a fixed timeframe if the documents are in order? How about reducing the number of documents in the first place? Can you also please stop ODing on IT businesses? Maybe look at giving other sectors a tax break? How about leaving proprietorship firms alone in their first five years? How about letting home-based businesses be?

I am not sure what is feasible and what is not. But you should know—you are the Finance Minister. At least get on the wagon, for God’s sake!

AUGUST SHARK is a once-failed, second-time successful bootstrapper who resides in Mumbai. He can be contacted at august@stumpspeak.com.

©Entrepreneur March 2011

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