Nicholas Shea, a Stanford MBA and a dual U.S.-Chilean citizen, began this program in 2010, when he realized that there were no viable visa options for the Chilean friends he wanted to start a company with in Silicon Valley. Since 2010, the Start-up Chile program has awarded over 1,000 startup visas and millions of dollars of funding to those who win the country’s business plan competition.
Although the program is very competitive and it’s difficult to win one of these Chilean startup visas, the lucky winners are treated to a first class incubation program. Under the watchful eye of current director Horacio Melo, they are showered with attention, mentoring, business development guidance, non-stop networking opportunities, and access to potential investors.
The current group includes entrepreneurs from all over the world, including India, Australia, Canada, Greece, France, the U.S., and of course Chile. Their business concepts run the gamut: e-commerce, software, mobile and wireless, social media, medical devices. and more. Some of the visa winners are seasoned businesspeople and some are young, first-time entrepreneurs with a great business concept. While the group is very diverse, they uniformly seem to feel great appreciation for the program and the opportunities the Chilean government is providing to them.
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