Sophie Alcorn Podcast

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, I'm joined by an amazing colleague, Attorney Hannah Genton, founding partner at CGL, a corporate law firm that offers a host of legal services, especially to founders and early-stage startups, including company formations restructurings, equity, and debt financing, and strategic partnerships, and Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). 

Hannah is disrupting the practice of corporate law by providing a platform that meets people where they are, allowing flexibility in their working hours, which is a far cry from the standard law firm environment. In today’s episode, Hannah shares some legal trends startup founders should know about when bringing in global talent.

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• The shifting culture of CGL
• Balancing work hour flexibility versus the needs of their clients
• Avoiding misclassification in the types of workers
• Understanding the differences in privacy laws of different countries
• Who should be managing legal issues in your company?
• The 3 areas having a legal counsel is important
• A focus on mitigating risks
• A big uptick in companies looking to recruit diverse board members and C-suite
• The increasing popularity of benefit corporations
• Other best practices for early-stage businesses

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

CGL 

https://cgl-llp.com/ 

Conversations with CGL

https://cgl-llp.com/podcast/ 

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• Episode 56: Global Innovation with Tim Draper

• Episode 63: Immigration, Global Mobility, Working from Home, and the Future of Work

• Episode 103: A Futurist’s Lens on Immigration – Future of Work, Climate Change, and More with Jamais Cascio

• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook

Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, I am joined by Danielle D'Agostaro, the principal partner at WV Ventures, a 100-million joint venture between Advocate Aurora Health, Foxconn, Johnson Controls, and Northwestern Mutual. We talk about competing for tech talent on the global stage as well as the biggest challenges facing early-stage startups and founders in growing startups. 

Prior to WVV, Danielle spent the last 7 years building the Alchemist Accelerator from the ground up, working with hundreds of companies such as LaunchDarkly, Rigetti Quantum Computing, and Cobalt.io., and ultimately becoming a leading enterprise accelerator in the U.S.  

While Alchemist serves as the first check-in to a company, WVV is the next-stage pass where they would need to do due diligence and evaluate traction. Although they are also geared toward helping B2C companies, their main focus is on B2B startups.

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• Switching from B2B SaaS to health care and insurance
• Investing in immigrant founders and a requirement for U.S. presence
• Focus on data-hungry AI startups and other domain expertise
• The biggest challenges facing early-stage startups and founders
• How equity incentivization looks like
• Strategies when presenting to VCs
• Why you shouldn't use conferences as a fundraising strategy
• How to focus on relationship building with VCs
• What early-stage investors should focus on
• Trends in hiring global talent

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

https://www.wvvcapital.com/ 

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• • Episode 16: E-2 Visa for Founders and Employees

• • Episode 42: Capture Investors’ Attention With Your Authentic Story with Strategist and Storyteller Eileen Wu

• • Episode 63: Immigration, Global Mobility, Working from Home, and the Future of Work

• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook
• Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, I’m joined by Mark Milastsivy, an amazing immigrant entrepreneur who is making great strides with his startup. Mark is the founder and CEO of The New York-based Firstbase.io, a platform that helps founders set up and scale their businesses in the United States. 

Founded in 2019 through Y Combinator, their service helps founders incorporate a U.S. entity, open a U.S. bank account and get legal paperwork done for founders. People in the startup world know how difficult those things can be, especially even something as simple as opening a bank account. Now, this is all combined in one service. Today, they have over 15,000 customers, building the right solutions for clients and helping them grow their businesses.

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• Mark’s personal immigration and entrepreneurial journey
• The beginning of Firstbase
• Firstbase products and how they’re helping startups
• Who they serve
• Their seed round strategy
• Mark’s advice for international founders looking to create a startup in the U.S.

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

https://www.firstbase.io/ 

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• Episode 16: E-2 Visa for Founders and Employees

• Episode 89: Advocating for International Startup Founders with Jeff Farrah of National Venture Capital Association

• Episode 113: How startup founders are moving to the US

• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook
• Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, I'm going to be talking about a very common question among startups that has only increased in recent years: “Should I sponsor engineers we are recruiting for green cards?”

The question of green cards for permanent residents is a perennial one in tech companies and for the world's top engineering and business talents making their way in Silicon Valley and beyond here in the U.S. There is a perennial issue of the severe tech talent shortage in the United States and its intensification during the past year. It has become especially salient since the dawn of the great resignation last year with the ongoing competition for recruiting and retaining tech talent. We’re seeing intense negotiations for tech talent to leave big tech companies and work at startups, or for individuals to move between startups. 

Ultimately, green card sponsorship is an effective retention tool. It is possible with remote work, hybrid work, and decentralized teams, and so, they remain an important part of helping somebody map out their future. 

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• Reasons for sponsoring talented team members for green cards
• How the system can be manipulated
• Things to consider when thinking about the green card process
• Other types of green card processes
• Ways to go above and beyond the green card sponsorship
• More options to bypass the PERM process
• Details on the Immigrant Visa Process

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

Immigration Cheat Sheet for Recruiters

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• Episode 03: The Different Types of Nonimmigrant Visas

• Episode 29: Sponsoring Employees for PERM Green Cards
• Episode 57: 11 Tips for Companies to Support Valued Humans

• Episode 109: Interview with GGV Capital’s Jen Holmstrom

• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook
• Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, I’m doing our annual recap of what to do if you were not selected in the H-1B lottery. What are your backup options, whether you are in operations, finance, or any position at a tech startup? 

While the H-1B lottery is high in demand, it is certainly not the only path to the United States as there are myriad alternative ways to live and work legally in the United States. With a little bit of grit, perseverance, and creative thinking about legal alternative strategies, a lot of things are possible. 

This is one of those pivotal points in your life where your decisions can shape your future and the future of those around you. And so, this can be a challenging situation, but know that there are options – and where there is a will, there is always a way.

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• How the H-1B lottery works and why people want an H1-B
• For F-1 OPT and STEM OPT status
• The launch of the electronic lottery in 2020
• Basic H-1B options
• Alternative ways to stay in the United States
• O-1 visa for Extraordinary Ability vs. Cap-Exempt (no lottery) H-1B
• The option of EB-2 National Interest Waiver Green Card

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• Episode 11: Your Startup’s First H-1B

• Episode 44: 7 of the Most Startup-Friendly Visas Explained

• Episode 66: Cap-Exempt H-1Bs with Danielle Goldman

• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook

Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, I'm going to talk about what Biden did say about immigration, as well as how tech companies can support their employees in Ukraine, Ukrainians working in the United States, as well as displaced Ukrainians in third countries around the world. 

Biden's recent State of the Union address focused primarily on Ukraine. He talked about inflation and the changes in the United States economy. He also framed immigration reform as an issue of economic competitiveness because reuniting families is the morally right thing to do. He talked about the need to fix the immigration system and secure our border as well as some of his key immigration priorities, including immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers. 

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• A huge need to fix the immigration system
• Immigration reform support
• Ukraine as a designated TPS (temporary protected country)
• Revisiting Biden’s immigration promises during his first 100 days in office
• Key immigration results
• Possible visa options for people from Ukraine or displaced people in third countries to the United States in the short term

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• Episode 68: Update on DACA

• Episode 95: Recent Immigration Updates 2021

• Episode 96: DACA in Tech

• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook
• Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, I am joined by a renowned guest, Maurice Conti. He is a futurist and deep tech authority who serves as an advisor to the National Academy of Sciences. He has helped companies like Nike, Tesla, Disney, Airbus, and Google understand what's coming in the future and how to prepare. 

Maurice's speeches have been watched all around the world, including over 12 million views of his TED Talks. Currently, his focus is the metaverse. He is an applied futurist who's not just trying to figure out what's coming in the future, but what these new technologies will be and how to start building them now. 

We talk about how the intersection of humanity, immigration, innovation, and work technology impacts the future of work, what that is going to look like for international workers, and what technologies people are going to be building.

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• What is a futurist?
• Designing and building probable and desirable futures
• The future of immigration and its intersection with the future of work
• Factoring in blips in current events
• Hybrid work models
• Does immigration exist in the metaverse?
• The best way to deal with VUCA
• Building resilience into the system through diversity 
• Innovation is like a pet tiger.

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

Watch Maurice Conti on TED Talks: https://www.ted.com/speakers/maurice_conti 

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• Episode 56: Global Innovation with Tim Draper

• Episode 63: Immigration, Global Mobility, Working from Home, and the Future of Work

• Episode 103: A Futurist’s Lens on Immigration – Future of Work, Climate Change, and More with Jamais Cascio

• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook
• Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, I am joined by my esteemed colleague, Nadia Zaidi, as we discuss all the latest updates on the International Entrepreneur Parole (IEP), about one year since its reactivation by the Biden administration. 

We're getting a lot of inquiries about whether IEP is the right path, and so we want to help you with this episode to be able to better assess your own options based on how this has all played out in the last year. We explain what that means for aspiring startup founders, existing startup founders, and how to think about this category of status to come live and work in the United States. We also have some updates about the startup visa which does not exist yet and is currently being negotiated in the U.S. House and Senate.

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• The basic requirements and eligibility for IEP
• Requirements for extension and renewal
• The application timeline
• Petition for your family to come to the United States
• The benefit of premium processing
• Updates on the startup visa
• Types of industries startup founders can look into

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

National Venture Capital Association

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• • Episode 73: International Entrepreneur Parole is Back!

• • Episode 78: Parole Entry Process

• • Episode 82: What Type of Investments Qualify Under IEP?

• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook

Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, we focus on options for startup founders who are thinking about moving to the United States to grow their companies and some of the latest updates. I'm also discussing the latest updates with the Biden administration welcoming immigrant entrepreneurs, and immigrants with expertise in STEM fields relating to innovation as well as national security.

The U.S. is becoming a more welcoming and hospitable environment to non-immigrants, startup founders, and people in the sciences and innovations. And so, if you've been thinking about coming to the United States, and you've had to put it off due to the pandemic, now is a good time. A lot of people are ready to move on from COVID and get their life and business into gear. And for them, that plan involves some sort of expansion in the U.S. So if you have been working on developing a company in another country, besides the United States over the last couple of years, you might be interested in moving to the United States now.

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• Common motivations startup founders want to move to the United States
• Why now is the time to take action
• Two main options to visit the United States temporarily
• The dos and don’ts while in the U.S. on an ESTA visa waiver program
• The most common non-immigrant work visas and recent updates
• Considerations for an E-2 Visa
• Implications for those with a V1 visa for spouses
• Visa options for existing startup founders in other countries 
• Qualifications and requirements
• The green card process for EB-1 and EB-2 National Interest Waiver Green Card 

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• Episode 16: E-2 Visa for Founders and Employees

• Episode 21: Intracompany Transfers – L-1 Visas and EB-1C Green Cards for Multinational Managers, Executives, and People with Specialized Knowledge
• Episode 84: Back to School: Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp Part 1
• Episode 85: Back to School: Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp Part 2

• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook
• Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, I’m joined by my colleague, Nadia Zaidi, as we discuss the latest immigration news. There's a lot happening – fast. It's wonderful to be under a presidential administration that is excited about the contributions of immigrants, especially as it comes to technology and innovation. 

We're covering everything from expanded STEM fields of study that qualify for STEM OPT extensions. Apparently, they have added more fields to the STEM-designated degree program list, which qualifies more people for STEM OPT extensions. They've specifically added more multi-disciplinary merging fields that were not previously considered STEM fields.

We also cover other policies to attract and retain STEM talent in the U.S. and the old status quo for the eight categories and how it's opening up for new people to qualify for O-1 visa based on the new guidance. Finally, we’re giving you the current view on all of the prospects for a startup visa ​​and the America COMPETES Act.

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• Students enrolling in U.S. universities under the STEM list
• Updates in J-1 exchange visitors and the O-1 visa extraordinary ability
• New guidance for each of the eight categories to qualify for an O-1 visa
• Latest update on the startup visa and the America COMPETES Act

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• Episode 84: Back to School: Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp Part 1

• Episode 86: Back to School: Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp Part 2

• Episode 91: What You Need to Know About Hiring Students on OPT

• Episode 111: Public Policy and Entrepreneurship with NVCA CEO, Bobby Franklin

• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook

Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.