Economics Thread

As of 2022 more than half of the startups valued at over $1 billion (so-called unicorns) we founded or co-founded by immigrants.

An additional large share were started by children of immigrants.

You may have heard of these companies started by immigrants: Google, NVIDIA, Tesla, SpaceX, Zoom, Stripe, Palantir, Instacart, YouTube, LinkedIn. Thanks to them and others the number of families with six figure incomes has grown a lot in the past 25 years (even after adjusting for inflation).

Immigrants are twice as likely to start a new business than native-born Americans. But we will hire y'all and pay y'all well.

Children of immigrants are vastly overrepresented as founders and corporate leaders.

We bring all sorts of cultural enhancements with us. Better food. Better music. Better dancing.

We and our children are vastly overrepresented as faculty of our institutions of higher learning.

I'll mention someone I bet none of y'all has ever heard of as an especially inspiring example: Fei-fei Li. She has made a massive difference. Her thesis advisers in graduate school (CalTech) were foreigners as well. Of course. How else could it be. Which reminds me: my own thesis advisers were from Argentina and France. It's been like that for a long time now, much to the country's benefit.

en.wikipedia.org

Fei-Fei Li - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
Last edited:
nsacpi said:
As of 2022 more than half of the startups valued at over $1 billion (so-called unicorns) we founded or co-founded by immigrants.

An additional large share were started by children of immigrants.

You may have heard of these companies started by immigrants: Google, NVIDIA, Tesla, SpaceX, Zoom, Stripe, Palantir, Instacart, YouTube, LinkedIn. Thanks to them and others the number of families with six figure incomes has grown a lot in the past 25 years (even after adjusting for inflation).

Immigrants are twice as likely to start a new business than native-born Americans. But we will hire y'all and pay y'all well.

Children of immigrants are vastly overrepresented as founders and corporate leaders.

We bring all sorts of cultural enhancements with us. Better food. Better music. Better dancing.

We and our children are vastly overrepresented as faculty of our institutions of higher learning.

I'll mention someone I bet none of y'all has ever heard of as an especially inspiring example: Fei-fei Li. She has made a massive difference.

en.wikipedia.org

Fei-Fei Li - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
Click to expand...
and 0% of those start ups by immigrants have been started by immigrants coming from south of the border.
 
nsacpi said:
Historical share of households making over $100,000 (adjusted for inflation 2023 dollars)

2000 23%
2023 34%

America is a great country! IS as in better than it has ever been! Note that from 2000 to 2023 we experienced very high rates of immigration. We didn't take anything from anyone. We just helped make the pie sweeter and bigger!!
Click to expand...
Yes. I agree with all of that (including immigration!)

America is the best. I say this consistently in the tariff threads. Why are we emulating the models of less successful countries?

But your response doesn’t address the eroding purchasing power of $100k ergo “I remember when I was a kid thinking it would be cool to make six figures”
 
We can stay in the Americas. The founder of Grubhub has a Mexican mother. CEO of Sprint was Bolivian. Cubans have founded billion dollar companies.

The president of MIT from 2012 to 2022 was from Venezuela.

The founder of Zumba Fitness is Colombian.

The founder of Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ listed) is Mexican.

The CEO of AES corporation is Venezuelan.
 
From a WSJ article last year:

Latin American immigrants are starting businesses at more than twice the rate of the U.S. population as a whole.

The jump in Latino entrepreneurship has driven up the overall share of new businesses owned by immigrants, who accounted for 36% of launches last year compared with 25% in 2019, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data. New-business creation by white and native-born Americans has slowed in the past two years, following a broad surge early in the pandemic.

https://www.wsj.com/business/entrep...3?st=XkZKKy&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
 
Some notable Haitian entrepreneurs:

Chedy Hampson​


  • Founder of TCGplayer, an online marketplace for trading cards
  • Exit: Sold to eBay in 2022 for $295 million

Christine Souffrant Ntim​


  • Founder of Vendedy (digitizing street vending globally)
  • Recognition: Forbes 30 Under 30, TEDx speaker


Reginald "Reggie" Fils-Aimé​


  • Former President & COO of Nintendo of America
  • Background: Son of Haitian immigrants
  • Now: Board member at GameStop, Spin Master, Brunello Cucinelli, and Cornell University

Monique Idlett-Mosley​


  • VC + Tech Investor at Reign Ventures
  • Invests in early-stage startups founded by underrepresented founders
  • Exits include: Several healthtech, fintech, and SaaS startups on growth trajectories

​

Ernst Valery
  • Real estate investor and venture capitalist
  • Firm: SAA|EVI and Ernst Valery Investments
  • Focus: Inclusive housing, urban renewal, and investing in Black and immigrant-led businesses
  • Impact: Over $500M in community-focused development projects
  • Base: Baltimore and Philadelphia





 
Other Caribbean Countries

Daymond John​


  • Background: His mother is Afro-Caribbean, with strong Jamaican influence.
  • Notable For: Founder of FUBU (For Us By Us), a globally recognized urban clothing brand. Investor on Shark Tank.
  • Legacy: Turned a $40 startup into a brand generating over $6 billion in global sales.

Lowell Hawthorne (1959–2017)​


  • Background: Jamaican immigrant.
  • Notable For: Founder of Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill, which grew to over 120 franchises across the U.S.
  • Significance: Pioneered Caribbean fast food in the American mainstream.

Alfonso “Al” Pérez​


  • Background: Dominican-American.
  • Notable For: Co-founder and CEO of Skybridge Capital Partners, an investment advisory firm, and involved in real estate ventures in NYC.

Jhonny Peralta (not the baseball player)​


  • Background: Dominican immigrant.
  • Notable For: Founder of Peralta Consulting Group, a tech and design company based in New Jersey. Grew from a solo shop to a firm working with national clients.
 
Some of y'all may also have heard of the late Oscar de la Renta.

And next time one of y'all steps on the dance floor to do the Salsa, Tango, Merengue, Bachata, Cumbia, Cha-cha-cha, Rumba, Calypso, Soca, Bolero, Quadrille, etc, etc, have a good time!!
 
nsacpi said:
Historical share of households making over $100,000 (adjusted for inflation 2023 dollars)

2000 23%
2023 34%

America is a great country! IS as in better than it has ever been! Note that from 2000 to 2023 we experienced very high rates of immigration. We didn't take anything from anyone. We just helped make the pie sweeter and bigger!!
Click to expand...
Only 34% of HOUSEHOLDS make over 100k? Wow
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top