Paul Graham has long viewed immigration as an input variable in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. In 2014, he directly opposed filtering tech talent by nationality in "Let the Other 95% of Great Programmers In," arguing that one reason tech companies struggle to find enough programmers is the visa system; this aligns with his practice of discovering global founders through the entrepreneur network during his time at YC.

YC's capital path essentially relies on global talent arbitrage: first attracting international founders through accelerators, Silicon Valley financing networks, and access to the U.S. market, then obtaining equity returns from business growth through seed investments. Immigrant founders are not a marginal group—there are now 455 U.S. unicorns with immigrant founders, and international student founders account for about 24% of all U.S. unicorns.

Historically, the U.S.'s technological advantage in the 20th century also relied on attracting overseas research talent; today, this extends from universities and laboratories to startups, chips, AI, life sciences, and cybersecurity. Immigrant inventors are more likely to use overseas technologies, collaborate with foreign inventors, and gain citations in overseas markets, thus their value includes not only adding an engineering position but also introducing cross-border knowledge and relationship networks.

This belongs to capital concentration. Top talent, venture capital, and high-growth companies will cluster in countries with the most open visa systems, capital markets, and research ecosystems; if a country sets higher friction at talent entry points, capital will not automatically translate into innovation but will follow talent to markets where it is easier to form teams, secure financing, and achieve exits. Immigration policy thus not only allocates labor but also reshapes the distribution of innovation returns.

ABAB News · Law of Cognition

If talent does not flow, elitism is merely regional protection.
Countries filter by nationality, markets filter by ability.
The most expensive barrier is rejecting future creators.