klein_waffle

I'm a Canadian, and have worked in the Bay Area on various visas since 2005 or so. Now I'd like to start my own venture here, but I don't yet have a Green Card. What are the options?

Some have advised that I create some sort of corporation, technically owned by an investor or someone else I trust, of which I'm an employee. That's a bit scary to me for obvious reasons. At the moment I don't have an American co-founder I trust enough. (I know that according to pg's criteria this means the whole thing is a non-starter anyway, but let's assume that I'd get some co-founders later once I had a spiffy proof of concept.)

I work for a large company in decline. I see all my smart colleagues leaving for better opportunities, and there are many storm clouds on the horizon for the company. I have all kinds of ideas for startups and I'm itching to try them.

But my team is currently kicking at least reasonable amounts of ass, and is well-supported by management. While there are some alarmingly dumb ideas imposed on us from above, for the most part I am getting to implement my ideas. I have a pretty great salary. I believe we're helping ordinary people. I would be really annoyed if I had to leave it now, because I think we're maybe a year away from having a really great solution in our market.

Now what?

I'm lucky enough to work at a place where they won't hire a new manager unless there's team buy-in.

Assume technical competence is not an issue. What questions do we need to have answered?

I am also selling our team to him. Any advice there would be helpful.