Basically, the program offers a $40k grant, which goes a long way in a lower cost country like Chile. Also, they model after the usual incubator stuff for helping entrepreneurs out.
Note that I said "best example I've ever seen of what a nation can do to try to attract entrepreneurs". That doesn't mean I think it's the best it could be, nor that I think it will work. I only think that it's the best I've ever seen.
If the US offered something on a similar scale (i.e. anyone accepted into ycombinator automatically gets a work visa, basically), I imagine that the US would have a huge edge in comparison. But the US isn't doing that right now, or definitely isn't advertising it worldwide like Startup Chile is trying to do.
edit: And maybe the US isn't doing that because it doesn't need to because the world still sees Silicon Valley as the peak. Time will tell. I'm only saying that if you compared policies apples to apples, and only policies, Chile's policies win out.
Has it worked? What have the outcomes been? Is it too early to tell conclusively, and, if so, what are the metrics we can look at in the interim? What's a fair basis for comparison? Other South American countries? Smaller cities in the US?
