In 1853, a young man from Bavaria arrived in San Francisco with a few bolts of canvas fabric and a plan to sell tents to Gold Rush miners. The miners didn’t want tents. So he pivoted, turned the canvas into pants, reinforced the seams with copper rivets, and started selling those instead.
His name was Levi Strauss. If you’ve ever wondered why entrepreneurs from around the world still choose to start a business in the U.S., his story is a good place to begin.
Nearly Half of America Was Built by People Who Weren’t Born There
The American Immigration Council tracks which Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children. In 2025, that number reached a new high: 46.2%, nearly half of America’s largest corporations.
That includes names you use every day. Google (Sergey Brin, from Russia). NVIDIA (Jensen Huang, from Taiwan). Stripe (Patrick and John Collison, from a small town in Ireland). SpaceX and Tesla (Elon Musk, from South Africa). Yahoo, eBay, Duolingo — all built by people who weren’t born in the U.S.
Together, those companies employ more than 15 million people and generate revenue that, if it were a country’s GDP, would rank third in the world, behind only the U.S. itself and China.
This didn’t happen by accident. It happened because the U.S. built an environment where that kind of thing is possible, and keeps being possible, generation after generation.
Why the U.S. is still the best country to start a business
Part of it is practical. If you’re raising venture capital, investors will almost always ask for a U.S. entity, usually a Delaware C-Corp, before they write a check. Accelerators like Y Combinator and Techstars work the same way. Getting incorporated in the U.S. isn’t just a legal step; it unlocks a whole layer of the ecosystem that’s otherwise closed.
Part of it is scale. The U.S. market has over 330 million consumers under one legal system, one currency, and one language. That kind of reach, without the complexity of navigating dozens of different regulatory environments, is genuinely rare.
And part of it is something harder to quantify, the density of the startup ecosystem. The founders, investors, operators, and advisors who’ve done this before are concentrated in a way that doesn’t exist anywhere else at scale. That network has real value.
For international founders specifically, opening a U.S. company also opens the door to American banking, global payment platforms like Stripe and PayPal, and contracts with U.S. clients who prefer working with local entities. The practical benefits stack up fast.
What data says about starting a business in the U.S.
Stanford University’s Venture Capital Initiative studied 500 U.S. unicorn companies and found that 44% of their founders were born outside the United States. Researchers call it the relocation effect:
- Startups from Israel that moved to the U.S. were 9x more likely to reach unicorn status than those that stayed home.
- Indian startups that relocated saw a 6.5x advantage.
- British startups that moved to the U.S. were 2.5x more likely to reach unicorn status than those that stayed home
Moving to the U.S. doesn’t just give you a new address, it actually statistically changes your odds. The combination of capital access, market size, and ecosystem density does something measurable.
The entrepreneurial boom keeps going
You might expect that after 250 years, the pace of new business creation in the U.S. would plateau. It hasn’t.
In 2023, more new businesses were started in the United States than in any year on record, over 5.4 million. The pandemic, rather than cooling entrepreneurship, seems to have accelerated it. People rethought what they wanted to do, spotted new gaps in the market, and started building.
For international entrepreneurs, that moment is still open. The ecosystem is not running out of room.
How to start a business in the U.S. as a foreign founder?
If you’re ready to take the step, the process is more straightforward than most people expect, and you don’t need to move to the U.S. to do it.
The most common path for international entrepreneurs is opening an LLC or C-Corp in a business-friendly state like Delaware, Wyoming, or Florida. From there, you can open a U.S. business bank account, get an EIN (Employer Identification Number), and start operating, all remotely.
→ Read our complete guide here.
Levi Strauss didn’t arrive with a master plan. He arrived with some fabric, a read on the situation, and a willingness to adapt. Two hundred and fifty years later, that approach still works.
FAQ
Can a foreigner start a business in the U.S.? Yes. There are no citizenship or residency requirements to open an LLC or corporation in the United States. International entrepreneurs can form and own a U.S. company entirely remotely.
What is the best state to open a company in the U.S. as a non-resident? Delaware is the most popular choice for startups seeking venture capital, due to its established corporate law and investor familiarity. Wyoming and Florida are strong alternatives for lower costs and no state income tax.
Do I need to move to the U.S. to run my company? No. You can open and operate a U.S. company without living there. You’ll need a registered agent in your state of formation, but the rest of the process — including banking — can be handled remotely.
Why do so many global entrepreneurs choose to incorporate in the U.S.? Access to capital, a large consumer market, strong IP protections, and a startup ecosystem that is unmatched in scale. Many investors and accelerators also require a U.S. entity before they’ll work with a company.
Is it expensive to open a company in the U.S. as a foreigner? The cost depends on the state and structure you choose. Delaware C-Corp formation tends to have higher annual fees; Wyoming LLCs are among the most affordable options. Platforms like Globalfy streamline the process and keep costs transparent.
Globalfy helps international entrepreneurs open and operate U.S. companies — from registration to banking to compliance. Get started today →
Sources:
- American Immigration Council — Fortune 500 Companies Founded by Immigrants (2025)
- Stanford Venture Capital Initiative / Crunchbase — The Immigrant Edge (2025)
- U.S. Census Bureau — Business Formation Statistics
- Hillsdale College / Imprimis — Entrepreneurship in American History