Tag Archives: Panama

Hightech conference in Panama

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Glad to learn that some more people are working on the idea to make Panama a hightech hub: Visit pandemonio.io and find out more about their event on February 15-17, 2017 in Panama City’s Westin Playa Bonita resort.

Technology isn’t a cost of doing business.
It is the business.

Two days of thought-provoking keynotes and deep-dive breakouts. The technologies and trends that are fundamentally reshaping modern business. The people behind the most admired companies and most disruptive ideas on the planet.

 

First class presenters, 2 days, in a stunning place, right beside the Panama Canal Pacific entrance.

Don’t miss it.

Panama – The perfect place for your hightech/software company (5)

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Why Panama – Immigration and IRS

These are the 2 issues non-US citizens should be most concerned about when considering The Valley as their business location. Seriously.

First, getting a green card or visa or citizenship really means some effort and is time-consuming. This why even cruise ships are considered, out in the North Pacific Ocean, to accommodate workforce and work around the immigration problem.

Once you’ve got your immigration status, you’ll become a US tax resident, even with a non-resident visa under circumstances. The rules are complicated and execution appears to be harsh.

Based on that, US citizens and even visa holders are not welcome in banks around the globe anymore, meaning special non-preferred treatment and extra costs.

With a permanent visa or as US citizen, you’ll never stop reporting to Uncle Sam your world-wide income, every year to come.  Think about it.

 

How does it work in Panama? Tranquilo!

 

007passportphotos

Source: 007passportcopies.com

There are some ways to get a residency in Panama:

  • proof of solvency by investing $300,000 into bank deposit or real estate,
  • Invest even less into reforestation,
  • being a citizen of one of 44 countries, considered in a friendly relationship with Panama, and willing to establish/run a small business.

As long as you are doing business with customers outside of Panama, you don’t have to report anything tax-wise to anybody.

When you employ workforce in Panama or do business within the country, then get established in one of 2 special economic zones. Find out where your business fits in.

Both zones offer favorable immigration and tax arrangements.

For software and other hightech stuff there is the City of Knowledge.

 

laopinionwebhostcompa

Source: laopinion.webhost.com.pa

For logistics, aviation etc. there is Panama Pacifico.

 

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Source: prlog.org

Now it’s up to you to take a closer look at these essential issues. Don’t forget: it will influence your personal and business conditions in a significant way. So better be careful.

Panama: The perfect place for your high-tech/software company (4)

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Why Panama – No natural hazards

As Panama is located between oceans and continents, it is luckily located outside any areas of natural hazards.

Hurricanes happen in the Caribbean, but don’t reach Panama.

Earthquakes happening in Colombia, Chile, Guatemala are sometimes felt, but have never hit Panama hard. Looking at the tectonic plates, Panama is placed in a sweet spot, right between, not inside active zones.

Look at California, which is in a very different position, literally.

Here’s the San Andreas fault, crossing the state from Southeast to Northwest, building tension for The Big One.

 

earthquake

(Source: Wikipedia)

Crossing the San Francisco Bay area, nobody knows when it will happen, but it will. Even a Small One will disrupt business and everyday routines for weeks. And a Plan B will not avoid this, possibly minimize consequences.

I still remember years ago, when Texas-based hosting provider Rackspace Inc. made the case for having their data centers in regions far away from earthquake-prone regions, like California. They’ve got a reason.

Data are precious, human lifes even more.

Conclusion: Building your business in Panama instead of California means that a Plan B for natural hazards is not necessary.

Get some peace of mind.     

Breaking news, well not so much

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Right in the middle of my posts about why hightech companies can succeed anywhere, preferrably in Panama, there comes this:

Startups don’t have to be in Silicon Valley – you can scale from almost anywhere these days.

Bill (Gross) explains, “I really believe startups can scale everywhere. Talent is everywhere. Money is now everywhere. In Silicon Valley, talent is everywhere, but it’s moving from company to company. Other places are actually much more stable to start a company.”

Exponential technologies have democratized access to many of the resources you need to build a company. Great founders can build great technology companies all over the world.

It’s part of a Peter Diamandis blogpost, that you can find here, together with a lot of more relevant information.

Stay tuned for my next post and find out what Panama has to offer.

Panama: The perfect place for your high-tech/software company (2)

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Why Panama – Your business’ bottom line

This is the most important issue for any great owner of a small business.

Let us look at your personal income situation now and assume you’re making $100,000 per year. (http://www.tax-rates.org/California/income-tax)

                                 California                        Panama

Income                    $100,000                         $100,000

Tax                            $32,000                            $0 *  

Subtotal                  $68,000                            $100,000

Condo rent            $36,000                            $18,000                                                                                                                    (www.zillow.com)          2/2 with 130 m²

Cost of living        $30,000                            $15,000  **

Total                       $2,000                              $67,000

Suggestion: This amount of $67,000 re-invested in Panama, buys ⅙ ownership/8 weeks occupancy in a 2/2 oceanview condo 130m², fully equipped and with concierge service.  (www.oceanview42.com)

* Having your company registered in Panama, charging foreign businesses only, there is no obligation to report anything. No tax declaration whatsoever. Call it freedom.  

** The cost of living numbers appear low. However, in our example, the Californian cannot spend more and we assume that cost of living in Panama is roughly half of California.

To grow a small business, having money left over after tax is essential. Working without other people’s money in early stage means independence, keeping control. Selling shares not before the company has some value, means to make more money, just later.

Conclusion: Having a global business based in Panama is best for your business’ bottom line.

 

supermoney

Disclaimer: We are not a financial or tax advisor. Information given is based on public Website information everybody can find. It may change or have already changed. No guarantees. Do your own math and research. (Picture: supermoney.com)

 

 

 

Panama: The perfect place for your high-tech/software company (1)

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If you as an entrepreneur are confident to build the next unicorn, a start-up with 1b market capitalization, then go ahead and settle in the Silicon Valley. Best choice.

If not, there is a better place to start and run your business, to live and to invest.

Why Panama? Living here for 8 years already, let me present my thoughts in a series of posts. 

 

 

Conditions have changed significantly.

“The Valley” began as a center for the capital-intense semiconductor and computer industry, followed by Internet software developers and service providers in the late 90s.

Renting an office, hiring staff, setting up servers and workstations, purchasing software licenses was expensive and Venture Capital was a necessity to take off or to grow.  

These days are over. However, it has established a concentration of ideas and capital there as nowhere else in the world, now focusing to solve the big problems of mankind.   

Your ambitions are a bit smaller? Then you don’t have to pay the ridiculous price of living and working there.

Establishing a business nowadays is much easier than a decade ago.

No fancy office, desks and chairs.

No permament hires, beside a core staff, people work project-based.

No hardware investments, but BYOD.

No software licenses, get everything cloud-based.

No expensive marketing. Win followers by early release of a good-enough product.

Conclusion: The capital demand for new endavours is low, as are entry barriers. So who needs VCs anyway anymore?

 

Imaging Panama as a hightech hotspot

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It has been a while since I suggested to develop Panama as a “Second Home & Bootcamp Facility” for Silicon Valley corporations.

As time goes by and things in tech are changing as fast a never before, my views have changed as well. Having seen how other places have tried to copy the Valley unsuccessfully, this place should move up in its own way.

Coder courses, accelerators, VC firms – there is nothing that can’t be done here. What has to be created and nurtured is the mindset to go for top achievements.

Despite the Panama Papers fuss, this country still has the best conditions to establish and run a business, not to forget essential soft factors, like quality of life and vast investment opportunities. See here

Few weeks only until the Panama Canal extension goes live. Time to seek a new challenge for the country connecting North with South America, the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean.

newgatunlockspano

Source: ACP

 

 

 

 

 

Updated: Nonstop Dubai – Panama

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May 2016: Emirates has postponed this service until end of 2016 or early 2017. However, Lufthansa from Frankfurt and Turkish Airlines from Istanbul have begun their regular flights.

More important: Copa Airlines is now flying on 7 days a week between Panama City, Panama and San Francisco, CA.

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Doing the longest regular airliner flight is something special; for the carrier, the manufacturer and for the destinations.

Starting February 1, 2016 an Emirates Boeing 777-200LR will take off as flight EK251 from Dubai to Panama City, non-stop.

Arrival in Panama at 4:40 pm, after not less than 17 hours and 35 minutes for this 13,800 km trip.

It is the #5 airline with a direct trans-atlantic connection to Panama, Dubai joins Amsterdam (KLM), Lisboa (TAP), Madrid (Iberia) and Paris (Air France), Frankfurt (Lufthansa) will follow one month later. in March 2016.

emirates777

commons.wikimedia.org

Since Singapore Airlines has terminated their ultra-long non-stop flights to New York and Los Angeles, nowadays these are the longest ones:

Quantas between Sidney and Dallas (B747)

Delta between Atlanta and Johannesburg (B777)

Emirates between Dubai and Los Angeles (A380)

Emirates between Dubai and Dallas, Houston and San Francisco (B777).

This new flight is even longer and is the first non-stop connection between Middle East and Latin America.

The fact that Panama has been selected underlines the growing economic importance of this small country and takes advantage of Tocumen International Airport as “Hub of the Americas”, reaching all of Central-/South America and many places in the Caribbean.

Tocumen’s new South Terminal, designed by Sir Norman Foster, will be ready, just in time, to welcome Emirates.

terminalsur

commons.wikimedia.org

Why Panama does not have to copy the Silicon Valley to succeed

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In an interesting blogpost, Peter Diamandis explained the success of the valley with the arrival of new-type coffee shops as place to gather and network, then with the high density of tech people, reducing the risk of failing, as there are many more positions and opportunities waiting.

Based on that, the other ingredients – contributors, culture, capital – grew organically, cumulating innovation power, delivering success along the road.

All this has been and is happening despite some harsh conditions, like climate, immigration and tax rules. How much easier should it be to achieve such success under Panama’s tropical living conditions, in its relaxed business, immigration and tax environment?

SkylineTrumpFerryWeit_9656

Leaving Panana City on express ferry, heading Las Perlas Archipelago, 35 nautical miles off the coast. Sea water temperature 28C/87F

Being a successful entrepreneur in Panama appears to be much more attractive then up there. Lifestyle, costs of living, investment opportunities, to mention a few.

Becoming a successful entrepreneur in Panama must not be more difficult.

Creating perfect conditions to attract entrepreneurs to start and thrive their high-tech business here in Panama is the task at hand.   

Getting closer to be the next startup mecca

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Peter Diamandis had asked this week “Where do you think the next mecca for tech startups will be?”.

I doubt if Mecca is an appropriate synonym, but my response has been: “The next mecca for tech startups needs tropical lifestyle, more favourable immigration and tax rules. How about ?”

And I mean it. You just don’t have to have everything together in one place anymore.

Technology creates conditions, overcoming obstacles to create technology.

Skype, Hangout, Facetime enable people to work together, no matter where.

Freelancer.com and others find outsourced capacity for almost every job imaginable.

Kickstarter.com and others facilitate project funding.

Codepath.com does free education for Android and iOS coding.

WeWork.com has temporary space to meet, hang around and work with peers.

So if everybody can take advantage of technological progress as mentioned, the general, surrounding conditions become more important: quality of life.

What else do we need here in Panama?

– Transform a crazy idea into a bold target,

– Get the right people together

– Build and work an actionable plan.

#exPANAMAnding opportunities