It refers to Minimum viable product http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2009/08/minimum-viable-...

You know, I knew I knew it! Thanks!

Thanks for all the comments. Really helpful.Just to give some more background, I am currently working on an H1B and looking for ways with another partner who is a US Citizen. He would own a majority stake between 60%-70% and thus has the controlling stake.

Does that work if I have the minority stake in the company and my partner owns the major chunk?

I am planning on starting a company with a partner who is a US citizen. I currently hold an H1B visa. Just wanted to know if people here have some pointers as to if this is even possible. I am going to be talking to an attorney but just wanted to get an idea before that. I have read about the startup visa act but it is still pending legislation.

It is possible. Even if you own majority shares, you can still articulate your application in such a way that initially you are not on the board but maybe after a event (funding etc.) you can be on the board

It is definitely possible - I've been in your shoes and done it. Transferred an H1 from an existing employer to a startup run by my biz partner (who also had a majority share). We hadn't raised any $$ when the transfer happened, though we closed an angel round a month after the transfer happened.

Things may have changed since 07 (funding requirements, etc). IANAL, though - you definitely want a good immigration lawyer who's familiar with this stuff.

Try operating from Vancouver, BC. There's a reason so many of your kind end up here.

"your kind" sure has a nuance in English that doesn't mean something good...

Totally possible. I've seen it done often. Even by double immigrant founders.

Xero does look pretty good.

Bummer, doesn't seem to have any US payroll integration options.

Personally I find working in the morning way better than working in the night. I used to work till about midnight and then get up at 7 AM to go to work. However in case I got stuck on some issue that I could not resolve, it would ruin my sleep. I would keep thinking about the fix. But now that I have started working in the mornings, I don't have that problem anymore. I can take some time out during the day and figure out the problem.

This is my first application and I wanted to get some feedback from fellow hacker news readers. The application is not feature complete but I wanted to know if this might be useful to someone before I add any more functionality. I and my wife use this for tracking our todos and habits daily. Please let me know what you guys think of this. I would really appreciate your feedback. Thanks.