You could go the O1 route. The Peter Roberts HN posts (the immigration attorney who does work for YC startups) has lots of great info on this area: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27560781
I’m aware about it in theory, but I think for people already in us on a work visa it’s a chicken and egg problem between starting and getting the o1. I can’t start anything as I can only work for my employer, and I can’t get an o1 because I can’t start anything. Looks like the founders are not interested in answering this one.
We're actually not based in the US right now as we had to return home for covid, and we're building a remote co.
To be honest we sadly don't have any useful advice for US visas: it's not a fun system.
Only thing is it's now more possible than ever to soak up US culture, run a US-focused company, but not be based in the US. But that's not what you wanna hear if you've built your life there. I'm sorry we can't be more helpful
