New York startups face SF-grade comp with an extra twist: you're competing for engineers not just with tech companies but with hedge funds and banks that pay whatever it takes. Senior engineer comp often runs $200k+ base before you've mentioned equity. Hiring internationally is how most NYC startups escape that bidding war, and Eastern time happens to be the best-positioned US timezone to do it from.
Why NYC startups hire internationally
Three reasons come up in almost every conversation:
- Cost. A senior engineer in Buenos Aires, Bogotá, or Warsaw at a strong local rate often costs a third to half of a NYC hire, and they're frequently just as good.
- Talent competition. In New York you're bidding against finance for the same people. Abroad, a funded US startup paying in USD is a top-decile offer.
- Geography. This is NYC's quiet advantage. Eastern time sits between the Americas and Europe, so an ET company gets real-time overlap with two continents at once. SF companies get one.
That last point deserves its own section, because it changes which countries should be on your shortlist.
The timezone map from Eastern time
Offsets below are approximate; daylight saving shifts most of them by an hour twice a year, and some countries don't observe it at all. Overlap assumes both sides work roughly 9 to 6 local.
| Country (city) | Offset from ET (approx., DST shifts this ±1 hour) | Overlap with a NYC 9-6 day |
|---|---|---|
| Colombia (Bogotá) | 0 to -1 | ~8-9 hours |
| Peru (Lima) | 0 to -1 | ~8-9 hours |
| Mexico (Mexico City) | -1 to -2 | ~7-8 hours |
| Argentina (Buenos Aires) | +1 | ~8 hours |
| Brazil (São Paulo) | +1 | ~8 hours |
| Chile (Santiago) | 0 to +1 | ~8 hours |
| Ghana (Accra) | +4 | ~5 hours (your morning) |
| United Kingdom (London) | +5 | ~4 hours (your morning) |
| Nigeria (Lagos) | +5 | ~4 hours (your morning) |
| Netherlands (Amsterdam) | +6 | ~3 hours (your morning) |
| Germany (Berlin) | +6 | ~3 hours (your morning) |
| Italy (Milan) | +6 | ~3 hours (your morning) |
| Kenya (Nairobi) | +7 | ~2 hours (your early morning) |
| India (Bengaluru) | +9.5 | Handoff window, not overlap |
| Philippines (Manila) | +12 | None natural |
Two things jump out.
Latin America is essentially your timezone. Bogotá and Lima are within an hour of New York year-round. Buenos Aires and São Paulo are about one ahead. A Bogotá engineer isn't a "remote timezone hire" at all; they're a colleague whose standup, code review, and 4pm incident call all land inside your day.
Europe gives you a real morning window. London is about five hours ahead, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Milan about six. Their afternoon is your morning, which means roughly 3 to 4 genuinely shared hours every single day. That's enough for standups, pairing, and design reviews, with the rest async. From SF that window barely exists; from NYC it's a working rhythm thousands of teams already run.
Africa lines up on the same axis: Accra is about four hours ahead, Lagos five, Nairobi seven (all approximate). Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya have fast-growing engineering and operations talent pools that share most of a NYC morning.
India, at nine and a half hours ahead, doesn't overlap so much as hand off: their end of day is your start of day, which makes a spec-in-the-evening, review-in-the-morning loop feel natural. The Philippines is about twelve hours ahead, so overlap only happens if the candidate wants a US-hours schedule, which, in the Philippines specifically, many do.
Where to hire for what
Role type matters more than country ranking:
- First international hire: prioritize overlap. Your first hire abroad sets the pattern for everyone after. From NYC that's easy mode: Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, or Mexico all give you nearly a full shared day.
- Customer-facing and support roles: overlap is non-negotiable. Anything where a US customer waits on a reply during ET business hours points to Latin America, or to the Philippines on an explicit US-hours schedule.
- Deep engineering work: use both windows. LatAm for collaborative product engineering, Europe (UK, Germany, Netherlands, Italy) for senior specialists who thrive on a morning-sync-then-async rhythm, and India when you want the deepest talent pool and a follow-the-sun handoff.
- Design and product: morning-window countries work well. These roles need real conversation a few times a week, and a 3 to 4 hour daily window covers that comfortably.
Opinionated shortlist from the 25 countries we cover: Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico for same-day collaboration; the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands for the morning window; India and the Philippines for async depth.
Contractor or employee?
Most NYC startups start with contractors, and for a genuinely independent worker that's the right call. The line you can't cross is misclassification: if you set their hours, they work only for you, and you manage them like an employee, local authorities (and your own fundraising diligence) will eventually treat them as one, with back taxes and benefits liability attached. When someone becomes core to the team, convert them properly through an employer of record or your own entity. We wrote up the full decision in EOR vs. your own entity.
What it costs
Shor's pricing is the same regardless of which country you pick:
- Contractors: $19/month each, with contracts, W-8BEN collection, and invoicing built in
- Full-time employees (EOR): $299/month each in standard countries, statutory contributions and filings handled
- FX: a flat, disclosed 2% margin, no spread buried in the rate
The pricing calculator shows the per-country math, including employer statutory costs.
FAQ
Which countries have the best timezone overlap with New York? Latin America is nearly a perfect match: Bogotá and Lima sit within an hour of Eastern time, Buenos Aires and São Paulo about one ahead (offsets shift with daylight saving). Western Europe gives you a solid 3 to 4 hour morning window, and West Africa about the same. India works as a day-boundary handoff rather than an overlap.
Do New York state employment rules apply to my foreign contractors? Generally, state worker-classification tests are about workers performing services in that state, and a contractor working from Bogotá is primarily governed by their own country's classification rules. That said, a company's home-state law can matter in edge cases, and the contractor's local rules apply regardless of what your contract says. Confirm your specific setup with your employment counsel rather than relying on a blog post, ours included.
Is Europe or Latin America better for a NYC startup's first hire? For a first hire, we'd usually say Latin America: the near-total overlap makes onboarding, pairing, and course correction dramatically easier. Europe makes more sense once your team already runs well async, or when the specific senior talent you want happens to be there. Note that European employment (as opposed to contracting) carries meaningfully higher statutory costs and stronger termination protections, so read the country guide before you commit.
How fast can someone start? Contractors: usually same day, once the contract is signed and the tax form is in. Employees through an EOR: typically one to two weeks, depending on the country's registration timelines.
Is it legal to hire someone in another country without a local entity? For contractors, yes, with a real contract and correct classification. For employees, you need a local employer, which is exactly what an employer of record provides, so you don't have to open an entity to make your first hire. Tax treatment varies by country, so confirm the details with your accountant.