He didn't make a decision to hire 16 people in another country. He made a decision to partner with ONE guy that couldn't get permission to work in this country. Had he been granted his H1-B, then the 15 additional hires would have most likely been local. And then any future growth would have included local resources.

The decision was for the first strategic hire. All of the remaining hires were just an offshoot from that initial decision as to where to locate the new team.