# The North American Block: An Unfair Advantage in Tech — Icalia Labs Blog > Why the US, Canada and Mexico together give tech companies a strategic edge in talent and proximity, and why it remains undervalued in 2021. Pre-AI era · 2021. Written before AI was part of how we build. The fundamentals still hold; tooling and workflow advice may be dated. Originally published on [Medium](https://medium.com/icalia-labs/the-north-american-block-an-unfair-advantage-in-tech-2f2682cc22a9) on January 15, 2021. Lightly edited for clarity. 1. [Home](/) 2. / 3. [Blog](/blog/) 4. / 5. [Nearshore Hiring](/blog/topics/nearshore-hiring.html) [Nearshore Hiring](/blog/topics/nearshore-hiring.html) # The North American Block: An Unfair Advantage in Tech Why the US, Canada and Mexico together give tech companies a strategic edge in talent and proximity, and why it remains undervalued in 2021. ![Eduardo Lopez De Leon](/assets/eduardo-lopez.webp) Eduardo Lopez De Leon · Co-Founder & CEO January 15, 2021 · 4 min read ![Flat blue silhouette map of North America, from Canada and Greenland down to Mexico and Central America, on a gray background](/assets/blog/north-american-block-unfair-advantage-in-tech-1.webp) At first, I thought writing about the Tex-Mex advantage was important. Still, considering a broader possibility and the current opportunity, I switched to writing about the whole North American Block: the US, Canada, and Mexico region, and its strategic relevance for technology companies. We have seen this for decades. Businesses started to look for talent outside the US, no matter the location. It all began with tech companies looking for the best engineers, designers, and managers, no matter their location or even background. It was an investment in growing the team, and the impact should be seen in the company’s growth, but it could become a considerable cost to maintain in the long run. The latter depends on the hiring process and in-person interviews, retention strategies, establishing a real work-life balance once employees have joined, and so on. 25 years ago, Microsoft started to hire engineers from what was then the best university and engineering program in Mexico: [Tecnologico de Monterrey](https://tec.mx/en). This plan was tactically expanded to other universities. It became a virtuous circle, converting current employees into HR advocates with a special budget assigned to attract more talent from their alma mater, assuming more engineers of the same quality as themselves might be found. Along the way, in 1994, the [NAFTA 1.0 agreement was signed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Free_Trade_Agreement), and the [TN visa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TN_status) became a reality: a visa allowing Mexican, American, and Canadian citizens to settle in any of these 3 regions by justifying the type of job, which became a fast path for people and also a versatile process for expanding companies. In Canada, the industry has seen companies leveraging their immediate proximity to the Northwest and mid-Atlantic regions of the US. Huge companies such as [Amazon](https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/amazon-expands-toronto-tech-hub-and-announces-plans-to-create-600-new-tech-jobs-703020061.html), [Facebook](https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-to-open-artificialintelligence-center-in-montreal-1505430201), and [others](https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/google-canada-expansion-analysis-1.5455122) have started establishing R&D+AI outposts, hiring people from universities in Toronto, Waterloo and BC, and bringing in foreigners through Canada’s advantageous immigration process, while providing a great quality of life to engineers in those places. Before COVID, there was an unfair advantage in this whole block: **proximity**. It is key to generating cohesiveness, collaboration, and other determinants that enable businesses to be more efficient in many ways. Think of traveling to visit engineers in the Mexico City office, returning to San Francisco for a strategic session, and then having a retreat in Cabo with special crew members from the AI centers in Toronto and Montreal to talk about the next five years. All of it within a 2–4 hour flight, in the same time zone, and with mutual respect because of the countries' affinities and long history. Ties between neighboring countries have been undervalued, mainly those of Canada and the US with Mexico and, generally speaking, Latin America. There’s an idiosyncrasy distinguishing each particular region, but 400 years ago, when colonization started, [the Rio Grande Valley was explored by both Spaniards and Anglo-Saxons](https://www.britannica.com/place/Rio-Grande-river-United-States-Mexico/Study-and-exploration), creating a mix that has remained across the whole region, as river names and a unique cuisine show. Today, thinking about the post-COVID era and the new normal that is settling in, proximity is still highly relevant. Despite the privilege tech companies have that huge portions of their workforce can work remotely, the opportunity to create a work-life balance based on working hours is important, considering some team members might have families, children, or other responsibilities — the flexibility to unplug at some point and focus on family will be a joy. Ultimately, traveling is going to surge and be a thing again, as it was. [IATA says](https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/air-travel-recovery-2024/index.html) that flights won’t climb back to pre-pandemic numbers until 2024. Yet, progressively, having in-person interactions (with precautions) will add value to all outcomes for any company and strategic relationship. Think about a release planning session, talking to potential customers, or just having some random time to hang out with the rest of the team; it will be more pleasant and less annoying than traveling 30+ hours with all the implicit risks and costs of that trip. I have seen firsthand that more companies in the US and Canada aren’t looking at Latin America as a cheap labor spot but as an unexplored region where great engineers are preparing for the next big venture and challenge. The main blocker today, I would say, is language, but if companies struggle with talent, why not hire someone as a proxy and learn Spanish rather than the other way around? Still, English is the default business language, even in Asia, so there’s a gap to be closed. _Where there’s a will, there’s a way_. Look at what [Stripe](https://stripe.com/blog/stripe-launches-in-mexico), [YC-backed companies](https://web.archive.org/web/20210124031303/https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/latinx-founders), and others have explored and leveraged over the last few years across the region. A killer formula: business development and leadership in the US; strategic roles in the US and CA; and operations and product talent in MX and CA. A cost-cutting approach to optimize the positioning of the business as a world-class entity. The opportunity spans the whole block: communication channels, proxies, reducing friction between hubs and regions, leveraging economies of scale, and bringing more exciting opportunities with state-of-the-art projects for all people across the region — basically fostering a single unit where everyone is allowed to grow and make an impact. ![Eduardo Lopez De Leon](/assets/eduardo-lopez.webp) Written by Eduardo Lopez De Leon · Co-Founder & CEO Strategy, brand presence, and partnership development at Icalia Labs. Startup and corporate experience. YC Founder. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elopezdeleon/) [X](https://x.com/edolopez) [GitHub](https://github.com/edolopez) ## Related reading [ ![](/assets/blog/monterrey-office-overhead.jpg) September 22, 2026 ### How to Hire Software Engineers in Mexico: A US Guide A practical guide for US companies hiring software engineers in Mexico: hiring models, legal setup, vetting, onboarding, and the mistakes to avoid. Nearshore Hiring ](/blog/how-to-hire-software-engineers-in-mexico.html) [![](/assets/blog/distributed-software-teams-in-management-consulting-cover.webp) Pre-AI era February 26, 2021 ### Adapting a distributed software team capability in Management Consulting Argues that management consulting firms need a software development practice and explains how distributed teams help them win deals and scale. Nearshore Hiring](/blog/distributed-software-teams-in-management-consulting.html) [![](/assets/blog/decentralized-software-partner-relationships-cover.webp) Pre-AI era January 31, 2020 ### Executing a successful relationship with decentralized software partners Key takeaways from a 2020 Austin Technology Council panel on running a successful, high-performing relationship with a remote software partner. Nearshore Hiring](/blog/decentralized-software-partner-relationships.html) ## Need engineers who already ship like this? 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