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Please poke holes in this idea: 1. Save up some dollars 2. Move to a city in India that has good infrastructure (Coimbatore is the city I have in mind) =$1200

Please poke holes in this idea: 1. Save up some dollars 2. Move to a city in India that has good infrastructure (Coimbatore is the city I have in mind) =$1200 3. Release and iterate till you get good traction =$200/month/person 4. Move to Silicon Valley do the mating dance etc =$1200 Personal burn rate while at India would be as low as $200 per month without compromising on any comfort. After success, I plan to buy a big house there where visiting hackers can stay for free :-)

sgoraya 19y ago
Actually a fantastic idea for the adventurous - The only thing I have issue with in the Indian sub-continent is the finicky electricity infrastructure - During my last few visits, the power went down randomly throughout the day, especially in the, very hot, summers; Granted some days are better than others, but if you can put up with it, the cost of living is a fraction of what it is here.
- kirubakaran 19y ago
  Such hassles can be easily abstracted away for, say, $25 a month I suppose (example: a bank of generators far away)
  - rms 19y ago
    Hmm. Are you saying that electricity in India is sufficiently deregulated that there is competition for backup electricity suppliers?
    - kirubakaran 19y ago
      No, I meant that it is inexpensive to set up your own backup. By 'far away', I didn't mean miles away... I meant far enough that you can't hear the noise.
      - rms 19y ago
        Upvoted!
        kirubakaran 19y ago
        Thanks, and I hope you get your voting rights back soon.
mikesabat 19y ago
Do you speak Hindi? This is a great idea, I want in. YCoimbatore. I know some developers in the city.
- kirubakaran 19y ago
  I can probably speak enough Hindi to save my life, should I get stranded in North India :-) Plus I can always just point at my stomach and grunt :) > I want in Email me at (gmail kirubakaran) and I'll keep you updated.
- rams 19y ago
  Coimbatore is located in Tamil Nadu where they speak Tamil, definitely not Hindi.
powerflex 19y ago
Brilliant. I love this idea. Its my new backup plan.
- kirubakaran 19y ago
  Drop me an email and I'll keep you updated. (gmail kirubakaran)
falsestprophet 19y ago
I think that is a great idea, but I suspect you can accomplish the same thing by moving to a Midwestern college town or the ghetto in your hometown. The expense of moving is only worthwhile if you intend to take a very long time to build your product. Most web applications should only take a few months, right? If you do go to India, consider Goa. I am told it is very beautiful, very European, and the Goans speak English.
- kirubakaran 19y ago
  I agree that the India plan will be inexpensive only if the projects take more than 2 months. Problem with Goa is that it is very expensive due to all the tourists. It is comparable to the west, I hear. Coimbatore has mild climate, a dozen engineering colleges, inexpensive housing, great public transport, great food etc.
  - jyu 19y ago
    general rule of thumb: any place in a foreign country where most speak English will be expensive.
- amohr 19y ago
  Midwestern college town? Champaign, IL! I had a place near campus for $230/month with parking. You can probably live on $600 a month. Also, tech guys come through here all the time (UIUC cs students are fairly sought-after, especially because they'll work for less than their Cal equivalents) so you'll be in good company. And they usually bring free pizza; there are a couple weeks a semester around the job fair when the recruiters are hanging out in town that you can live off of free pizza about every other day. On that note, there's also a bunch of students that you could get to hack part-time if you needed a man-hour boost. There's tons of really bright students here that will work for peanuts if you pitch it right. The downtown area is reasonably nice and, if you wanted an office, there's a bunch going up right now in the heart of downtown. If you really need a big city, you can get to chicago in ~2.5 hours. The down side: if you drive more than 10 miles in any direction, you might start to regret your decision. Central Illinois is flatter than you might be able to conceive if you're not from the midwest. There's really just endless fields of crops in every direction outside the city - they say you can see 10 miles in any direction on a clear day, 20 if you stand on a tuna can. Also, it was in the low 60's 2 days ago... today it snowed about 6 inches with sleet and plenty of wind. I guess you get what you pay for.
tim2 19y ago
I tried that last year for a little while in a very inexpensive part of Europe. Holes: 1. Connections, funding, publicity. Kiss those opportunities goodbye. 2. Travel expenses will cost you, add another $2000(?) just for that. 3. I didn't speak the language at all... Makes it extremely hard to get a good deal on housing. Affects quality of life. 4. Places with very low costs of living and relatively high quality of life tend to attract lots of annoying foreigners. Locals then tend to dislike foreigners. 5. Moving can have big overhead. Basically all of the apartments were occupied in the city I moved to for the first 3 weeks. Pre-made plans fell through.
- kirubakaran 19y ago
  Which city was it? Just curious.
- Todd 19y ago
  In general, anywhere in Europe is a bad idea for someone from the US if you want to cut costs. The dollar's at an all time low of $1.52 to the Euro today. I moved to France two years ago. I did it just for the experience while contracting with companies in the US. If you work for a company here, then the Euro rate won't be so bad. That said, you'll have to get used to a much lower rate than people in our line of work are accustomed to. Of course, if you're reading YC--especially this post--then this isn't really a consideration. Europe has the Schengen Agreement, which allows people from the US (and other participant nations) an automatic visa to stay for 3 months. Anything beyond that takes an enormous amount of time and red tape. Getting a place to stay is very difficult for a foreigner. First, you have to get a bank account, which is difficult. They want 10's of K Euro and often several K frozen in case you have an overdraft, which is regarded very severely. Once you have your bank account, you need to prepare a dossier for the real estate person to pour over. That will involve three years of tax returns, your bank accounts, letters from employers, etc. Most landlords require a personal guarantor--someone who will pay the rent if you don't. And that's for the natives! If you don't have a company to do that for you, well...I guess we got lucky (a big deposit probably helped). This is probably because it's common for people to stop paying when it cools off. There's a law that makes it illegal to evict during the cold season. The leases here are three years. Landlords can't terminate it and you can't break it without significant cause. There are other things to consider, such as the driver's license. Mass transit is great near Paris. Otherwise, you'll probably need one. You have a year on the US DL. If you're from one of the small states with a specific agreement with the French government, you can exchange. For the rest, it's very costly and difficult. Hoops include mandatory drivers school at several K Euro. The test takes almost 1K. Retakes cost as well. There is no English option. Questions are timed (unlike most/all of the US). Sometimes no answer is correct, sometimes multiple answers are correct. Examiners try to trick you or trip you up on technicalities. France definitely is the most difficult. Most other European countries are a little easier along one dimension or another. Regardless, though, the Euro/Dollar conversion is punishing.

sgoraya 19y ago

Actually a fantastic idea for the adventurous - The only thing I have issue with in the Indian sub-continent is the finicky electricity infrastructure - During my last few visits, the power went down randomly throughout the day, especially in the, very hot, summers; Granted some days are better than others, but if you can put up with it, the cost of living is a fraction of what it is here.

kirubakaran 19y ago
Such hassles can be easily abstracted away for, say, $25 a month I suppose (example: a bank of generators far away)
- rms 19y ago
  Hmm. Are you saying that electricity in India is sufficiently deregulated that there is competition for backup electricity suppliers?
  - kirubakaran 19y ago
    No, I meant that it is inexpensive to set up your own backup. By 'far away', I didn't mean miles away... I meant far enough that you can't hear the noise.
    - rms 19y ago
      Upvoted!
      - kirubakaran 19y ago
        Thanks, and I hope you get your voting rights back soon.

mikesabat 19y ago

Do you speak Hindi? This is a great idea, I want in. YCoimbatore. I know some developers in the city.

kirubakaran 19y ago
I can probably speak enough Hindi to save my life, should I get stranded in North India :-) Plus I can always just point at my stomach and grunt :) > I want in Email me at (gmail kirubakaran) and I'll keep you updated.
rams 19y ago
Coimbatore is located in Tamil Nadu where they speak Tamil, definitely not Hindi.

powerflex 19y ago

Brilliant. I love this idea. Its my new backup plan.

kirubakaran 19y ago
Drop me an email and I'll keep you updated. (gmail kirubakaran)

falsestprophet 19y ago

I think that is a great idea, but I suspect you can accomplish the same thing by moving to a Midwestern college town or the ghetto in your hometown. The expense of moving is only worthwhile if you intend to take a very long time to build your product. Most web applications should only take a few months, right? If you do go to India, consider Goa. I am told it is very beautiful, very European, and the Goans speak English.

kirubakaran 19y ago
I agree that the India plan will be inexpensive only if the projects take more than 2 months. Problem with Goa is that it is very expensive due to all the tourists. It is comparable to the west, I hear. Coimbatore has mild climate, a dozen engineering colleges, inexpensive housing, great public transport, great food etc.
- jyu 19y ago
  general rule of thumb: any place in a foreign country where most speak English will be expensive.
amohr 19y ago
Midwestern college town? Champaign, IL! I had a place near campus for $230/month with parking. You can probably live on $600 a month. Also, tech guys come through here all the time (UIUC cs students are fairly sought-after, especially because they'll work for less than their Cal equivalents) so you'll be in good company. And they usually bring free pizza; there are a couple weeks a semester around the job fair when the recruiters are hanging out in town that you can live off of free pizza about every other day. On that note, there's also a bunch of students that you could get to hack part-time if you needed a man-hour boost. There's tons of really bright students here that will work for peanuts if you pitch it right. The downtown area is reasonably nice and, if you wanted an office, there's a bunch going up right now in the heart of downtown. If you really need a big city, you can get to chicago in ~2.5 hours. The down side: if you drive more than 10 miles in any direction, you might start to regret your decision. Central Illinois is flatter than you might be able to conceive if you're not from the midwest. There's really just endless fields of crops in every direction outside the city - they say you can see 10 miles in any direction on a clear day, 20 if you stand on a tuna can. Also, it was in the low 60's 2 days ago... today it snowed about 6 inches with sleet and plenty of wind. I guess you get what you pay for.

tim2 19y ago

I tried that last year for a little while in a very inexpensive part of Europe. Holes: 1. Connections, funding, publicity. Kiss those opportunities goodbye. 2. Travel expenses will cost you, add another $2000(?) just for that. 3. I didn't speak the language at all... Makes it extremely hard to get a good deal on housing. Affects quality of life. 4. Places with very low costs of living and relatively high quality of life tend to attract lots of annoying foreigners. Locals then tend to dislike foreigners. 5. Moving can have big overhead. Basically all of the apartments were occupied in the city I moved to for the first 3 weeks. Pre-made plans fell through.

kirubakaran 19y ago
Which city was it? Just curious.
Todd 19y ago
In general, anywhere in Europe is a bad idea for someone from the US if you want to cut costs. The dollar's at an all time low of $1.52 to the Euro today. I moved to France two years ago. I did it just for the experience while contracting with companies in the US. If you work for a company here, then the Euro rate won't be so bad. That said, you'll have to get used to a much lower rate than people in our line of work are accustomed to. Of course, if you're reading YC--especially this post--then this isn't really a consideration. Europe has the Schengen Agreement, which allows people from the US (and other participant nations) an automatic visa to stay for 3 months. Anything beyond that takes an enormous amount of time and red tape. Getting a place to stay is very difficult for a foreigner. First, you have to get a bank account, which is difficult. They want 10's of K Euro and often several K frozen in case you have an overdraft, which is regarded very severely. Once you have your bank account, you need to prepare a dossier for the real estate person to pour over. That will involve three years of tax returns, your bank accounts, letters from employers, etc. Most landlords require a personal guarantor--someone who will pay the rent if you don't. And that's for the natives! If you don't have a company to do that for you, well...I guess we got lucky (a big deposit probably helped). This is probably because it's common for people to stop paying when it cools off. There's a law that makes it illegal to evict during the cold season. The leases here are three years. Landlords can't terminate it and you can't break it without significant cause. There are other things to consider, such as the driver's license. Mass transit is great near Paris. Otherwise, you'll probably need one. You have a year on the US DL. If you're from one of the small states with a specific agreement with the French government, you can exchange. For the rest, it's very costly and difficult. Hoops include mandatory drivers school at several K Euro. The test takes almost 1K. Retakes cost as well. There is no English option. Questions are timed (unlike most/all of the US). Sometimes no answer is correct, sometimes multiple answers are correct. Examiners try to trick you or trip you up on technicalities. France definitely is the most difficult. Most other European countries are a little easier along one dimension or another. Regardless, though, the Euro/Dollar conversion is punishing.