In the early days of my first company my co-founder ran into visa issues. He was a British national and post-September 11 his H1B was coming due. At the time th

In the early days of my first company my co-founder ran into visa issues. He was a British national and post-September 11 his H1B was coming due. At the time the company couldn't sponsor him due to prevailing wage issues so he had to leave the country. Within the span of 2 months I moved from Austin, TX to Sydney, Australia with my co-founder and his family. When I arrived I had no where to live, nothing (living w/ my co-founder was not really possible, mostly because he had four kids and adding a fifth would have driven everyone insane). I initially setup in a hotel and eventually found an apartment. We did it so we could continue to press forward knowing that such a large separation of distance would effectively kill the company. My girlfriend (now wife) stayed behind in Texas. I lived in Sydney on a tourist visa, leaving every 3 months and re-entering. I lived off my credit card and whatever hardware I could sell on eBay. This lasted for about 9 months. After we had made enough progress I came back and about 6 months later we had our first round of venture financing. When we got the check I had about $500 in my bank account. Only now can I really look back at that time and appreciate what a huge opportunity it was. Most people only have one shot in life to take infinite risk. Eventually life kicks in and you have to start making more measured decisions. However, even with the huge amount of risk I took back then it almost certainly would not have been possible had it not been for my very supportive family and girlfriend. I knew that no matter what happened I could always go home and tell them I gave it my best shot and life would go on.