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Why can't you work and travel? Many cities in the world have good wifi, cafes and cheap hotels and its possible to work and travel at the same time. In fact, i

Why can't you work and travel? Many cities in the world have good wifi, cafes and cheap hotels and its possible to work and travel at the same time. In fact, it can be quite refreshing to meet different kinds of people (not just more startup people). I did this for three months this year (lived in Saigon) and I look forward to doing more of this in the coming years

toumhi 16y ago
Exactly, that's what I'm going to do starting end of february for 5 months. 2 months in jakarta where my girlfriend finishes a job, and then 3 months in southeast asia, planning to stay a couple of weeks in the same place, working on software projects and doing a bit of exploring. Would really like to hear more about people who did that, as I have a couple of questions that remain unanswered for now. - Do you create a company before leaving, or after coming back home? (That would allow you to charge for early versions of your product, thus verifying people are interested to buy) - How do you tap in the local developer/designer community to outsource part of your project? - How do you decide whether to rent an apartment/stay in hotels? I would prefer to stay in an apartment, however I imagine you stay first in a hotel in a couple of days before deciding to rent an apartment. - What kind of place did you find more energizing to work at? A busy metropolis, or a remote village with fantastic views but no like-minded people?
- prateekdayal 16y ago
  1. I don't think having a registered company is really important. You can get started with Paypal without having a company. Atleast in Vietnam, you can get a bank account by just showing your passport 2. Be on a lookout for local barcamps/tech events. I attended Barcamp Saigon last month and it was big - http://twitpic.com/3f8gn0 http://twitpic.com/3f8gn0 3. Start off by staying in a hotel and then move into an apartment if you want to. 4. I think this depends mostly on where you come from. Since I come from India, I like the hustle bustle of a place like Saigon. Also there are a lot of clubs there and I like that. The best part is that you can easily move to another city if you want to. You just have your backpack to carry around :)
jasonkester 16y ago
I think I see a big false assumption in a lot of comments on this thread. That being, that good wifi only exists in cities. That's probably true in the US, and to a lesser extent Europe, but in places like Southeast Asia, Central & South America, etc., the internet is everywhere. As in, pick the most remote beach you can find, and so long as there is a little grass hut to sell you beer, there will also be an internet cafe. The cool part is that the more off the beaten track you go, the cheaper things get. Look in the jungle behind that beer-selling, wifi-having, hammock-laden beach bar and you'l find rows of little bungalows that you can rent for $200 per month. Bootstrap your startup on a beach like that and suddenly "ramen profitable" becomes "paradise profitable", and you'll discover that you can live there indefinitely on just a few dozen new paid accounts per month. Or, if you prefer, do one day's worth of billable work per month to keep you living like a king. Don't forget to send us a postcard.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- mdp 16y ago
  I'm typing this from my iPhone in a bar in Siem Reap, Cambodia, so forgive my brevity and spelling. Wifi might be prevalent in most places but quality and reliability will always be am issue. I've found it to be ubiquitous is SE Asia, however I've had days where slowness could cause even SSH to bog down to a few characters a minute. Bigger issue, do you mean travel or live in a foreign country? Because yes, you can very easily find a cheap country with good internet, but traveling itself can be a full time job when you're only spending a week at a time in one place. If it were me, I'd just travel, and do the startup later.
  - rdl 16y ago
    The biggest cost I see in doing a startup from rural SEA is that there's no one doing the same thing to meet up with in person periodically. That's the main advantage of the bay area (and of course access to customers, investors, and partners).
  - toumhi 16y ago

toumhi 16y ago

Exactly, that's what I'm going to do starting end of february for 5 months. 2 months in jakarta where my girlfriend finishes a job, and then 3 months in southeast asia, planning to stay a couple of weeks in the same place, working on software projects and doing a bit of exploring. Would really like to hear more about people who did that, as I have a couple of questions that remain unanswered for now. - Do you create a company before leaving, or after coming back home? (That would allow you to charge for early versions of your product, thus verifying people are interested to buy) - How do you tap in the local developer/designer community to outsource part of your project? - How do you decide whether to rent an apartment/stay in hotels? I would prefer to stay in an apartment, however I imagine you stay first in a hotel in a couple of days before deciding to rent an apartment. - What kind of place did you find more energizing to work at? A busy metropolis, or a remote village with fantastic views but no like-minded people?

prateekdayal 16y ago
1. I don't think having a registered company is really important. You can get started with Paypal without having a company. Atleast in Vietnam, you can get a bank account by just showing your passport 2. Be on a lookout for local barcamps/tech events. I attended Barcamp Saigon last month and it was big - http://twitpic.com/3f8gn0 http://twitpic.com/3f8gn0 3. Start off by staying in a hotel and then move into an apartment if you want to. 4. I think this depends mostly on where you come from. Since I come from India, I like the hustle bustle of a place like Saigon. Also there are a lot of clubs there and I like that. The best part is that you can easily move to another city if you want to. You just have your backpack to carry around :)

jasonkester 16y ago

I think I see a big false assumption in a lot of comments on this thread. That being, that good wifi only exists in cities. That's probably true in the US, and to a lesser extent Europe, but in places like Southeast Asia, Central & South America, etc., the internet is everywhere. As in, pick the most remote beach you can find, and so long as there is a little grass hut to sell you beer, there will also be an internet cafe. The cool part is that the more off the beaten track you go, the cheaper things get. Look in the jungle behind that beer-selling, wifi-having, hammock-laden beach bar and you'l find rows of little bungalows that you can rent for $200 per month. Bootstrap your startup on a beach like that and suddenly "ramen profitable" becomes "paradise profitable", and you'll discover that you can live there indefinitely on just a few dozen new paid accounts per month. Or, if you prefer, do one day's worth of billable work per month to keep you living like a king. Don't forget to send us a postcard.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
mdp 16y ago
I'm typing this from my iPhone in a bar in Siem Reap, Cambodia, so forgive my brevity and spelling. Wifi might be prevalent in most places but quality and reliability will always be am issue. I've found it to be ubiquitous is SE Asia, however I've had days where slowness could cause even SSH to bog down to a few characters a minute. Bigger issue, do you mean travel or live in a foreign country? Because yes, you can very easily find a cheap country with good internet, but traveling itself can be a full time job when you're only spending a week at a time in one place. If it were me, I'd just travel, and do the startup later.
- rdl 16y ago
  The biggest cost I see in doing a startup from rural SEA is that there's no one doing the same thing to meet up with in person periodically. That's the main advantage of the bay area (and of course access to customers, investors, and partners).
- toumhi 16y ago