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Off topic, but I would be interested to hear more about how and why you ended up temporarily moving to Kiruna. Seems pretty random. But, as someone currently pa

by glesica 12y ago

Off topic, but I would be interested to hear more about how and why you ended up temporarily moving to Kiruna. Seems pretty random. But, as someone currently participating in Startup Chile, the idea of picking up and moving around the world with your business is pretty interesting.

tarsius_tarsier 12y ago
Did you say Chile? well, a few years ago my entire city moved 10feet away in 4 minutes. That was an interesting experience too. http://www.wired.com/2010/03/chile-earthquake-moved-entire-city-10-feet-to-the-west/ http://www.wired.com/2010/03/chile-earthquake-moved-entire-c...
michaelleland 12y ago
>> how I own Silvertrek Systems, which is a technology-oriented bookkeeping business, basically. We've been remote for a while, with one employee in Alaska and one in Minneapolis, and the rest of us in "World Headquarters" in Battle Ground, WA, a suburb of Portland OR. We have a fairly strict meeting once a week, (one hour, same time every week, all hands on deck) but other than that people work when they want to, with the requirement that there's at least a 4 hour overlap with the people they work with. I work M-Th from 1pm to midnight to make this happen. Skype, Google Hangouts, Basecamp, AWS Windows Server, Freshdesk, T-mobile's awesome international service, and a few other tools make it possible. >> Why Quite simply, we wanted to experience living abroad. My mom was born in Sweden, and my wife is a double citizen, (although born and raised in the US). We've always spoken Swedish to our children, and we wanted to get a good base for them. It's so much easier for them to get a grasp of a second language when they're young. My wife's sister lives in Kiruna, so that's where we landed, in Artic, with Northern Lights dancing overhead during the months that we aren't listening to birds chirping under the midnight sun.
- glesica 12y ago
  That sounds like a great experience, good luck!
- davidw 12y ago
  Very inspiring story, both personally and in terms of the business. Congratulations!

by glesica 12y ago

tarsius_tarsier 12y ago

Did you say Chile? well, a few years ago my entire city moved 10feet away in 4 minutes. That was an interesting experience too. http://www.wired.com/2010/03/chile-earthquake-moved-entire-city-10-feet-to-the-west/ http://www.wired.com/2010/03/chile-earthquake-moved-entire-c...

michaelleland 12y ago

>> how I own Silvertrek Systems, which is a technology-oriented bookkeeping business, basically. We've been remote for a while, with one employee in Alaska and one in Minneapolis, and the rest of us in "World Headquarters" in Battle Ground, WA, a suburb of Portland OR. We have a fairly strict meeting once a week, (one hour, same time every week, all hands on deck) but other than that people work when they want to, with the requirement that there's at least a 4 hour overlap with the people they work with. I work M-Th from 1pm to midnight to make this happen. Skype, Google Hangouts, Basecamp, AWS Windows Server, Freshdesk, T-mobile's awesome international service, and a few other tools make it possible. >> Why Quite simply, we wanted to experience living abroad. My mom was born in Sweden, and my wife is a double citizen, (although born and raised in the US). We've always spoken Swedish to our children, and we wanted to get a good base for them. It's so much easier for them to get a grasp of a second language when they're young. My wife's sister lives in Kiruna, so that's where we landed, in Artic, with Northern Lights dancing overhead during the months that we aren't listening to birds chirping under the midnight sun.

glesica 12y ago
That sounds like a great experience, good luck!
davidw 12y ago
Very inspiring story, both personally and in terms of the business. Congratulations!