Startup Founders: Don't Defer Long-Term Travel Till Retirement
globetrooper.com
globetrooper.com
Now there are exactly two.
It amazes me that so few software developers take advantage of this fact. You can fit your entire working world into a four pound laptop and connect to the internet through the sky. People will pay you the same money to write your code from the beach as they will to write it from a cube in the suburbs.
The future is pretty cool.
Actually software developers would take advantage of this fact, if there were more jobs for remote workers. Look into HN "who is hiring" monthly threads: most companies want on-site workers, most workers want remote jobs.
There's also a productivity uptick from working in foreign cities. With no friends or family around, you'd be surprised how much extra time you have. Some of that time is spent meeting locals and joining expeditions, but otherwise, weekends are free from external disruptions (unlike at home).
It's certainly not for everyone because some people find it difficult to self-motivate and others just don't like to travel. And if there's one real downside, it's that we spend less time with other tech founders. We try to meet-up with them where possible, and in Montreal we met many more than at home, but in lesser developed places, it's not so easy.
All of that said, living in countries like India, Bolivia, Peru and Thailand (which we've previously done) is highly thought-provoking. I don't mean in the clichéd charitable sense, but day-to-day seeing how we all live. It tends to get the creative juices flowing.
Watching how people do business in India, for example, provides a lot of lessons for business in developed countries. The fundamentals are the same, but often the drivers are different (lower margins, higher volume, lower income, cheaper labour, government regulation, corruption, etc.) Both positive and negative drivers provide useful lessons.
I remember suggesting to one guy that his idea wasn't very scalable because it relied on lots of manual labour. He said, "what do you mean, of course labour is scalable." Of course in India, labour is pretty scalable. I was very surprised to see the value you'd get for $1.
This actually brings another positive of working on the road. In places like India, we saved a lot of time because we never have to cook, clean, wash clothes, drive, etc. It makes sense to outsource these services because the price drops way below the value we ascribe to our time.
We have recently promised to slow down a little; maybe 6+ months in each city where visas allow.
Alex Martelli, one of their uber software managers, stated very clearly in a speech a while back that he considered remote development an impractical fantasy and required his developers to show up in person or find someone else to work for.
I'm not saying that remote development can't work. I'm just saying that with this attitude from employers like Google (big campus), Apple (launching a new spaceship campus), Oracle (campus), Microsoft (campus), etc., if you want to work from a beach somewhere, you'll probably do better if you design your own little company so that you can make the beach your campus.
I know many people who are working 80 hrs/week on their startup while letting life pass them by (including a few in YC), but I wouldn't trade places with them. These days it is entirely possible to build a company and live your dreams at the same time.
What sort of apps do you build?
Travel itself is somewhat incidental to all this, but it's given me a tremendous incentive to make this experiment work because I want to keep traveling. Exposure to new cultures has also given me some ideas for new projects and given me a lot of aesthetic inspiration.
Experiencing what humanity has to offer give valuable insights. It really don't matter where or who, you can learn something new and if you think about how you can harness that information you can use it to found a successful business or just keep it to yourself for your own satisfaction.
If you want to build a startup, what better way to do that than to find an untapped market in connection one or more groups of people. Travel is as much an investment in yourself as formal and self education.
It does take a somewhat adventuresome spirit. Often it's difficult to get any kind of long term accomidation beforehand. You're often going to places where you don't speak the language. It can seem very daunting. However, I've found that in most places things seem to go reasonably well. I've managed to find few month accomidation in countries where I don't speak the language at all.
As far as cost, it can be surprisingly cheap. The most expensive part by far are the initial and return flights. Beyond that, the US Dollar gets a long way in places and I've found that doing this also helps you accumlate less junk (you don't really want to be carrying all that stuff around with you). Thankfully, reliable broadband internet is becoming pervasive and with that there are more and more places that you can reasonably work out of.
If you haven't done it then get off your ass and do it! You won't regret it.
We especially found it easy in Argentina and Thailand, where there are big medium-term accommodation markets.
It was much harder in India, despite many English speakers, because in some states they have funky regulation where you have to pay 10 months rent as a deposit, even if you're only staying for 3 months.
As for broadband, after India, the US had by far the worst and least pervasive WiFi of anywhere we've lived. New York was a shocker. We were running around looking for Starbucks just to use Google maps.
In Chiang Mai (Thailand), everywhere has at least 6Mbps free Wifi. When I say everywhere, I even mean little open-air cafes that sell pad thai for $1. Right now there's a pub around the corner from us that has a consistent 20Mbps. It's always free and the food/drinks are super cheap.
The OP is already established enough to be able to travel and work. One of the things that comes out of a private equity stint is a fat Rolodex. That's a top-1% situation.
Most people aren't in a position to travel until age 30-35, when they have kids. This makes it hard to travel, except in the summer. And because of extreme government irresponsibility (not cracking down on airlines and hotels that jack up their rates when school's out) it's far more expensive than it should be.
Airlines: often they have long-term leases on airports (i.e. government favoritism) that give them a gatekeeper privilege. Hence the ridiculous fares .
If you really think that an average person can bring together the means to "launch" an airline, then my advice to you is to stop spending so much time on Hacker News now that the school year has begun. The first rule of freshman-year survival: cut distractions.
Yes, I am a fan of government action against private malfeasance. The private health insurance industry, in the form that exists in the U.S., shouldn't exist.
Growing up American, my image of travel was staying in hotels in Europe and looking at things we were told were important when we were in school. That's expensive and very isolating. This may be great for well-heeled, older couples looking for a minimally-exposed, relaxing jaunt abroad, but it's not what you want. It seems like every travel brochure I ever saw in the U.S. featured a photo of a healthy looking, silver-haired couple laughing and enjoying views from afar.
Instead, traveling on the cheap, staying in hostels, and getting directly involved in adventures is fun, mind-expanding, and most of all, not lonely.
I stayed for a week in a very friendly guest house in rural, northern Thailand for $6 per night. The hosts would cook meals for around $2, or you could tromp around and play every expat's favorite game: Who Has The Cheapest Lunch.
Like I said, though, travel is a skill. Just like that crappy code you wrote, your first trip will probably suck. But you'll look back on it fondly, after you've absorbed all the lessons it contained, and forgotten a few of the worst parts. More importantly, you'll level-up and your next trip will be better.
Just to provide a counterpoint... If you don't enjoy, or want to travel, don't. Find something you do enjoy and do that instead.
You don't necessarily need to stay with someone on his couch to take part in the community and participate in the activities held or organized by its members (or organize one yourself!). Just meet up with people, go out for drinks or watch movies, do weekend trips and so on..