
Why you should move your startup to a small fishing town - arthurquerou
http://www.thebluehouse.io/blog/2014/9/2/move-your-startup-to-a-moroccan-fishing-town
======
atmosx
Hm, sorry but ages of experience show that what _mostly_ works is the other
way around: You want to be a _big city_ because you can find clients (users),
meet people (e.g. possible investors) and generally speaking do any sort of
_networking_ that would be otherwise impossible.

The internet is what it is, but you can never match the face-to-face
relationship with an online approach.

I totally understand that this is a dream-like situation: You make a good
amount of money, doing what you like in a remote island where the sun shines
and the food is always tasty (yes I'm from Greece...) but if your business
can't be done 100% online, which is almost never the case, then you need
offices in a _big city_. Then you need to visit and control these offices,
etc.

~~~
patio11
I have a new appreciation for the advantages of being in a big city since
moving to Tokyo recently. That said, my while I'm an occasional visitor in
Silicon Valley I hold a passport from Bootstrapistan, and most of its
population resides in the capital city of A Small Town In The Middle of
Nowhere. [+]

A representative sampling of locations of the "head office" from small
software businesses that I'm socially close to: Ogaki, Philadelphia, "way in
the boonies in West Virginia", "way in the boonies in Idaho", "way in the
boonies in Florida", Nuremberg, a small town in Italy whose name I am blanking
on, etc etc.

There exist plenty of happy software companies in the big metropolitan areas
-- and God bless them -- but they aren't the whole of the solution space.

[+] Why? Interesting question. Some days I think this is just a pure
coincidence and some days I think that the low implied burn rate for the
founders and generally low opportunity costs makes it easier for the business
to hit both pro-forma profitability and "successfully outcompetes best
available alternatives on the local labor market" profitability. Bootstrapped
businesses can, of course, pay for an apartment in the Mission and exceed a
Google PM's salary in Mountain View, but those are much harder bars to hit
than "beats the snot out of any job available in Ogaki."

~~~
legulere
Nürnberg isn't that small if you count in the other directly adjacent cities
(1.2 million inhabitants) or even the whole metropolitan area (3.5 million
inhabitants)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Metropolitan_Region](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Metropolitan_Region)
And you are in 1 hour 20 minutes in Munich via train.

So I would argue that this is already pretty central

~~~
kasey_junk
Philadelphia is also not a small town and is a short train ride to NYC and
Washington D.C. I think more generally Patrick's point is that they aren't
from tech hubs and that there is a reason for that.

------
josefresco
Hey I live in a small (former) fishing town! Except it's winter, 30 degrees
and I'm inside staring at my computer screens and might as well be anywhere in
the world.

Yes I can stop work, and "go surfing" (in the right season), I can even stop
working and visit the local town pier and see those quaint "fisherman"
struggling to make a living -because let's be honest, not everyone can be a
tech-ninja startup founder.

If I wanted I could even crank the heat in my car, squint and make believe
that it's actually a warm exotic beach in Europe but hey, at some point I
gotta go back to the office, fire up that computer and get back to hacking.

At the end of the day it doesn't matter where you are. If you need to "break
out of the box" and travel a bit, go for it. But simply moving operations to
somewhere foreign will not be the deciding factor in your success.

~~~
lelele
> At the end of the day it doesn't matter where you are.

I think that it matters, instead. Unless you are one of those people who are
oblivious to their surroundings.

You are not going to code 24/7\. And when you will have done your share of
coding for the day, or even if you would just like to take a break, then being
in a nice place will help you to recharge yourself.

~~~
maaku
Some people consider small fishing villages to be nice places.

~~~
lelele
And I didn't mean otherwise. "Nice place" meant "whatever feels nice to you".

------
santoriv
Well, I think this strategy might work if you want to keep your burn rate
unbelievably low while you are writing v 1.0. But to be honest 300 Euro per
week for space is actually not optimal.

I've been in the mountains of Vietnam for the last year and rent has been
between $50 and $125 per month, which has made it possible for me to be
unemployed for a long time and write v1.0 of my startup's app.

I think that Southeast Asia is a pretty ideal location if you want to go the
bootstrapping route - the people are super nice and friendly and everything is
unbelievably cheap. You really can get a lot done.

The serious downside is that you are not really connected to the tech scene -
you can't really meet that many hackers (i.e. potential cofounders) and of
course there is zero funding. And when you talk to tech folks stateside you
feel pretty disconnected when you in a different part of the world.

Nevertheless I think it's a viable way to go solo.

~~~
WhitneyLand
What is the fastest Internet connection you can get while paying $125/month
for rent?

~~~
santoriv
12 mbps for ~$10 a month. Arguably that's burst and in the evening I can't
Skype effectively because of the congestion. But it's good enough for what I'm
working on.

~~~
codyb
Wow $50 - $125 a month? Sounds like a great way to set up for six months and
just have a crash pad to explore Asia with for a while.

Any pointers on visas?

~~~
tim333
>Any pointers on visas?

You can get a 3 month multiple entry tourist visa pretty easily. It cost's
about $140 for the various fees. You have to google visa agencies and fill the
form online. Sometimes you can get 6 month visas also though I can't seem them
on line at the moment. When it runs out you can fly to Singapore or similar
and apply for another. The Vietnamese don't seem to worry too much what you do
once you are there. I'm probably off there soon to hang out in Saigon which is
quite fun but more expensive.

~~~
codyb
Wow thanks. Maybe I'll come live in Vietnam for a few years. Cheers.

~~~
tim333
No worries. A few years is a bit of a commitment but it's a fun area to travel
/ do some coding for a few months. Chiang Mai is also popular with startup
types and not that far. I liked it there and Angkor also was kinda fun.

------
jim_greco
This seems like a really good option if you want to pretend to be building a
startup: Come up with disruptive startup ideas while sitting on the beach,
throwing house parties like in The Social Network, and drinking a beer with
other people pretending to build a startup.

It doesn't sound like a good option though if you want to actually build a
startup: writing a lot of code, meeting with clients, hiring great people,
etc.

~~~
untog
I don't see how it would be a problem to write lots of code. Meet with
clients, probably not. But not everyone has them. And investors are definitely
an issue. But sitting down and knocking out a lot of code? Why not?

------
binarymax
For those of you in the UK/London - and want somewhere cheap and amazing to
code in your own back yard, I highly recommend Hastings/St Leonards.

It is (or was) a 'small fishing village' that retains a fascinating history.

1.5 hours from London, and 1 hour from Brighton, 1/3 the cost of flats and
working space, good connection speeds, good coffee. If you come down to check
it out, look me up and I'll buy you a pint.

\--EDIT-- Some nice tempting rental listings for you :)
[http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/property/search?listingSta...](http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/property/search?listingStatus=rent&area=TN37&pricePer=month&propertyType=flats&minimumBeds=2)

~~~
arethuza
I can recommend my home village in North East Scotland for everything apart
from convenient access to London. Not sure about internet speeds or whether
they have coffee yet.

But certainly pretty, peaceful, cheap property, great scenery and fairly
convenient for the Cairngorms for climbing/skiing:

[http://www.portknockiewebsite.co.uk/](http://www.portknockiewebsite.co.uk/)

For a bit of history, here is a page describing the loss of my great-
grandfathers boat the _Evangeline_ with all hands:

[http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/pirie/history/PFWv1-o/ui26.htm](http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/pirie/history/PFWv1-o/ui26.htm)

[I traced my ancestry recently and its a bit of a shock to realise that most
of my male ancestors for about 300 years had a connection of one kind or
another with the fishing industry].

~~~
Fuzzwah
My curiosity was peaked by a URL which actually had the word website in it. I
was pleasantly surprised at the lack of yellow and black animated gifs of
workmen digging.

------
blueskin_
Sounds like a great way to selfdestruct.

"Hey, guess what, you have to move to $middleofnowhere."

"Hey, guess what, I quit."

Exactly how the conversation would go if it ever happened to me. What would
happen in such a situation is the good employees would quit because they
wouldn't want to compromise their salary, marketability, and ability to take a
new job, while the dead weight would go with it because it's still easier than
finding a new job if they can build up enough job security in their current
one.

Also interesting that someone thinks you should do it... who just happens to
own office space in said location.

Cities work because there is the infrastructure and the talent pool. Going to
the middle of nowhere might save a pittance on salary, but when people
inevitably quit, good luck replacing them without spending even more on moving
other people there.

~~~
lewaldman
Hey Mate, Think Remote! :)

The only place where I worked on the last 8 years that I couldn't work
remotely is not the kind of place that I would work anymore.

For me these days, if a company doesn't have some remote policy in place (I
mean... not full remote, nor once per week, but the option to, sporadically,
work from home on a sick day or to be able to do some coding/admin stuff on
the road) it automatically flares a red flag as a place that would not be a
magical place where I could do the best that I can.

If the place doesn't have the remote-some-times flexibility it's probably a
place with bad management practices and an out-dated culture.

Same thing regarding talent pool... Why on earth do you need to smell the
emanating creative fumes of your employees every day from across the hall? :P

~~~
blueskin_
Remote is nice when it works, but it doesn't always or for every company.
Where I work right now, for example, people work remotely but still have
required days in the office for meetings etc., while I couldn't work remotely
as too much of what I do is physical work with networks and servers that
wouldn't be possible remotely - those are the people that will be hit with
"you have to move" and so quit, especially since chances are that in the
middle of nowhere, there will be few to no career opportunities for them.

------
noelwelsh
Sounds nice and fun for a short break. I think the copy needs some work
though, which might relate into tweaking how they target their market. For
instance: "Getting far away from your family" <=== If you have a family,
that's not how it works. You signed up for the responsibility.

~~~
VLM
Being as charitable as possible, I read it more as "move out of moms basement
at 25" than "abandon your wife and children"

------
tinco
Where are the pictures of the lodgings? It sounds very interesting, but it's
also rather expensive. I've never been to Morocco, but from what I've heard I
bet it's possible to sleep in a four star hotel and eat every meal in a
restaurant for under 500 euro per week.

Of course you are offering extras like being networked in with the other
residents, and you are marketing to Europeans so it's not crazy to charge this
amount, but it would be nice if you could have some more details and evidence
on what you are offering.

~~~
metra
Just got back from 5 weeks in Morocco, 2 of which were in Taghazout. My
girlfriend and I were living very, very simply -- shared bathroom, toilet
didn't have a tank, no meals included, internet only in the restaurant
downstairs -- but we were paying 10 euros a night, each. You can actually see
the place in the pictures they've put up, it was very beautiful, right on the
beach.

There was a surf hostel that we also stayed in but it was more expensive (15
euros a night) for bunk beds but it had internet, good bathrooms and showers,
breakfast included.

Morocco's a bargainers paradise. If you haggle you can get the prices down.
It's the offseason now. Out of all the places we visited (Taghazout, Sidi
Ifni, Mirleft, Agadir, Ouarzazate, Tinghir, Boulemane, Merzouga, Chefchaouen,
Marrakesh), for a total of 2 people, we would average around 20 euros a night,
sometimes paying 10 euros and sometimes 30. Of course, we weren't looking for
all the bells and whistles, just a clean bed for the night. Sometimes we got
just that, sometimes we got a luxury suite for 20 euros cause it's the
offseason. The big cities were indeed surprisingly more expensive. But nothing
about Morocco is sketchy -- the hasslers are annoying but I never once felt
threatened (it was also always the 2 of us). The coast is beautiful and you
should explore beyond Taghazout -- Essaouira and Sidi Ifni if you can.

~~~
icebraining
20€/person/night is cheap, but you can definitively find the same prices in
many of the cheaper European countries. Here in Portugal you can rent a double
bedroom in a nice rural house with all the commodities (AC, pool, etc) for
that price, and when I went to Budapest in April, we rented a 3-person
apartment (with heating, Internet, etc all included) for a week for less than
400€.

~~~
metra
20 euros total so 10 euros per person per night. Sorry that was confusing in
my original comment! Having been in Portugal and Budapest on that same trip I
can say that Morocco is definitely cheaper. But Portugal was my favorite :)
Great people, great waves, great coast!

------
netcan
I think a lifestyle location could be a cool underdog hiring strategy, at
elates if you accept that you all your hire will be relocation hires. IE, if
you are wiling to pay big city salaries in a small town location, that could
be attractive to some people. Not everyone and obviously if you have
Google/Facebook hiring requirements it's not an option. But, if you need to
hire 5-10 a year it might work. Not everyone will want it. But, the minority
that do want it want it a lot.

IE, imagine a couple with small kids from London comings for an interview to a
nice location in Crete. Instead of a tiny London 2 bedroom, they can move into
a nice cottage. They can save hours a day in commutes and get more cash into
savings. That will appeal to some employees (or their wives/husbands). You
can't say Crete is objectively better or worse than the London buzz. But, it
is different in a way that will inevitably appeal to some.

The problem is that it's hard not to adjust your salary expectations (as an
employer) to local salaries and that just isn't compatible with relocation
hiring. People don't relocate for a lower salary, even if cost of living is
lower. I think the EU has a lot of these possibilities that are still under
appreciated.

If you think your main win/lose parameter is the quality of people you can
hire, you should think creatively about how to win here. It's hard to win
competing head-to-head.

~~~
CalRobert
While I don't wish to imply I am the world's most amazing person, I think I'm
reasonably competent. I moved precisely for lifestyle reasons to Dublin,
Ireland, and quite like it. While the cost of living is relatively high by
European standards, it's far, far, cheaper than the bay, or west L.A. for that
matter. I mostly wanted to live in a dense, walkable, European city, and
Dublin has exceeded expectations in that regard.

I realize you probably weren't thinking of a European capital when you wrote
it, but it does ring true that there are people for whom location is more
important than maximum compensation.

------
dodyg
I am based in Cairo. Other than the rare revolutions, occasional bombings and
frequent elevated security situations, it is a perfectly suitable place to try
starting up your startup.

------
mplewis
Apparently their justification is "Because it's quiet and weird." So, when you
choose to establish a new business, move to the next hipster city that no
one's heard of. For... reasons.

~~~
fizwhiz
Seems like the hipster solitude didn't work wonders for their proofreading: I
stumbled upon [http://www.thebluehouse.io/month-long-
program/](http://www.thebluehouse.io/month-long-program/) only to be greeted
by: "HOW MUCH DOES IT COSTS?". I only went there because the main homepage
took ~20 seconds to load. Perils of seclusion...

------
ianpri
Not sure I can really agree with much in this article, which seems to
contradict itself (get more focused by not doing A and B, instead use your
spare time for X and Y) and ignores that fact that getting close to your
target audience and understanding their pain points isn't really going to
happen if your sitting under an umbrella in Senegal.

~~~
yallahaline
It's not a one size fits all situation. Depends on your product
(online/offline), on the stage your product is at, etc. The good thing is you
can alternate being in big tech hub, isolating yourself in small village,
challenging yourself in a city you don't know etc

~~~
ianpri
I agree that short breaks away from the "norm" is good, but this isn't really
unique to startups - i'd wager that you could gain the same benefits by just
taking a vacation than trying to relocate your startup + staff every X months.

------
markbnj
For years I though that the Internet would fuel re-ruralization because it
allows people to work outside the limits of densely populated areas. I think I
suffered from two errors in that assumption: first that many people other than
me wanted to live and work in the boonies; and second that infrastructure in
rural areas would catch up somehow. I think the trend toward urbanization
makes perfect sense from an infrastructure perspective, and it makes a certain
amount of sense that most people prefer to live with other people.

------
alimoeeny
I am trying to figure out what kind of start up can benefit from this. In
theory, you can be more focused if you and your team are isolated. Maybe it is
easier to answer this question: What kind of start ups will not benefit from
this? I'd say any startup that is passed the very first stages of product
development, and needs to be talking to users, and investors and media and
other businesses ... Just thinking out loud.

------
codingdave
It would be more productive to just have a remote workforce, and let them live
where they want. Some people might want small fishing towns, others will make
different choices. The key is to let everyone do what works best for
themselves.

------
izolate
I live in London and I love the rain & grey skies. I cycle 15 minutes to work,
but sometimes take public transport too. I feel plenty productive in this
city, and if I were to start my own business, I'd have no problems being here.

I think it really depends on who you are, not where you are.

~~~
ciupicri
I don't know how can you love cycling in the rain, considering that the bike
needs cleaning afterwards.

~~~
kaybe
For short city trips, you want to have an old cheap outdoor bike (otherwise it
might get stolen anyway). I don't see why you have to clean those. (I clean my
bike once every 6 months, tops, and I ride it every day. The dirt is from the
dirt or forest tracks I have to cross once in a while.)

~~~
ciupicri
Not here in Bucharest. There's some mud on the streets and on my bike too.
Though I admit I haven't cleaned it up too much yet :-D

------
Animats
Well, if you're looking for a location like that, consider Pillar Point Harbor
in California. There's a small industrial area with cheap space, 2-3 short
blocks from the ocean. It's adjacent to Mavericks Beach, one of the world's
great surfing spots. There's a small-boat harbor. Several riding stables. Some
nightclubs. Decent restaurants. A small airport. Housing prices aren't too
high.

It's a half hour drive from there to Silicon Valley. 45 minutes to San
Francisco. There's bus service to both places. 10 minutes to Half Moon Bay
with supermarkets and hardware stores.

------
zecg
They seem to be selling a dystopia:

"Getting far away from your family, your friends, [...] Living close to the
beach, and surfing or doing yoga, also helps decompressing after work, and
avoiding burnout, and therefore staying productive"

~~~
ctdonath
They also overlook the harsh conditions most [near-]waterfront properties
suffer for prolonged periods. There's a reason non-oceangoing businesses
aren't there. Wet cold, unmitigated storms (up to hurricanes), shifting
waterlines, pounding waves, sketchy internet connections, delayed
delivery/shipping times, debilitating heat, salt corrosion, etc. When it's
good it's great, and when it's bad nobody but long-term born-and-die-there
locals stay.

------
DanielBMarkham
I have to point out that:

1) Traditionally, HN has been about startups: what works, what doesn't work

2) This entire comment thread is reading like a tourism forum

At some point, maybe 2-4 years ago, HN sublty starting moving from a board
about how to make your startup to folks trying to pitch other folks on stuff
to buy for your startup. It's the old thing about during the gold rush the
gold miners didn't make all the money -- the guys selling pickaxes did.

I don't say that to discount these folks. Hell if I know. Probably best place
in the world for a startup. It's just every now and then HN gets especially
bad about this. And it needs to be pointed out.

------
benbristow
I live in Grimsby (UK). You don't want to come here. It's depressing, boring,
smelly and awful. I'd prefer to be in somewhere like London than here.

The only good thing is that we have decent broadband.

~~~
dsq
Really? The Elton John & Bernie Taupin song made it sound wonderful!

------
cowsandmilk
I have a friend who works for Power Engineers. The founders built the company
in Hailey, Idaho, near the Sun Valley Ski Resort.

They are now a massive company with 39 US Offices and 4 international offices.
I've never been sure if the lesson is that you can start a company in the
middle of nowhere, or if you need to have local offices to serve your
customers. The headquarters is still in Hailey, ID, in the middle of nowhere,
but they clearly thought they needed offices elsewhere to add ~1 additional
office per year of the company.

------
virtualwhys
Looks appealing, right near Anchor Point, a world class surf spot. Was about
to pull the trigger on a 3-4 month rental...until the price. 1,200 Euros/month
in Morocco, really? During the fall and spring I pay 500 Euros _per month_ for
a 2 bedroom, 5 minute walk from the beach in Capbreton, France, an area with
surf as good or better than anything in Morocco.

I can appreciate, number 1, the safety (as I had all my gear stolen in Morocco
a few years ago, passport included), and living with other tech heads, but in
the end I just need a decent internet connection, a kitchen, and location in
some interesting part of the world; the rest are nice-to-haves.

Airbnb et al have totally destroyed the bargain rental market. From India, to
Morocco, to Argentina, etc. formerly dirt cheap destinations now fetch luxury
prices with often very modest accomodations in return.

Best bet for the travelling coder is probably to just do a week rental via
hose-you-inc and then search locally for rentals closer to market value (i.e.
not 2-5X what the locals are paying).

Now, it's a fantastic market for sellers, more power to them, if I had a place
to sublet I'd be more than happy to fetch top dollar for some vanilla 1
bedroom apartment with a blender, hot plate, and clean sheets ;-)

2cents

------
codyb
I'm not sure big cities are prohibitive here.

Sure the subway can suck but in New York City I have access to surfing,
beaches, more yoga studios (and dance, and martial arts, among a million other
classes in languages, the culinary arts, and virtually any other topic you
could choose) than anyone could possibly count, restaurants, museums,
concerts, sporting events, scuba diving, sky diving, and anything else you
could ever ask for. (And even the things you'd never think to ask for). I mean
the list just goes on and on and on. Of course this is predicated on the
assumption that you will take advantage of it (and have the money, interest,
time, and energy to do so).

However, that being said, the idea of waking up in my hut, and walking
outside, doing a little yoga on the beach, and then setting up for a cup of
coffee with some locals and hacking away in the sun does sound undeniably
attractive.

I'd kill for some more sun in my workplace. And just whose idea were these
damned open offices anyways? I do enjoy the social interactions and yet there
is always that nipping feeling that I'm interrupting someone else's zone while
I do so, much as, often, people interrupt mine when they do.

------
dysoco
I too live in a fishing town, yes, it's nice being a small town without any
traffic or people on the street (except in Summer when we get tourists) but
honestly I can't wait to move out.

I can't get fast internet, power/internet goes down when it gets a bit windy
or starts raining; and it rains quite a lot, making you really unproductive.
Let's not talk about 3G/4G, we are lucky to have 3G on a good day.

If I wanted to go to some conference or meetup I'd have to drive at least 4-5
hours since there's nothing here, and we don't have train or anything.

Talking about leisure time, I like surfing, but that's only viable during the
Summer, there's not much else to do here other than hanging out with other
people; we are lucky to have a cinema, but some movies don't even make it here
(I'm still waiting to watch Interstellar).

This would be the perfect place for a lonely writer working on a novel, but
definitely not for people like us, who need to be always connected and making
the best use of technology possible.

Disclaimer: I've never lived in a city, maybe I'll end up hating it, who
knows?

~~~
agentultra
You could be surrounded by thousands of people at any moment who all have
headphones on and keep their gaze at a 45 degree angle towards the ground. You
too can walk past homeless panhandlers asking for money and ignore them. You
can hang out at hip dive-bars and pretend to be cool until the neighborhood
gentrifies and you have to commute farther out to the next spot. You can sit
next to the schizophrenic on the bus that went off of their meds and everyone
does their best to pretend e is the hallucination and not a real person. You
can go to events where every clique but your own is present. You can rub
shoulders with everyone who wouldn't give a damn if they stepped on you for
their next big opportunity.

You can find loneliness anywhere.

Being "always connected," I'm beginning to realize, is not always the optimal
state. You lose the ability to focus, to consider the future, and form
thoughts of your own. As Douglas Rushkoff suggests: we all live in the
present.

For better or worse this is the way things work... but I think it's rather
amazing that we have the option to work on a terrace in a medina in some North
African city if we want to. And yet so few of us, at the forefront of the
technology that enables this lifestyle, take advantage of it -- even for
temporary periods. There's something to be said about taking a few months away
from the Valley to think for a while.

~~~
dysoco
As I said, it depends. Right now I'm young and eager to go work at a big
company or a startup. Maybe 30 years from now I'll just want to come back and
rest, who knows?

~~~
agentultra
We humans are terrible at imagining the future. Might as well seize the day
and find out. You might like the city! I know I did when I was young. I still
do and couldn't imagine living in a remote, rural town. However I've learned
to appreciate remote, rural living more and like to visit it for periods of
time.

------
mgirdley
Founders should choose the correct location that gives them the maximum
possible advantage. If you're selling to the oil industry, build in Houston.
Finance, NYC. And so on. Sometimes geography doesn't matter, so a small
fishing town is just fine.

------
linkeex
This might be the most dotcom-ish post I've read since joining HackerNews.

Don't get me wrong on this but even the argumentation is clearly wrong here:

> work in places so magical they could be on the cover of travel magazines

> under an umbrella on a beach in Senegal, in cafes in old Arab medinas, and
> more

> Adventurous Startups.

and then

> YOU’LL BE MORE FOCUSED

I've tried this myself and my experience was that working abroad is totally
doable but by no means did I achieve focusing more on my work.

Instead I would pick any chance meeting new people and discover the new
environment.

Also: In my opinion everything comes down to networking, which is why a lonely
beach in Marocco might not be the right place to start this...

~~~
majditoumi
It's not for everyone clearly. When you actually spend more than a couple of
weeks, you stop getting that need to discover and talk to people, and get to
work super productively (one of the reason is: you can't wait to go back to
enjoying the place). This solution works if you have a 100% online product, or
if you opt to travel at the right stage for your startup (when you have had
networked for now, when you're pivoting etc).

------
n0body
i'm not sure what this is, it's not that clear. it seems to be an advert for a
guest house that's tailored to people building startups? here's a hint, if
you're building a start up you want to be successful, moving somewhere to go
surfing isn't probably the best thing to do

and it doesn't seem that cheap either tbh. not forgetting remoteness is a
massive problem, i worked somewhere remote, it was awful. they had surfing. i
moved back to the city after 6 months, i've never been happier.

that said, i hope it works for you, i wish i could live at the beach in a warm
country

------
0xbadf00d
I really enjoyed the piece - but I wonder if the arguments made work for a
highly focused coding bender and perhaps not day-to-day business growth of a
startup where meeting face to face with other founders, potential partners &
mentors would be facilitated by being in a crowded city as opposed to a
Senegalese beach?

~~~
yallahaline
It depends what stage you're in, and what is your product. If your doing a
100% online product, it doesn't change a thing. Skype works great for
partners, but going in person once in a while where your partners is always
better. (Thank god for cheap airplane fares)

------
sdepablos
All is perfect, until you need to hire more developers, and then find (almost)
all of them live in big cites, and they're not willing to relocate to a place
without theaters, bars, discos... probably a lot like the place the came from
before living in the city ;)

------
guiomie
For the prices: [http://www.thebluehouse.io/month-long-
program/](http://www.thebluehouse.io/month-long-program/)

The white on yellow background isn't the best choice of colours.

Having been to Essaouira, I can only imagine Taghazout more relaxing.

~~~
sumnulu
If you miss, there is a (hidden) navigation menu at the top of the page.

[http://www.thebluehouse.io/](http://www.thebluehouse.io/)

[http://www.thebluehouse.io/month-long-
program/](http://www.thebluehouse.io/month-long-program/)

[http://www.thebluehouse.io/projects/](http://www.thebluehouse.io/projects/)

[http://www.thebluehouse.io/blog/](http://www.thebluehouse.io/blog/)

[http://www.thebluehouse.io/apply-house/](http://www.thebluehouse.io/apply-
house/)

------
OscarPedroso
You definitely want exposure to all types of resources and I find that being
in a bigger city allows you do that. I'm currently a medium-sized fish in a
small pond and it's still hard to find the right people that'll guide me along
the way.

------
boracay
Hopefully the name of that boat isn't a bad omen ;)

[http://www.thebluehouse.io/#surrounded-with-the-
best](http://www.thebluehouse.io/#surrounded-with-the-best) (scroll up)

------
gct
Terrible article, it basically boils down to hipster garbage. "Adventurous
Startup", give me a break. We're such free, weird unencumbered souls lol! Eat
pray love!

------
melling
First of all, the guy is selling startup space in a small fishing town.
Second, is there any evidence to support his case? How many successful
startups began in idyllic locations?

~~~
yallahaline
Hey, I'm the writer :) We actually decided to open this space after meeting a
lot of cool startups who did. In this village we had TechStar Seattle and
Startup Chile alumi Maptia and media darling Chui. And there are more around
the world. Check out NomadList, and Levels.io

~~~
malcol
Also check [http://teleport.org](http://teleport.org) to compare locations.
They have not launched global yet, but they probably will soon...

------
steve-benjamins
I'm a solo bootstrapped entrepreneur but I like working in offices with
others— this is perfect for me. To me, this seems like more of a focussed co-
working space abroad.

------
yc1010
Thats all well and good but some of us have families and kids.

------
fiberloptic
1.) this is a recruiting blurb from TBH. 2.) I want an unbiased opinion, this
one doesn't address pros vs. cons. 3.) why would I want to smell fish all day?

------
mariusandreiana
Planning to do this. Any advice on how to meet people once you settled in a
city? e.g. couchsurfing (request to go out for a tea)

------
mnml_
[http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/Hackbase](http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/Hackbase)

------
hackerboos
How do you deal with the red-tape? It looks like you need a working visa to
work in Morocco.

------
mrfusion
Are there any small fishing towns in the US?

~~~
spydum
plenty along floridas cost, depending on your definition of small:

jupiter, pine island, hudson beach..

pretty much take your pick along the coast, avoiding the major metro areas
like Tampa/StPete/Clearwater/Miami/Jacksonville (all are more city than
"town").

------
fergie
Sounds more like a holiday camp

~~~
banino
Hey Fergie. It's not our intention (I'm the cofounder) :) Our goal is to have
people work as much as in their hometown, but get more done because they're in
a better setting, and because when they take a break, it's a fucking amazing
break.

------
frik
Is Morocco a save place now? A relative was there to help in the United
Nations peacekeeping mission, especially the southern part of Morocco "Western
Sahara".

United Nations peacekeeping mission is still ongoing:
[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_Nations_peacek...](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_Nations_peacekeeping_missions.PNG)
(blue region in north-west of Africa)

~~~
scyllax
It's almost impossible to have a gun in Morocco then it's easy to assume that
you are safer than in the US.

~~~
maaku
That statement makes no sense. You know it is possible to have violence
without guns, right?

~~~
scyllax
The thing that I'm pointing to is that there is more crime in the US than
Morocco.

------
jdawg77
Back in 2009, I moved from Silicon Valley (Cupertino, natch, home of...well,
me, until I left - rumor is there's also another tech firm or two there, but
those fruit guys well, you know).

At the time, I had it all. Consulting firm was paying half the bills and the
scalable, bootstrapped and profitable media business had hit north of six
million visitors the month before the big move.

New location: Maldives. Sun, sand and surf. Want to see dolphins? Top five in
the world. Coral reefs? Some of the best. That underwater restaurant Tom
Cruise stayed at on his honeymoon at Conrad Hilton, when it was the world's
first? It's an amazing place, quite special - I hit it up in 2008 the year
before we moved there.

Unlike a lot of folks that move to random locations, or say Costa Rica, the
first time I moved overseas with a startup (left the US to join a Costa Rican
one), the Maldives trip was my second time.

A few exceptions about my move: * Father-in-law was Vice President, of the
country at the time (I left before he became president) * Then president was
family by marriage; personally, I thought the guy was a sh!tty father when we
went to the first daughter's birthday. Imho, both parents, regardless of how
busy, should make time. Eg, when it was my older son's b-day, only the first
lady showed. She was cool. The president was a bit uptight. Long story.

Pros about moving to Maldives: * Any foreigner can get the "local," discount,
like teachers, for example * The islands are amazing. Seriously. Try lounging
on the beach where Madonna stayed...the resort owners is nice and well, the
beach spectacular. They also have the largest array of solar panels privately
owned in their region. * Fish is plentiful, fresh, and some of the very best
tuna in the world. There are some amazing dishes.

Cons: * Everything is imported and subject to a 100% tax * Capital island is 1
square mile...most densely populated city in the world per square meter *
Internet situation is abysmal.

I lack credibility here, as I have zero background in networking, but suffice
to say after meeting multiple ministers of telecommunications, pitching the
government to try to fix the situation AND lobbying after my father-in-law, at
the time, was President of the Country...well, I know why in my home country,
"Net neutrality," makes people confused.

This article is too light, too shallow on details for those of us who've done
the globe trotting thing and worked in multiple countries overseas.

~~~
_almosnow
> A few exceptions about my move: * Father-in-law was Vice President, of the
> country at the time (I left before he became president)

Hahaha, come on man, I'm pretty sure that if you're part of the ruling social
class of any given country your life is defeinitely going to be much more
enjoyable than if you aren't.

------
imanaccount247
I'm not so sure you should be trying to push "leave your family and friends
behind" as an upside. You are just reminding people of an obvious downside,
you aren't actually turning it into an upside.

------
aluhut
...and if you are really successful:

YOU'LL GENTRIFICATE THE TOWN

A win for everybody...kind of.

------
GFK_of_xmaspast
May or may not be great while you're working, but what's gonna happen when the
startup goes bust and there are literally zero other jobs there.

