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Ask HN: Anyone moved outside of the US to bootstrap your business?

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Re: Ask HN: Anyone moved outside of the US to bootstrap your business?

#11

To anyone interested to learn the cost of living in different places, I live in Montreal (Canada) and think it's a god damn cheap place to live. I pay $405 for a spacious 3 1/2 with parking (+$45 electric bill). There is plenty of entertainment in this city too. Also as a Canadian I don't have to worry about health care. So if you ask me, I think I am in a good spot for a start up.

What does 3 1/2 mean?

Re: Ask HN: Anyone moved outside of the US to bootstrap your business?

#12
post #11

To anyone interested to learn the cost of living in different places, I live in Montreal (Canada) and think it's a god damn cheap place to live. I pay $405 for a spacious 3 1/2 with parking (+$45 electric bill). There is plenty of entertainment in this city too. Also as a Canadian I don't have to worry about health care. So if you ask me, I think I am in a good spot for a start up.

What does 3 1/2 mean?

I believe he means three and a half bedroom, though normally they also give the number of bathrooms too. Eg: 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bathroom apartment.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone moved outside of the US to bootstrap your business?

#13
post #11

To anyone interested to learn the cost of living in different places, I live in Montreal (Canada) and think it's a god damn cheap place to live. I pay $405 for a spacious 3 1/2 with parking (+$45 electric bill). There is plenty of entertainment in this city too. Also as a Canadian I don't have to worry about health care. So if you ask me, I think I am in a good spot for a start up.

What does 3 1/2 mean?

It's Montreal for 1 bedroom, 1 kitchen, 1 livingroom and a bathroom.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone moved outside of the US to bootstrap your business?

#14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it important to be able to speak French there?

Not essential, but does not hurt to know common phrases

Correction: No, not essential but someone will eventually treat you like shit because you don't speak french, and it's going to be offensive and feel like overt racism, but it'll happen rarely.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone moved outside of the US to bootstrap your business?

#15

To anyone interested to learn the cost of living in different places, I live in Montreal (Canada) and think it's a god damn cheap place to live. I pay $405 for a spacious 3 1/2 with parking (+$45 electric bill). There is plenty of entertainment in this city too. Also as a Canadian I don't have to worry about health care. So if you ask me, I think I am in a good spot for a start up.

In comparison to urban BC, where a studio costs $850 (in a nice building in a nice suburb), and $15 electric. I just checked craiglist, and it seems like your rent is at least $200 cheaper than everywhere else. Rent has gone up by several hundred dollars everywhere in canada it seems.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone moved outside of the US to bootstrap your business?

#16
Yes. I moved to Goa to prototype a process-flow document organization system for attorneys, for my first startup. The plan was to... get clients and then build the full deal in Bagnalore. I talked about it... here: http://www.hackerne.ws/item?id=518075 The 'paper' on the product is here: http://lucision.com/legal/Hammurabi_Writeup.pdf It never took off.

The short version is: you can't ALL leave. Someone needs to be near your market, whatever that is. You've got to be iterating products. Even for an internet company, I am skeptical that this can be done in isolation.

That being said, Costa Rica or some place cheap to get to/from is probably a better idea than... India :)

All in all, it was a great experience. I... learned Java, did a lot of catching up on things like design patterns to be able to work in Eclipse, etc. I learned... those startup things you learn the first time round. But being stuck in India when my attorney friend stopped answering my emails meant I was SOL on that product concept, and I could not iterate from India. I ended up doing something entirely different, but I couldn't even get to another product idea from there. I had to come home.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone moved outside of the US to bootstrap your business?

#17
post #3

You may want to bend the ear of these guys: http://www.expatsoftware.com I have lived abroad for the last couple of years. It is a wonderful experience. There are much, muuuuuuuuuuch easier ways of reducing your burn rate, if that is what matters to you. One simple one is taking your fluent command of the English language, American passport, and familiarity with all the local systems and relocating to anywhere in the…

2-bedroom apartments near the University of Michigan's North Campus in Ann Arbor can also be had for ~$800-1000/mo, if you're willing to put up with apartments that have had a series of students (i.e., people who are probably less likely than average to take good care of their residence) living in them. We have an emerging tech startup scene, but you'll have to budget some extra for heat. I don't know how much for heat because I am very rarely home, so I don't turn the heat above 60.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone moved outside of the US to bootstrap your business?

#18
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does 3 1/2 mean?

I believe he means three and a half bedroom, though normally they also give the number of bathrooms too. Eg: 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bathroom apartment.

No, the half is the bathroom. So 3 1/2 is 3 rooms and a bathroom. The three rooms could be 2 bedrooms and a kitchen but it's more likely a bedroom, a living room and a kitchen.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone moved outside of the US to bootstrap your business?

#19
post #9
post #2

Probably easier, and comparable in costs, to move to the rural midwest - e.g. South Dakota. Or Detroit.

You might also consider one of the no-income-tax states like Texas, Florida or Nevada in case your startup starts to make some money. Moving out of Silicon Valley (with the top state tax rate over 9%) can be a big money-saver.

Texas doesn't have a state income tax?

Re: Ask HN: Anyone moved outside of the US to bootstrap your business?

#20
post #3

You may want to bend the ear of these guys: http://www.expatsoftware.com I have lived abroad for the last couple of years. It is a wonderful experience. There are much, muuuuuuuuuuch easier ways of reducing your burn rate, if that is what matters to you. One simple one is taking your fluent command of the English language, American passport, and familiarity with all the local systems and relocating to anywhere in the…

We've been out in the valley for the summer, certainly living on less than $1000 per person. You just need roommates and a willingness to live in the cheap part of town. My share of the rent is $400.

Going to another country is sexier, but also more distracting.

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