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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?

#21

Post by pasbesoin »

ArcticCelt wrote: post #6

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.

Do you know any U.S. tech types who've made the move up there, and what their experience has been like?

I spent a week in Montréal for the 2001 Yet Another Perl Conference (YAPC) followed by some sightseeing, and while it was sweltering and they had us stuffed in the McGill dorms (no A/C; needed to keep the window open) while Katie Holmes' latest movie was filming night scenes all night long outside (wishing I could close the window), it was still a great week and a wonderful city experience.

I was a bit clueless, and I really owe it to the local Perl community for being gracious enough to put up with me. If any of you are on here, cheers!

Edit: More than a bit, really.

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

#22

Post by rjurney »

lionheart wrote: post #5

The way I see it, there's really no need to move out of the country to reduce your burn rate. I'm 99% sure that the inevitable culture shock and myriad other issues that come with living in a new country cancel out any benefit you get in terms of cost of living. If you move out of the bay area and live like a college student, that should be more than enough to bring your expenses to a bare minimum. I know its not har…

I second this. I'd have been better off in a piece of crap apartment in an undesirable area, rice and beans and a motorcycle, plus access to brain power in the bay area.

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

#24

Post by adatta02 »

patio11 wrote: 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're by Tufts in Somerville, MA. You can get a pretty reasonable place for 600-700, assuming roommates aren't an issue. About a 5 minute walk to Davis Square and then a hop and a skip to either Harvard or MIT.

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

#25

Post by suvike »

elsewhen wrote: post #9
ojbyrne wrote: 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.

Add Washington to that list as well.

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

#26

Post by garply »

brown wrote: post #8

I'm currently operating in Manila. Low cost of living. Extremely cheap local labor (hiring system admins for about USD$5k per year). People speak English well. Very American-ized environment, so minimal culture shock. There's a growing call center culture here, so bandwidth is pretty reliable. VC community is small but active. Manila lacks a big talent pool of software engineers. We've been experimenting with setting…

I'm in Beijing to cut costs and recruit team members. Ditto on both points a and b.

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

#27

Post by elsewhen »

rumpelstiltskin wrote: post #19
elsewhen wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

The states with no income tax are in red on the following map:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_income_tax

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

#28

Post by mofey »

colinplamondon wrote: post #4
ojbyrne wrote: post #2

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

Yeah, but then you have to move to South Dakota or Detroit.

The advantage there is that you can date women that farm!

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

#29

Post by lsc »

rjurney wrote: post #22
lionheart wrote: post #5

The way I see it, there's really no need to move out of the country to reduce your burn rate. I'm 99% sure that the inevitable culture shock and myriad other issues that come with living in a new country cancel out any benefit you get in terms of cost of living. If you move out of the bay area and live like a college student, that should be more than enough to bring your expenses to a bare minimum. I know its not har…

I second this. I'd have been better off in a piece of crap apartment in an undesirable area, rice and beans and a motorcycle, plus access to brain power in the bay area.

The bay area is the center of the universe, well, for my people. I think living here and needing a part-time job to pay the bills (part-time jobs pay twice as much here as anywhere else, btw) is a better choice than moving to the midwest, or even Sacramento.

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

#30

Post by icefox »

edb wrote: post #14
transburgh wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Not as bad as being in France, even when you just have a connection at the international airport and have to get somewhere it is very common to have people look down on you because you are trying to get their attention in English.
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