How To Build A Startup From A Beach • Hacker News Board

Re: How To Build A Startup From A Beach

#11

Post by rwhitman » Thu, May 10, 2012, 11:21 PM UTC

joyce wrote: post #10

Iwaan wrote: post #7

I was an intern in a startup that tried exactly this. It was a lot of fun. We got a ton of VC cash to burn and so why not do it in a nice environment? In the end, the company failed. We all got too much into a "holiday" mood. The webdesigner won a surf contest. The CEO started an affair with not one, but two of the female employes. We all got fat from eating delicious food from the 5-Star hotel and high class Restaur…

We didn't and still don't have "tons of VC cash" to burn - only our own savings accounts at that time, so no 5-star hotels or high class restaurants for us. Also, I would not say we had a holiday mood at all during our time there. We started working the same day we arrived, but being in Hawaii had so many unexpected positive effects on productivity and product vision, we really wanted to share. And, I could never win…

As a travel booking startup I think Hawaii is a really clever move, you're surrounded entirely with your target customers. Very smart

Re: How To Build A Startup From A Beach

#12

Post by EREFUNDO » Thu, May 10, 2012, 11:23 PM UTC

The next step is to have a reality show about this. A few weeks into it they're gonna start fighting over who took who's toothbrush.....lol

Re: How To Build A Startup From A Beach

#13

Post by rwhitman » Thu, May 10, 2012, 11:27 PM UTC

I've known a number of musicians and writers who have gone on escape retreats to isolated areas in order to finish a book or an album, typically with a lot of success. Many of the most productive remote engineers I've worked with live in sparse areas where there is very little to do thats more fun than programming.

There's some merit to removing distractions when knocking out a marathon product build, but that said a good office environment can also serve the same purpose...

Re: How To Build A Startup From A Beach

#14

Post by kropson » Thu, May 10, 2012, 11:29 PM UTC

I am thinking of ways to convince my boss to do this. It might work better if I attempt to convince him in the middle of a cold Midwestern winter.

Re: How To Build A Startup From A Beach

#15

Post by sanswork » Thu, May 10, 2012, 11:32 PM UTC

I did this once. Instead of Hawaii though we did Palm Cove in tropical Australia. We did get away from a lot of distractions but you manage to find others. Also the work environment wasn't super comfortable being that we worked at a kitchen table in the apartment we rented and the internet was on a very low cap and frequently unavailable.

I think if you're going to do this then have a plan in advance of exactly what you want to accomplish and go there to build it. We went with a general idea and a few more and ended up trying to many things in the month we had for it to really pay off.

Re: How To Build A Startup From A Beach

#16

Post by bostonvaulter2 » Thu, May 10, 2012, 11:38 PM UTC

Gotperl wrote: post #9

As I resident of O'ahu, I'm psyched to see this. We don't have enough startup activity here.

Within the last year the tech community on Oahu has really been picking up. There's lots of awesome things going on such as the HI Capacity makerspace (http://hicapacity.org/) and Henk Rogers just announced a new incubator for local startups!

Re: How To Build A Startup From A Beach

#17

Post by jes5199 » Thu, May 10, 2012, 11:39 PM UTC

citizens wrote: post #6

This is exactly what I've been wanting to do. Well done simplehoney; sounds like a great time.

I wonder if we could form a company of people who think this is a good idea without getting a bunch of freeloaders who want a nice vacation.

I'd definitely be into working from the beach for a month or two.

Re: How To Build A Startup From A Beach

#18

Post by jjcm » Thu, May 10, 2012, 11:40 PM UTC

Back when I was living in Hawaii, we had a "Castaway Hackaday". We got some waterproof pelican cases, loaded up our laptops and a few solar panels, then headed out to the mokes (http://www.flickr.com/photos/46801360@N07/4368503769/) - two tiny islands off the eastern coast of Oahu. We set up a cantenna from one of the houses on shore and connected some wifi out there. It was fantastic - completely free of distractions, great weather, and it kept everyone on the team pretty happy.

Re: How To Build A Startup From A Beach

#19

Post by travisjryan » Thu, May 10, 2012, 11:41 PM UTC

Nothing like a SUP session in the early AM to get the creative juices flowing.

Re: How To Build A Startup From A Beach

#20

Post by bostonvaulter2 » Fri, May 11, 2012, 12:04 AM UTC

jjcm wrote: post #18

Back when I was living in Hawaii, we had a "Castaway Hackaday". We got some waterproof pelican cases, loaded up our laptops and a few solar panels, then headed out to the mokes ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/46801360@N07/4368503769/ ) - two tiny islands off the eastern coast of Oahu. We set up a cantenna from one of the houses on shore and connected some wifi out there. It was fantastic - completely free of distracti…

Wow that sounds pretty awesome. Did you kayak out to there? I guess I should make friends with someone that lives on Lanikai and try it out.