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What I learnt bootstrapping my startup from Thailand for six months

levels.io

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Re: What I learnt bootstrapping my startup from Thailand for six months

#171

Post by sasas »

saryant wrote: post #168
sasas wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There appears to be a fine line between "business" (meetings etc) and actually doing productive work for a company entity based in Japan. I don't have clarification on this, and this is only second hand information. On a different note, they do check the frequency of re-entries (on a tourist visa) as I know of one peer who was put into a room at the airport and questioned after re-entering a few times in one year. So…

I'll take your word for, I've only ever entered Japan as a tourist and they really don't look that closely at Americans entering Japan for tourism.

The probability may well be very low - There could be a statistical influence in why I have all these 'stores' due to being required to travel 70-80% for my employment for the past 5 years.

If you read blogs on these types of things you are only going to see the 'worst case scenarios' as the majority of people with positive experiences are unlikely to rush to their PC and write a glowing post about their Visa experience...

Re: What I learnt bootstrapping my startup from Thailand for six months

#172

Post by YZF »

capisce wrote: post #153
YZF wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this case it was a profitable business and the guy was also hiring locals. There are probably tax considerations and I would say this is breaking the spirit of the law. Those shared work spaces could be subsidized to encourage locals so taking advantage of that is problematic. It would be different if he was just building his product, no business entity and no local hires...

He was hiring a remote filipino worker and his dutch friend apparently.

Was that in the article somewhere?

At any rate, there's some fine line where an activity that could otherwise be described as a hobby becomes work. It's the actual activity + intent + context + judgement of the authorities that matters... Presumably when you essentially establish residence, get paid, hire and manage other people, that line has been crossed.

Re: What I learnt bootstrapping my startup from Thailand for six months

#173

Post by gosukiwi »

hauk1 wrote: post #165
gosukiwi wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well... In a nutshell the north is poor and south is rich and full of international tourism. It's something weird of Argentina as a country, 50% of the population lives only in the capital, Buenos Aires. The capital has always had a lot of power (they used to have access to the only port of the city, so they kept ALL the taxes money, while all other provinces received none and were not allowed to have a port). So, on…

Great thanks! Always wanted to go to Argentina.

Argentina is great for international tourism I can assure you, cheap and classy, if you handle Euros or Dollars of course, if you ever come visit the country I highly recommend Bariloche, relly, it's beautiful, "El Bolsón" is nice also, a lot of green and nature, also full of international tourism.

If you want tango and city-life Buenos Aires is nice, but as all big cities it has bad parts and good parts :)

Re: What I learnt bootstrapping my startup from Thailand for six months

#174

Post by imperio59 »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #148
imperio59 wrote: post #147

The article seems to imply that it is impossible to live for less than $1000 a month (internet included) in the US in a remote area where you can focus. I regularly travel out to Eastern Washington (close to the border by Montana) and the area is very rural and prices relatively cheap for rent (and house prices are not unreasonable if you're looking to buy). No one will come bug you if you live in the woods, and Sate…

I hope you mean Idaho and not Montana. Spokane is cheap but not that cheap, in the more rural communities like Newport, you could probably do $1000/month with lots of work cutting wood and such. If you want cheaper, cross the border to Idaho or Montana, but the farther away we get from infrastructure, things actually become more expensive, not less.

I did mean Idaho, Colville/Metaline Falls area. It's true once you get far enough the cost of living goes up in a way, but I've found those parts to still be fairly cheap cost of living (on the face of it), assuming you already own land.

Re: What I learnt bootstrapping my startup from Thailand for six months

#175

Post by scheff »

My small amount of research discovered that you can live in a serviced hotel room for between 15,000 and 30,000 THB per month, which is $500 - $1000 USD. This was in Chiang Mai. I explored a couple of different hotels.

You can get serious discounts for booking a room for 3, 6 months. Combine that with eating out for every meal (instead of grocery shopping and cooking for yourself) and it's an incredibly cheap option. Meals are as cheap as $1 each.

Re: What I learnt bootstrapping my startup from Thailand for six months

#176

Post by homakov »

Pinatubo wrote: post #169
parennoob wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think enjoyment is a prerequisite to doing a job, then there are several people working on crufty "enterprise" Java-based systems that would love to benefit from your crusade.

My question was in response to this post by the same person: >"If you dont like sex tourism it is ur mental problem. Feel free to agitate in your europez but please leave my thailand as is. Every girl has a right to do anything and its not your business." That seemed to imply that the prostitutes had willingly chosen their profession, which led to my question.

Oh so you imply they all was forced? Hell no. It is just better than clerq in 7 11 for 5 times less salary

Re: What I learnt bootstrapping my startup from Thailand for six months

#178

Post by RisingInflation »

mbenjaminsmith wrote: post #133

I've lived and built two companies in Thailand over the last 14 years. Before your pop your Macbook Air in a backpack, read my points. 1. Bangkok is not cheap. If you want to have a life that resembles anything you're used to coming from a Western country, you're going to live in Bangkok and you're going to live in a relatively expensive part of the city. Yes, you can live in a concrete block with plastic furniture a…

Just YES. +1

Re: What I learnt bootstrapping my startup from Thailand for six months

#179

Post by rajeemcariazo »

cyrilga wrote: post #102

Amazing article! I am doing the same (bootstrapping from Asia) and would agree with almost anything but the budget. I am currently in Ko Tao (=paradise) and during low season, you get a comfortable room for 8000 baht / month ($300) 5 min from the beach. In Chiang Mai I was renting a large bedroom on Airbnb for $9/day. Vientiane as well is a good option, they love foreigners there and there are a lot of french expats.…

Philippines is a good country for bootstrapping, there are plenty of good English speakers and low cost of living.

Re: What I learnt bootstrapping my startup from Thailand for six months

#180

Post by rogerthatplease »

On one hand, it's a great article. On the other hand, it's really misleading! Lots of commenters in here would agree with "levels," but that's only because they are like-minded.

You can easily live on 500-600 euros per month, stay in beach bungalows, rented houses, or amazing bamboo houses where the owners bring you fruit every morning, and that includes unlimited 3G internet, the wireless internet they already have on site, and your bus and plane tickets around Asia.

No offense, but it's a little bit of a shame to accidentally mislead people on how much the costs are (a pool??!?!?!), and it's also a shame that the author didn't check out Malaysia, which is far less touristy, has almost no sex tourism, and has some really incredible places (with internet).

Shop at the markets. Eat at night markets, food stalls, and normal thai restaurants (but proper restos... not all stalls)... we went out with some local friends in Bangkok, ate famously, and the bill came to like 8 dollars (three different restos). Look for places like Chiang Mai... but also, move about yo! We did 3 weeks at a time in each place, moving down through sukhothai, ahyuthaya, etc., worked with laser focus, and spent way, way less money.

Really not much need for an incubator if you're confident in what you're doing.

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