Why you should move your startup to a small fishing town

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.

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?

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.

I agree. More and more often you see people choosing a mix of both. Living in a big city when their product requires it, going abroad when they need more focus, or when their in a development stage that enables it. You don't have to be in the same place all the time anymore :)

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...