Ask HN: Change Country to Ease Bootstrapping?
I might soon take the plunge and start working on a few startup ideas full-time (bit of saved money), and I was wondering whether I should do this from another country. Being European, moving around there doesn't cause any big legal complications. I live in Bavaria, Germany, and while it's a really nice place (especially after spending quite some time in New Jersey recently), it ain't exactly cheap. Going east and/or south would probably make for cheaper rents and a generally lower cost of living. As I still could aim my business (and possibly small contract jobs) at higher-paying economies, this seems like a good way to stretch my savings and thus give me more time to focus.
Still, I wonder whether getting accustomed to a new country, learning the language etc. won't distract too much.
So it would be great if anyone has some experiences about that, or has some nice cities/countries to recommend…
Published in 2010, this chronicle by @mhd details the mechanics of building a profitable, self-funded business without venture backing.
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I think you'd have to go a long way south to get a lot cheaper. Here in northern Italy, things are somewhat cheaper than up there (or at least than in Tirol), but probably not so much that it'd be worth your while to pick up and move (although my standard offer stands: come by Padova and I'll take you out for drinks and/or pizza or something as time permits).
I think to get really cheap, you'd have to go to Portugal, in terms of "south".
Why not move to a cheaper bit of Germany, like Berlin? You wouldn't be so cut off that way: you'd be able to meet and talk with other people working on startups.
If your startup targets developed markets (US, W.Europe) so reducing development costs by moving to another country can be a good idea. I think you can find decent developers and designers in Eastern European countries like Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Poland or Ukraine, for much less money than in Germany. Cost of living is lower there as well. We're doing startup in one of these countries and expect total cost of beta to be less than 20K.
These kinds of stories make me wonder if there's a market for 'startup holidays'. Jet off to some cheap location like Thailand or China, code like mad monkeys for 3 months & then jet back for launch.
Take a look at this thread (pros/cons of various eu countries): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1565375
Go to somewhere warmer, it will help you keeping your mood up. How's Greece looking these days?