I did the first StartupWorkaway in Costa Rica. The other 15 founders were awesome (handpicked from 200ish applicants if memory serves). The venue was epic (12,000 square foot villa with 2 pools on a cliff). And it was cheaper than any vacation that I've ever taken (the economies of scale when 15 founders rent a big villa and a chef are pretty amazing). In fact, it was probably cheaper than staying home.
It depends on how fancy of a place you want to get, and if food is included. Last time, in Costa Rica, we had 16 people in a $4 million dollar mansion with a private chef preparing all our meals. It cost about $10,000.
Villas can be super affordable when you're travelling with large groups. I'm the CTO of a startup that provides these sort of vacations. It's pretty common that the per person rate works out to much less than a hotel would be and you get the added bonus of an entire house!
I think I saw that two of the spots for this workaway are being given away as a prize for the AngelHack competition(?) I'd go just to be able to spend time working with that kind of talent.
If you try again, it should work. I had to tweak Apache config files to keep the site up.
I don't post much content, but I read HN like 50 times a day, and upvote a lot. :) I post this because I feel it's the coolest thing I do that relevant to the HN crowd.
About half of the crowd there had existing companies, and the other half hacking on stuff. Apps were finished, but no new companies were formed.
We were surprisingly productive - I create most of escapist.me there. I'd usually wake up at 7am sharp (to the smell of bacon), do something active like waterfall rappelling until around noon, then work until 8pm.
But no amazing companies launched out of the first Startup Workaway. Maybe in Thailand. :)
We created touchbasecal.com there, for the most part. It hit #5 in Paid Productivity in the App Store and still brings in healthy cash flow (though it was never meant to be more than a "learn iOS and App Store marketing project).
Why is it only 10 days? Is it to fit with most people's 2 week vacation slots? I would think a month would be more productive, or even better a 3 month y-combinator style intense MVP rush.
Also isn't the internet on Ko Samui kind of shitty? Wouldn't a mainland location by a nice beach be better internet wise?
I think someone else does a 3 month program overseas. That's cool too.
We just like the shorter format - it's just enough time to feel mentally refreshed and more creative. Without leaving behind all commitments in the "real world" like talking to customers and stuff.
We made the resort upgrade to 12mps Internet, and upgrade all their equipment to handle more than 100 simultaneous devices. I warned them that we're likely all going to have 3 devices on average (Mac Pro, iPad, Kindle, iPhone/Android) that that we get VERY grumpy if the Internet goes down.
I would think the Philippines would be better due to their relatively generous visa extension policies (you can stay in the Philippines for 1.5 years on just tourist visa extensions if you wanted to) and far less red tape in getting things like SIM cards, renting places and so on. You can also get half decent internet there too, it's tropical and there are beaches everywhere!
Worth noting: You don't need to join somebody else's program to take advantage of this. Big cool rental properties in exotic locations become really cheap when you split them among an entire product team, especially if you consider the alternative to be a month's lease at a cube farm.
If I may make a suggestion for next time though: please consider finding a place with better wheelchair access.
It's very disheartening to see the de facto bias towards able-bods reenforced. Of course, I'm certain this wasn't by intent, but it's something I'd love to see improved.
I'm glad this was posted again, because I was trying to remember the name of it late last year and I couldn't find it.
The reason I was trying to find the site was that some friends and I did something similar (we called it "Vacation Startup Club") in Costa Rica in November. It was awesome.
We rented two houses in Manuel Antonio (these: http://casamonotiti.com/). They were easily the nicest vacation lodging I've ever used, and the view was epic, and with 10ish people, very reasonable.
I was surprised how much we got done. We usually woke up early (it gets light around 6am), had breakfast and coffee, then some people would start coding, or go to the park or beach. After lunch, we'd begin in earnest and work until dinner, then until about 9 or 10 most nights.
We finished our app, and then learned how hard it is to launch one. ;-) But all in all, an amazing experience.
I'd agree with you that being in public in anyway is how most people get caught, however they are advertising the fact that they are working in Thailand on the internet.
More importantly though, they are responsible for their attendees and should consult lawyers or immigration as to whether it is legal or not.
Having consulted immigration previously myself I firmly believe what they plan to do is illegal.
Given the frigid weather here in Italy (not at all what I signed up for!), the idea of tropical beaches sounds particularly fantastic right now. Not sure it'd work out with a wife and small kids though, maybe another time:-)
Warning: Once you get to one of these things you may not go back home. You realize that as a coder you can just keep working remotely and stay there (though not in the same expensive place after everyone leaves.) Crazy times we live in.
NOTE: As others have mentioned. You aren't supposed to be working while on a tourist visa but Thailand isn't the U.S. In some regards it's a bit like the wild west where people won't bug you as long as you aren't taking jobs away from the locals or making a bunch of cash off the local economy and people start to wonder if you are really playing by the rules. You didn't hear this from me though, respect the laws!
36 comments
[ 0.21 ms ] story [ 107 ms ] threadI'd recommend the experience without reservation.
You can find great places on http://homeaway.com/
Here are a couple of examples:
Sleeps 24 - $4,501/week - http://demeure.com/properties/villa-turquesa--2
Sleeps 13 - $4,569/week - http://demeure.com/properties/casa-fermentini
Startup Workaway II: Thailand. 25 founders. 10 days. 1 kick-ass resort. (startupworkaway.com) 19 points by npt4279 33 minutes ago | 3 comments
Startup Workaway: 20 founders. 10 days. 1 beach house in Costa Rica. Apply now (startupworkaway.com) 61 points by npt4279 283 days ago | comments
Not saying this isn't interesting or appealing to the HN crowd, but disclosing that you are probably affiliated with this organization.
What noobface is saying is that you don't participate in HN apart from to promote this, but that's not a big deal.
Seems like a cool idea. Did any companies emerge from the last one?
I don't post much content, but I read HN like 50 times a day, and upvote a lot. :) I post this because I feel it's the coolest thing I do that relevant to the HN crowd.
About half of the crowd there had existing companies, and the other half hacking on stuff. Apps were finished, but no new companies were formed.
But no amazing companies launched out of the first Startup Workaway. Maybe in Thailand. :)
Also isn't the internet on Ko Samui kind of shitty? Wouldn't a mainland location by a nice beach be better internet wise?
We just like the shorter format - it's just enough time to feel mentally refreshed and more creative. Without leaving behind all commitments in the "real world" like talking to customers and stuff.
We made the resort upgrade to 12mps Internet, and upgrade all their equipment to handle more than 100 simultaneous devices. I warned them that we're likely all going to have 3 devices on average (Mac Pro, iPad, Kindle, iPhone/Android) that that we get VERY grumpy if the Internet goes down.
My personal experience doing this:
http://expatsoftware.com/articles/2006/12/chamonix-branch-of...
If I may make a suggestion for next time though: please consider finding a place with better wheelchair access. It's very disheartening to see the de facto bias towards able-bods reenforced. Of course, I'm certain this wasn't by intent, but it's something I'd love to see improved.
The world needs a website with tropical resorts rated by wifi quality.
The reason I was trying to find the site was that some friends and I did something similar (we called it "Vacation Startup Club") in Costa Rica in November. It was awesome.
We rented two houses in Manuel Antonio (these: http://casamonotiti.com/). They were easily the nicest vacation lodging I've ever used, and the view was epic, and with 10ish people, very reasonable.
I was surprised how much we got done. We usually woke up early (it gets light around 6am), had breakfast and coffee, then some people would start coding, or go to the park or beach. After lunch, we'd begin in earnest and work until dinner, then until about 9 or 10 most nights.
We finished our app, and then learned how hard it is to launch one. ;-) But all in all, an amazing experience.
This may sound stringent but people have gotten into trouble for more trivial activities such as karaoke.
I hope you've cleared this with immigration or everybody attending could face deportation.
I hope you've cleared this with immigration or everybody attending could face paying a bribe.
Although they primarly bust foreigners that work and do business with Thai people, aka take their jobs away.
99% nothing will happen and you have a good time but pray not to be the 1%.
More importantly though, they are responsible for their attendees and should consult lawyers or immigration as to whether it is legal or not.
Having consulted immigration previously myself I firmly believe what they plan to do is illegal.
NOTE: As others have mentioned. You aren't supposed to be working while on a tourist visa but Thailand isn't the U.S. In some regards it's a bit like the wild west where people won't bug you as long as you aren't taking jobs away from the locals or making a bunch of cash off the local economy and people start to wonder if you are really playing by the rules. You didn't hear this from me though, respect the laws!
Though, to be honest, we couldn't work much there. It was all fun and adventure.