Advice from a digital nomad: bootstrapping in Southeast Asia

Chris is the founder of FoundersGrid. He’s on Twitter as @MyEggNoodles. This is republished from Medium with his permission.

There are thousands of startup founders who have ditched their belongings, families and the west to move east to leverage geo arbitrage — and right now, I believe, is the best time in history to do so.

This trend and movement is growing exponentially. Lower over head costs, better work/lifestyle balance, access to more talent who want to work remotely and great opportunities to learn, network, and travel are just some of the reasons entrepreneurs are moving to South East Asia to bootstrap their startups.

Having done this for close to a decade now, I wanted to share why I continue to live in Southeast Asia, share what I have learned so far bootstrapping several startups here, and most importantly; let entrepreneurs know what they are potentially missing out on.

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia is a huge place (according to Google, 4.5 million square kilometers), and it’s not equal. Singapore is one of the most expensive countries in Asia, let alone Southeast Asia, and simply cannot be compared to the craziness and the cost of living, pace etc. in say Thailand or Vietnam.

I want to focus on biggest hubs for bootstrapped startups right now, which include Thailand (Bangkok, the Southern islands and Chiang Mai), Vietnam (Saigon and Hanoi) and Bali in Indonesia.

These hubs are not only cost efficient to live in, but also have concentrated groups of entrepreneurs thanks largely due to the co-working spaces that have grown and fostered the entrepreneurship community’s in each location over the past few years.

If you are new to Southeast Asia and are considering venturing out here to test bootstrapping a startup here, I can’t think of a better itinerary than to include Vietnam, Thailand and Bali to find out what works best for you.

Flights between the three countries cost next to nothing and all offer amazing work/living lifestyles, yet offer totally different vibes, experiences and pace.

So here goes; my reasons why you should consider bootstrapping in Southeast Asia are as follows:

Different mindset

Most bootstrapped founders in Southeast Asia don’t have an “exit strategy,” like most startups in the valley and in other major startup hubs do.