Moving…

As you might have realized I have been somewhat less active over the last few weeks. The reason for this is simple: I am moving. Having ‘test-run’ Atlanta for about two years it was time to make arrangements a bit more permanent.

So I doubled-down on Atlanta, put some money where my talk is and moved to Poncey Highlands with the intention of making it a somewhat longer-term stay (for now). In effect, it means that I will be traveling more now than before, however taking everything into consideration, Atlanta is an amazing homebase. Poncey Highlands was quite a natural choice for me. First of all, with the Belt Line it is actually quite ‘European’: a lot of great restaurants and coffee shops in walking distance. Huge parks, convenient shopping, and enough developments around to make it ‘up-and-coming’ – and hopefully not a money-sink.

If you remember, the last summer I was traveling a lot to Asia (as in Japan and Singapore) and Europe. I was trying to make up my mind where I want to spend the next years. There are a couple of good reasons for Europe and similarly for Asia. However the overall mix, in terms of business opportunities, cost of living, access to the world (in terms of travel times), fun factors, etc. ultimately made me opt for the US and Atlanta in particular (the largest airport in the world in terms of passengers with direct flights to Japan – for now).

The reasons for my decision are of course very biased and driven by my personal needs. I would have loved to live in Singapore, but business opportunities are somewhat limited and it is very far away, both, from Europe and the US. Given that these are the largest domestic markets I felt that this would be too far for a homebase. Japan is a story in itself: I plan to spent more time there but business development would be slow due to language barrier as well as different cultural expectations. That leaves us with Europe. Europe has a lot to offer but in terms of opportunities it is rather limited. Europe is still cleaning up the debt crisis mess, which was one of the reasons I left in the first place. Also, keep in mind that  was virtually no startup culture in Europe (except for UK maybe) although this is slowly changing. The risk of running a business, especially one with high volatility cash flows is high and the risk-adjusted return somewhat on the low side: I will keep Europe for vacations etc.

Does this mean that the US is perfect. Most certainly not – nothing ever is. However, for me, it is really a great compromise given my current requirements. Moreover, having traveled a lot and spent extensive time in Kualu Lumpur, Dubai, the US, and Europe, there is no country so welcoming and open to foreigners as the US. Upon entering the system you will be integrated (and assimilated) and it does not really matter, whether you just came from somewhere else or whether you have spent your whole life in the US. So much for now – I need to return to unpacking boxes 😉

Thanks for stopping by — Terence.