Spending 2-4 weeks offshore hanging out with other wannabe outsiders is no way to experience silicon valley. You might as well drop anchor off the coast of Antarctica. Paul Graham wrote an interesting post on the effect of startup hubs and why they work recently: http://www.paulgraham.com/hubs.html; but the problem is that on a cruise ship you're not going to get any of the chance introductions that make all the difference. A cruise ship sounds like a stunt designed to get attention from lawmakers, but in Australia we know how well boat people are received, and I don't think it sounds super smart. Sure, you'll get a concentration of people who validate entrepreneurship, but sitting on a cruise ship sardine can with a bunch of other outsiders isn't going to validate anything you can't experience if you join a 'religious' <http://www.xenu.net/> cult<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_Brethren> .
On the other hand, you could come to Silicon Valley with a 90 day window under the visa waiver program, effectively no questions asked. You can get accommodation for a month for around $680<http://www.padmapper.com/show.php?type=0&id=89499581&src=main>(admittedly it is very basic, but it will do the job). Do you research before you get here and work out what conferences will be the most valuable to attend (and sign up to attend as a volunteer so it is free), research which people already here would be the most valuable to meet, and then be prepared to learn a lot and meet a bunch of very welcoming and helpful and smart people. You'll hopefully head home to Australia with three realizations: 1. They're not that much smarter than you here. If they can do it, why can't you. 2. Your original idea frankly sucked and was a function of being in a small place far from anywhere. But, what you learned helped you sharpen your focus and now you feel like you've got the benefit of perspective AND validation. 3. It isn't that hard to get an E3 visa<http://www.geoffmcqueen.com/2011/09/28/e-3-visa-for-australians-how-to/>if you want to move here. I wouldn't go near the cruise ship idea with a barge pole. Geoff On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 19:17, Ryan Wardell <[email protected]> wrote: > I don't see it as being a long-term thing - I'm not sure about that part of > their plan. But I definitely see its merits as a short term 2-4 week landing > pad for startups wanting to check out the valley. > > -- > > Cheers, > > Ryan Wardell > > CEO & Founder - Project PowerUp > > (W) projectpowerup.com <http://www.projectpowerup.com/> > > (E) [email protected] > > (M) 0424 591 796 > > > > [image: Facebook] <http://www.facebook.com/ProjectPowerUp> [image: > Twitter] <http://twitter.com/#%21/ProjectPowerUp> [image: > LinkedIn]<http://www.linkedin.com/company/2282351> > Signature powered by > <http://r1.wisestamp.com/r/landing?promo=3&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisestamp.com%2Femail-install%3Futm_source%3Dextension%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Dpromo_3> > WiseStamp<http://r1.wisestamp.com/r/landing?promo=3&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisestamp.com%2Femail-install%3Futm_source%3Dextension%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Dpromo_3> > > > > On Thu, Oct 13, 2011 at 1:14 PM, drllau <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> http://crashdev.blogspot.com/2011/10/future-of-work-what-happens-when-talent.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CrashDev+%28Crash+Dev%29 >> >> I can't recall who it was that said that paying your damn taxes was a >> heck of a lot less stressful than getting seasick (apparently that >> billionaire was living hotel to hotel as well as private yacht so as >> not to spend more than 180 days in any single tax jurisdiction. >> Anyway, CrashDev has a blog on the shortage of talent claiming >> - best creatives would rather start their own company than work for >> someone else >> - no really talented engineer wants to dwell in the bowels of a big >> dumb company (hello uSerfs) >> - conjectured spectacular business failures over the next decade as >> incumbents fail to retain talent >> >> Lawrence >> http://nz.linkedin.com/in/drllau >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach >> Australia mailing list. Vist http://siliconbeachaustralia.org for more >> >> Forum rules >> 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. >> 2) No jobs postings. You can use http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs >> >> >> To post to this group, send email to >> [email protected] >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected] >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach > Australia mailing list. Vist http://siliconbeachaustralia.org for more > > Forum rules > 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. > 2) No jobs postings. You can use http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs > > > To post to this group, send email to > [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en > -- Geoff McQueen Founder & CEO Hiive Systems Phone: 1.877.425.7315 (US) - 1800 2 44483 (AU) Cell/Mobile: 650.450.4384 (US) - 0414.678.466 (AU) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Vist http://siliconbeachaustralia.org for more Forum rules 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. 2) No jobs postings. You can use http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en
