Monday, May 16, 2016
Why Rent When You Can Sign A Lease That Lets You Live Anywhere In The World
If you can afford the airfare, it's getting easier to be a digital nomad. Roam, a new network of co-living spaces, offers a lease that lets you continually move: After a couple of weeks or months in Madrid, you can head to Miami, or Ubud, Bali. By 2017, the startup plans to have 8-10 locations around the world.
These aren't designed as places for vacations. Instead, it's an alternative way to think about home for "location-independent" people who can work remotely. After living and working nomadically in his twenties, founder Bruno Haid wanted to make it easier.
"Just managing my stuff and going back and forth between Airbnbs and housesitting became more cumbersome over time," Haid says. "At the same time, I was involved in a couple of early co-living communities in San Francisco, and saw the cultural value of something like that."
Ubud |
"If you go from location to location, it always takes a couple of weeks to feel at home," he says. "That's something that we want to make sure is done in a very short time frame. You can literally show up in Bali and you live with people who have been there for a long time, means you have everything you need to navigate the local community, to know what's where, what can I connect to.
"Miami |
Madrid |
"it's not just for the young single freelancer," says Haid. "It's for the couple in their late 30s who are going to have kids and want to downsize for a year or two. Or the empty-nesters who say the kids are in college, let's travel the world for two or three years." He estimates that there are 1.2 million people who have the income—and the ability to work remotely—who can live this way. Each location will host dozens of people: more than a large house, but a small enough crowd to feel like a community.
The first locations have been chosen for their year-round good weather and access to economic centers (Bali, for example, is a relatively convenient place to work with clients in Australia, Singapore, or Hong Kong). But Haid hopes to eventually expand to every major city, and perhaps multiple locations within cities.
"Let's say, ok, I've got to do a lot of work, let's go to the SOMA location for a couple of weeks," he says of San Francisco. "Then, I've got to finish a book, so head to the countryside for a couple of weeks. Then go to Oakland, because it's culturally more interesting."
In a new funding round announced today, Roam raised $3.4 million to expand to Buenos Aires and London.
Posted by: Various Authors
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