Corporate HQ in Paradise

Two Tickets to Paradise

Honeymooning on Maui has inspired my imagination with delusions of grandeur. The potential corporation I struggle to lay the bedrock for once again has drawn a large part of my curiousity. This time the corporate culture’s relation to location is the topic of interest. If we can pursue our passions and earn a generous income with a business of our own design, why not do so in a tropical paradise?

Obstacles

Forging a tech company at an island paradise faces all the usual obstacles plus a few problems unique to remote destinations.

  • How will clients and partner businesses make the long journey to meetings? Who will cover that cost? I for one would love to go to business meetings on a tropical island as long as the required tools were easily available (WiFi + and office). In Maui wifi is $60/week so I opted out and am using wireless 3G
  • How will the business recruit? Flying potential candidates in could get quite expensive, many will feign interest just to get a trip out. Make candidates share the cost?
  • Infrastructure: does the remote island have all the infrastructure to scale? Not just raw materials but legal, financial, etc.
  • Is your tech business desired by locals who are primarily driven towards a tourism industry? How will your company fit into a tourist social web?

Fantasy or Goal?

Given the above consderations is it possible to forge a tech company in a tropical location? Sure. But the best framework for a business based in remote locations is one that is distributed. Something like Automattic’s (the company behind WordPress) global infrastructure with employees working from all over the world fits a tropical corporate HQ. As the company grows a couple of offices for centralized activities with development team members spread out suits a web/tech based company. Unlike automobile factories, information companies can work together from anywhere with access and a handful of modern collaboration tools.

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  • Leland

    I think the main problem a company would face is not “hard costs” such as travel cost, cost of moving and increased cost of utilities, but rather, the “soft costs” that will be incurred by most employees when they must move away from their family/friends/comfortable surroundings to go to your tropical paradise.

    The fact of the matter is, cities grew out of the need for workforces to be relatively concentrated in one spot. So too this is why the largest and most successful companies end up based in a large city that has a reputation of being conductive to their business. By setting up there, they get instant access to employees and hiring new recruits does not incur any soft costs.

    Until we have teleportation devices, I would say that for a serious tech company, the soft costs of employees giving up friends and family would be too much. Just keep in mind, paradise is not just location, but also the people you are with.

  • http://steamcatapult.com/ Dave Pinsen

    My guess is you'd get bored fairly quickly if you lived in Maui. Living somewhere and vacationing there are two different things. But your idea reminds me of something somewhat similar.

    Years ago, the WSJ had an article about a telecom company, if memory serves (hereinafter abbreviated as “IMS”) headquartered in the D.C. area, IMS. They relocated to Colorado, thinking the work-life balance or whatever there would be more attractive to employees. It turned out to be more attractive to them than the company's management intended: gone were nights when employees worked late and ordered in pizza; in their place were employees bailing at 5pm and going mountain biking, or skiing, etc.

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    Well said Leland, I mentioned remote collaboration. I think web/tech
    companies are in a prime position to enable team members to work from
    anywhere they wish. Or at least I hope so.

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    Hehe, long term that 5pm works fine as long it's mixed in with some
    late night crunch times. Plus employees that are healthier and happier!

  • http://steamcatapult.com/ Dave Pinsen

    That's actually a good point. A lot of the working long hours is a form of competitive apple polishing/hazing. Productive companies such as 37 Signals don't play that game.

  • http://shanacarp.com/essays ShanaC

    It depends. I actually knew someone who had to move to Maui (University of Hawaii Grad student…they have a good meteorology program). Most things he was happy with, certain elements of trying to replicate the lifestyle he grew up with were extremely difficult.

    Most people don't realize that paradise is what you create. if you actually lived in Maui, most of your life would be consumed with the day to day. Not with island life. That's for tourists.

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    Oh yes, of course. But the views and air quality alone combined with
    heavy ocean front activities are nifty. Either way, I prefer a little
    more connectivity to cities and mainland. It's fun visiting by I'm not
    ready to become a Hawaiin.

    Heading to Bay Area Wednesday, psyches to go.