Emmanuel Guisset

@JakeNomada I would add Western Puerto Rico. Technically part of the US but vibes are definetely LATAM. World class beaches/surf, cleanest air on earth, good schools, connectivity to US and much safer than any places in LATAM. Its actually less expensive than Guanacaste.

I've spent 12 years in Latin America and have 3 kids If you asked me where to raise a family on the beach in LatAm, it comes down to 4 places: → Punta del Este/La Barra, Uruguay 🇺🇾 Safe country, excellent private schools, good medical care, sleepy off-season but electric in summer → Guanacaste, Costa Rica 🇨🇷 Good international schools, quite safe, world-class beaches and nature, direct flights to the US → Los Cabos, Mexico 🇲🇽 Growing expat family scene, acceptable international schools, stunning desert-meets-ocean vibe, easy flights to US → Florianópolis, Brazil 🇧🇷 42 beaches on one island, strong health system, underrated and affordable vs the others Which one are you picking? And if I'm missing a spot, drop it below — I'll roast it or co-sign it

@levelsio More or less but there were no strings attached. If we find a good property in their target locations that hit their return/criterias, they would buy it. But it takes so much time to find the right properties in large cities like Barcelona, Lisbon, etc..

@manuthan Yes, it's $350M in equity-backed debt right?

🌎 Over a decade ago now, around 2014, digital nomadism exploded with Nomad List hitting this weird little cultural moment where the technology was suddenly good enough to allow people to fly to the other side of the world, bring their laptop and work almost anywhere remotely Over the next few years then millions of people packed up their home lives and became digital nomads, roaming around the world but most after awhile just settling down in new places for long (like me too) A lot of startups came out of that digital nomad boom, but a decade later, it looks like graveyard. And it's interesting to analyze this because it kinda represents a full socio-cultural and business life cycle, especially for me because I was in the middle of it DEAD: ☠️ Selina - A coliving for digital nomads. The idea was that location independent people would roam the world and use coliving spaces to live. They raised over $400M on that idea and went public in 2021. Then it lost 100% of its value, went bankrupt, now worth $0.00010 with a total market cap of $54,000, a company called Collective Hospitality acquired it and what's so funny is where Selina tried to turn party hostels into coliving hotels (and failed), they're just turning the coliving hotels back into party hostels! ☠️ Remote Year - Group travel for digital nomads. Acquired in 2020 by Selina, which then went bankrupt (see above), Collective Hospitality is not continuing it so it's now dead 🥴 WeWork, coworking for remote workers - Lost 100% of its value, bankrupt in 2023, then bought by Anant Yardi who makes property management software and seems to be exiting coworking and entering commercial office rent "it leased 304,000 square feet in Manhattan to Amazon". Again similar to above: where WeWork tried to turn commercial office rent into coworking desks (and failed), it's now trying to turn the coworking desks back into commercial office rent. ☠️ WeLive, coliving for remote workers - By WeWork, bankrupt and dead PIVOTED: ♻️ WorkFrom A directory of coworking spaces. Pivoted smartly to virtual coworking sessions online where people work together ALIVE: 🏡 Outsite (by @manuthan) - Network of coliving spaces. Raised $325 million 2 years ago to buy more coliving spaces and seems to be doing great 🏥 SafetyWing (by @SRasch) - Health insurance for digital nomads and remote workers, still seems to be doing well too raising $35 a few years ago 🎒 Hacker Paradise (by @alexeymk + @CaseyRosengren) - One of the first digital nomad travel groups (like Remote Year) but self-funded and didn't raise money, and they seem to be alive and kicking 💻 Coworker .com - Directory of coworking spaces. Acquired by Regus in 2022 and was dead for awhile but their API started working again recently so seems alive again 🌎 Nomads .com - My site (formerly Nomad List) started 2014, still 100% owned and bootstrapped with an active community of almost 40,000 paid members 👩‍💻 Remote OK - Also mine and also 100% owned, started in 2015, now has 2 million remote workers on it So what is my analysis on this: Most of the companies in the digital nomad boom that did not raise money and kept 100% control are still alive now. Most of the companies that did are dead now. With a few exceptions: SafetyWing and Outsite Logically the bigger the bet financially the more financial engineering there is when it goes wrong and the higher odds you end up with the entire thing just disappearing into a black hole after a decade Which is sad because it's cooler to see companies (and projects) still alive after 10 years! There is also the understandable thing of how long is your breath to keep a project running? Personally I think because projects like Nomad List and Remote OK kept making money for so long and still do, it's been a good incentive to keep the site alive. Even when life got difficult, or I wasn't happy and got bored with the projects sometimes, there was tens of thousands of dollars coming into my bank account every month, so I wanted to keep it going. Then later I'd start enjoy the projects again intrinsically. It's really cool to see a market get born and explode and hype in 2014 and then large parts of it just disappear and die by 2025. Cool as in, to be able to observe that full "business life cycle" that I learnt about in business school When a market starts and there's so much hype you wouldn't be able to tell people "10 years later most of this is gone and few people care about it anymore", people wouldn't believe it. I'm most interested now to see where the digital nomad and remote work market is going next. I believe in cycles and I feel we're in some down cycle now. Many companies aren't fully remote anymore, most of it is hybrid now, and there's a strong anti-remote work pro-in-office sentiment Also, the rootless traveling of digital nomads was VERY cool a decade ago (because everyone was so sick of corporate 9-to-5 and normie life). It represented freedom, openness, accepting people for who they were, diversity, global migration etc. After 2016 we started seeing the extremes of that with the SJW wave etc. And then culture flipped in 2023 against that. So in a way digital nomads are culturally now a bit anti-zeitgeist. There's a cultural zeitgeist now I'd say of more traditional values, commitment, roots and definitely anti-immigration (not that I agree with those I just observe). So everything works together like a big spiderweb. Technical possibilities (suddenly we could work remotely and travel with our laptop). Businesses springing up to make these things easier/possible. Cultural zeitgeist that makes it "cool" to do these things. And then after a decade the whole thing flips reverse. But the cycle doesn't stop here. If 2007 was the first digital nomad wave with @tferriss, and 2014 was the second one with Nomad List, then 2021 was the third one with COVID making remote work popular, and then possibly the next wave is 2028. How that will look I honestly have no idea, it was much more clear in 2014. I will try figure it out and steer my businesses towards that so I can hopefully be early But whatever happens, I'm grateful to have been able to be part of this wave and being one of the few that still has their business alive and kicking It's 2025 now and the wave is obviously AI, and now that you're in it you might think this will just go on forever and AGI will come and it will be huge, and it might, but in a decade from now most of the companies you know will be gone in a startup graveyard as the bets didn't work out Which is of course exactly the idea of startups, these high growth rampant bets that you're surfing onto a wave towards billion dollar markets, but for most, of course, that doesn't work out!

@levelsio We used to struggle to fill spaces with nomads precovid. It can still be difficult for some locations off-seasons but we now fill our spaces with nomads/remote workers. The movement is still growing but without the hype, and we still believe in a better way to work and travel.

@levelsio The media makes you believe that everybody is returning to the office, but what I see is that there are more companies working full remote or hybrid vs precovid. US office occupancy is still down 50% compared to Feb 2020.

@levelsio It was also tough to deploy the capital as investors have very high return expectations in prime locations. We did purchase properties in the Algarve, Porto and Barcelona and we are now looking for real estate partners that are willing to take on risks in upcoming destinations.

@levelsio It has definitely been challenging to build a network of spaces for nomads, a group of people who want to optimize everything. The $350M was actually a separate real estate vehicle, dedicated to purchasing properties in specific European cities.

@JacobShea @rrhoover @chrishemmeter @rrhoover try @outsiteco. You’ll also meet interesting people during your stay!

@rrhoover Hey @manuthan & @chrishemmeter, you two usually have your finger on the pulse of this industry, any feedback for Ryan?

Request for product: A site to search for hotels that offer week-long discounted stays, optimal for people that live a multi-city lifestyle. Note: Longer stays need a legit gym (inside or nearby), laundry service, and ideally a kitchenette. Does this already exist?

@levelsio @levelsio I don't agree. Some operators like @IndustriousHQ and @justemorning are doing well What killed Wework is the rapid growth to hit impossible venture returns. They had to overpay leases to achieve that. Had they gone slower like other operators, they would have been ok

"Coworking spaces are hobby projects for rich people" But they should be public projects for neighborhood, city and national governments to build for their citizens IMHO A free open coworking space to work at should be facilitated publicly, like libraries are, maybe they're just not meant to be businesses!

@holmisthename My top picks would be: 1. Puerto Rico (West Coast) 2. San Jose del Cabo or Todos Santos Mexico 3. San Teresa Costa Rica (getting expensive though)

I live in the northern hemisphere, where winters are looong. Looking for a winter spot that’s: - Warm/sunny - Close to ocean - Safe - Great food & coffee Any suggestions?

@honestlylate @businessbarista @immad We made this. Its called @outsiteco . Started in 2016 and always focused on sustainable growth. We have now 5000 members and 50 locations.

@businessbarista @immad Airbnb meets WeWork. Beautiful accommodations around the world equipped with communal office spaces for nomads and remote workers to come together

Respond to this tweet with a business idea. I will tell you what i like about the idea, what worries me, and if I'd take an investor meeting. I can tell in 280 characters whether an idea is good or bad and why. Hopefully you find it helpful. Shoutout @immad for the inspo.

Every Internet / software company I've spoken with, is aiming for profitability much faster / earlier than they would have 1-2 years ago. In many cases, this means getting to cash flow (CF) neutral with $25-50M raised, versus $250-500M earlier. Implications of this focus on profitable growth: (a) Top line growth is naturally slower than earlier (in some cases negative for a year or so) as companies "fire" bad customers and cut inefficient marketing spend. (b) It will take longer to exit (especially through an IPO) since companies will grow slower (see (a) above). We are back to the "12-15 years from seed to exit" situation. (c) Once companies hit CF breakeven, they will figure out how to grow while following the Rule of 40. (d) Companies might only raise 3-4 rounds (Seed, A, B, maybe C) before they reach the CF breakeven milestone. (Only) investors who participate before CF breakeven will have meaningful ownership. Post CF breakeven, founders will become extremely picky. Some might forego fundraising altogether and prefer to grow organically by investing their CFs (it's addicting to generate cash vs consume it!); some might ask for outrageous valuations (secure in the knowledge that they don't need the money). Essentially, the power dynamic will shift from investors (pre CF neutral) to founders (post CF neutral). Overall, this will lead to a net positive mindset shift in technology, with more companies and entrepreneurs aiming for profitability and sustainable growth sooner, vs chasing VC-fueled growth. There will still be a small cohort of outlier companies (very fast growers, infrastructure and other high CAPEX-companies) who raise $500M-1B before they go public, but they will be the exception.

@davidu Some people would, but they are not the people you want to apply for this role. It’s a very similar to the dynamic we have @outsiteco . Easier for a small team, I admit

Can I put this in a job description without being destroyed? "You prefer a job where nobody cares if you need to leave for a dentist appointment in the middle of the day, but you also don’t blink when replying to an email at 9pm while watching Netflix on your couch."

@JesseSchoberg @levelsio Or this outsite.co ?

@levelsio Something like this:

These hacker houses literally never end well

@joelrunyon @levelsio @outsiteco I would love to do it and makes a lot of sense brand wise but not really our focus at the moment.

@manuthan @levelsio @outsiteco feels like the space could be a strategic outpost for other outsite locations in the area? maybe just too sentimental :(

😭 Dojo Coworking in Canggu, Bali is closing It's where I met so many friends since 2017 Almost every coworking space I went doesn't exist anymore: - Hubba Ekkamai, Bangkok - Punspace Nimman, Chiang Mai - Hubud Ubud, Bali It seems coworking lifespan is max 5 years

@joelrunyon @levelsio @outsiteco doesn’t do pure coworking. Coworking spaces less than 2000 sqm really tough to make profitable unless very strong accommodation/f&b component. Dojo was great though

@levelsio I feel like some digital nomad who got rich should just buy dojo and keep them open. Unless the economics are just terrible?

If there was ever a reason to cancel your Outsite Membership 💕

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@martindonadieu @bchesky @erikdoingthings @outsiteco I got this. We recently changed our positioning to be more flexible living for remote workers than pure coliving. We now have appartments, studios or bungalows for people like you wanting more privacy or couples. You still get the community through access to coworking space

@manuthan @bchesky @erikdoingthings @outsiteco Coliving is different, I’m nomad I rent long lease but never do coliving, I want my own home and meet other nomad sometimes

If Airbnb could launch anything in 2022, what would it be?

@bchesky @erikdoingthings We have been building this for the last 5 years @outsiteco...2500 members and 30+ locations around the world. Seeing incredible demand for since July 2020.

@erikdoingthings how would you want it to work?