Forest Coding - adventure of a coder building a software startup from the forest

Adventure Jun 7, 2013

THOMAS BACKLUND – The entrepreneurial adventures of a homeless coder living in a tent in the forest

Thomas Backlund has started a bold adventure of giving up his life in the city and living in a forest to build his start up.

He has set himself up with a laptop, battery pack, solar cells and mobile broadband. He lives in a tent and keeps moving around to find a good place to spend the day and night in the forest. And he writes code in the forest! Totally awesome!

Seems like just the thing I’d consider! Except maybe I would add a bicycle to my list. Am keen to follow his experiment and see how it turns out. Best luck to him!

Here’s what he says about his experiment:

This blog is about the entrepreneurial adventures of a homeless coder.

Some time ago I decided to quit my job and my apartment outside of Stockholm. I did this to be able to work on my startup.

My name is Thomas Backlund. Coding has always been my core interest.
I did take a M. Sc. in Biotechnology, but got back to IT again when my pet coding project got way out of hand and became more important.

I believe my current project is very exciting. Everyone I talk to say they really love it. I like to believe that because they get stunned sometimes when I talk about it. When I talk to investors they also like it, but they say it’s too early to invest in.

But without funding it is hard to get enough time if you do not already have a lot of money. The entrepreneurs dilemma: I need funding to move faster. Move faster then you can get funding.

Anyway, what was within my power was my living costs, so I cut them. Almost all of them. And now I live a good life in a tent somewhere in a forest, always by a lake.

I power this with solar cells and mobile broadband.

Thomas Backlund

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Ashutosh Bijoor

Adventurer, mathematician, software architect, cyclist, musician, aspiring wood worker