Enjoy Bali while building your startup

Bali is among the most famous tourist destinations in the world, with about 3 million tourists coming over to the province region in Indonesia every year. But guess what, Bali surprisingly has a few exciting places for startups and entrepreneurs too!

We caught up with Tom Huges to know more. Tom graduated from Law school in Netherlands, but he preferred entrepreneurial life to a career in law. He did a startup in Thailand, before he shifted to Bali. Below he shares about some getaways for entrepreneurs:

Project Getaway

Founded in 2010, Project Getaway is a 30-day event for adventurous entrepreneurs, where the selected entrepreneurs are given a 30 day accommodation to live in Bali, as a group. Tom participated in Project Getaway in 2011, “I was inspired by the vision and stayed back to expand Project Getaway, and spread awareness to other regions of the world.” Project Getaway attracts participants from Denmark, USA, Germany, Hungary, South Africa, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Morocco, Sweden, Finland, Hong Kong, Belgium, Colombia, France and all over the world. The curators ensure to select people who are in different stages and walks of their life, making the group an interesting mix of people. Generally, the group size is anywhere between 15-25 people.

Speaking about Project Getaway, Tom adds, “One of the misconceptions about Project Getaway is that participants have to start projects. But, that is not true. We leave people really free so that they can allocate their time the way they want to. Some people come here for a new perspective, some people want to start a new business, some people want a new perspective on their existing business, and that makes the events so interesting.”

People who participate in Project Getaway sometimes stay back to build their businesses from Bali and join the accelerator and sister project, Startup Getaway.

Startup Getaway

Startup Getaway is a fun co-living, co-working tech startup accelerator located in Bali. The startups get to stay for 6 months at the accelerator where they can work in a relaxed environment alongside the beautiful greeneries of Bali.

As of now, 5 startups are hosted at Bali's Startup Getaway.

getmailbird.com (helps simplify email)

smartlaunch.com (internet cafe software)

labster.com (virtual laboratory)

Projectgetaway.com (30 day adventuorous trip for entrepreneurs)

vilondo.com (help build luxurious villa in Bali)

Speaking about the startup ecosystem in Indonesia (and e-commerce in particular), Tom says, "the main issues are online payments and logistics (Indonesia has over 17,000 islands). But I am sure in time and with some hard work, we will overcome the challenges."

As a parting note, Tom requests Indian entrepreneurs to participate in their October Project Getaway event in Bali. For more details, click here.