This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Annie Liao, a 24-year-old startup founder based in San Francisco. It’s been edited for length and clarity.
After raising $1.75 million in the pre-seed round for my startup last year, I quit my job and moved from Australia to San Francisco to go all in as a solo founder.
The reality of being a solo founder has been a lot harder than I thought it would be. It can get lonely and difficult at times, but living with a built-in support system of other founders helps. We all uprooted our lives, left behind our loved ones, and moved here to build startups, so we think of each other like family.
Now I’m living in a hacker house, where our dining table is covered in laptops and monitors instead of flowers — and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made.
My biggest reason for moving to San Francisco is the people
After raising the pre-seed funding for Build Club, an AI learning hub aimed at democratizing access to AI education, I now have a team of five who work around the world, but I live in San Francisco.
I’ve always wanted to live in San Francisco. It’s the beating pulse of AI, and there are so many insanely ambitious and talented people to be surrounded by.
You can literally walk into a coffee shop and end up in a two-hour deep dive conversation about AI agents or someone’s YC application. Everyone’s dreaming big, and you can feel that optimism in the air. It’s a nice place to build a startup.
There are pros and cons to living in San Francisco
What surprised me most about San Francisco was how generous people are with their time. It’s a real “pay it forward” culture, and people actually want to see each other win.
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Of course, there are downsides. Some streets don’t feel safe, and the contrast between incredible wealth and deep struggle is hard to ignore. Plus, I think Australia has better healthcare and is just more chill.
Living in a hacker house has been really important
During a visit to San Francisco before I moved, I met the person who ran Mission Control, one of San Francisco’s oldest hacker houses, and she told me they had empty rooms available. I later moved there for my first few months in San Francisco.
I met three other founders there, and we decided to move into a more intimate place. We named our hacker house “The Stables” because it’s our place of stability in San Francisco and because it’s a breeding ground for unicorns. As a solo founder, I don’t have a cofounder to tell everything to, so living with other founders has been really important.
I’ve probably leaned on my housemates too many times, whether for emotional support or even to share an employee. We’ve had some really great moments together. The day before one of our launches, we stayed up late, and one of my roommates bought us food to celebrate.
What it’s like to live with other founders
We also cook for each other when possible or go out to dinner together. We’re all very time-poor and come home exhausted, so it’s convenient to be able to knock on someone’s door to ask if they want to grab dinner. Every Sunday, we even go on a hike together to step away from work and touch some grass, which is always a highlight of my week.
Our shared spaces definitely get messy, especially during busy periods, but we like to clean together. There’s also less privacy and quiet than if I lived alone, but it’s just nice to have people around.
Living with other founders has shown me that they have low moments like me
When I look at founders on social media, they often only show the highlights, but living with other founders has been very humanizing and comforting. For example, you might see online that a founder raised a successful pre-seed round, but in reality, they’re crying on the couch of the hacker house because an employee they really wanted said no.
I remember there was one time when all of us were having really rough weeks — one of us was fundraising their round, and everyone else was working until 1 a.m. every day. We were all locked in, and our laptops and monitors were everywhere.
I spend the day at a small office space or coffee shop
I usually wake up at 6:30 a.m. and spend my mornings doing deep work. My team is split across time zones, so my afternoons consist of calls with people in other regions. When I return home in the evening, I usually have more calls with team members who come online even later.
Then, my roommates and I might cook together or go for a walk around the park to de-stress. Most nights, we end by lighting candles in the living room, playing deep house music, and coworking until 12 or 1 a.m.
San Francisco pushes me to dream bigger, while Australia keeps me grounded
Most people in San Francisco are very tech-obsessed, so I don’t like to spend more than two months here at a time. I usually go back to Australia to spend time with my family and ground myself, or I go to a place like Bali, where there’s a focus on well-being.
The hardest part about being away from Australia is definitely the distance, both personally and professionally. Many of our early supporters and part of our team are still in Australia, and our customer base is split between there and the US.
My whole family’s back home. When my niece was born, I wish I could’ve just teleported back. However, the balance has helped me stay a bit more sane and appreciate both places more.
Do you have a tech relocation story to share? If so, please reach out to the reporter at tmartinelli@businessinsider.com.
