New Startup – I’m Building a Life
My first answer to "what is a good life" - and why it turned out to be only half of it.
I wrote this in September 2024, a year after we landed in Thailand. I’ve added a note at the end from two years later, in June 2026.
In 2023, we relocated the family to Koh Samui, Thailand, without any planning, with just 9 hours’ notice.
We packed for two weeks, but we’ve been improvising life here for almost a year now.
In my previous life, I more or less knew what the next 10 years would look like - where we would live, how we’d make a living, how we’d raise the kids, who our friends would be, and who we’d turn to for help or advice, etc.
In this new life, there’s mostly uncertainty. We don’t know anyone, and I can’t say where we’ll be or what we’ll be doing a year from now, let alone a decade.
Despite the difficulty, I’ve come to realize I’ve been given a rare opportunity as an entrepreneur - the chance to build a new life.
So, what does success look like in this new life project?
My answer changes with age. As a young entrepreneur at 25, I measured success mostly in terms of money and assets.
Now, I’m the father of two little rebels, ages 5 and 6, who look up to me in admiration and crave my attention.
I have a short window of opportunity to be the hero in their lives; soon they’ll grow up, and for the rest of my life, I’ll be the one looking at them in admiration and wanting their attention.
like in the song Cat’s in the Cradle:
“When you coming home, son?”
“I don’t know when”
But we’ll get together then, dad
You know we’ll have a good time then
That’s one of my biggest fears - I don’t want to miss the brief time I have to be my kids’ hero.
When people ask older folks about their regrets in life, a common theme emerges - wishing they had spent more time with family, loved ones, or doing things that brought joy and meaning, rather than focusing excessively on career or work.
For me, success right now is the ability to control my time, to choose to spend it with my kids and the people I love.
In the spirit of the Open Startup, I’ll share what I’m learning as I build this new life - how I’m creating an income to support my family while optimizing for control over my time instead of focusing on money.
Update - two years on (June 2026)
I still believe everything I wrote here. But it turned out to be only half the answer — and the story got more complicated than I expected.
For a while, I had it: the freedom, control over my time, a business that supported the family without eating my life. By the measure I set in this post, I’d succeeded.
Two things happened since.
First, somewhere near the top, I felt empty. I’d gotten the freedom I was chasing, and it turned out not to be enough on its own. Having the time was one thing; knowing what to do with it was another. I had the hours, but not much that felt worth pouring them into - and that left me restless.
Second, the business that gave me that freedom ended. So I’m building income again - but with a clearer idea of what I’m looking for this time. Not just freedom, and not just money. Also work that actually means something to me.
That’s what this is now. Figuring out how to build a life with all three - time, money, and meaning - and writing it down as I go.