James and his partner Danielle have an enviable working set-up - they live and work on a sailing boat! They bought it after saving up money from their startups. Together they work on their products Leave Me Alone, an email unsubscribe tool and Ellie, an AI writing tool. I spoke to James about sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, mistakes that bootstrappers make and the pros and cons of building an AI product.
What’s the best and worst thing about living on a boat while building a startup?
Even before buying a sailboat, the reason we became digital nomads was for the freedom it grants. But nothing is more freeing than being on the sea 😄 We are able to work from anywhere using Starlink, and the changing scenery keeps us inspired and creative.
The worst parts are the unpredictable nature of this lifestyle. We’re constantly at the mercy of weather conditions, which can easily disrupt both sailing plans and work schedules. At the end of the day the boat must come first, and our work schedules have to fit around whatever else is happening.
How was it crossing the Atlantic Ocean with just a crew of 3?
It was an intense and rewarding experience! It required meticulous planning, a deep trust in each other, and a solid understanding and confidence in our boat Nayru.
Our third crewmate was a very close friend whom we have known for 10+ years - someone that we already knew extremely well. We know some friends who took hitchhikers with them - complete strangers in some cases - which sounds much more risky! But there's a unique kind of camaraderie that forms when you're relying on each other in the middle of nowhere, and in stressful situations!
We had a lot of things break, requiring two trips up the mast, and had a few leaks, so that last part is quite important! We didn’t have a spiritual awakening or anything from the experience like some people say they get. My main takeaway is that it’s probably good for your mental and physical health to make big changes in your life periodically.
In our case this meant no access to the internet, so no social media, no distractions for three weeks. We all read a lot of books! And from a health perspective we ate zero processed foods, drank no alcohol, and had no meat on board (except for two fish that we caught).
These are both things that I’m going to try and do more regularly in my life. Although we also did nearly zero exercise (it’s a small boat), which I wouldn’t recommend - I blew out my knee on my first big walk after being back on land 😅
How and why did you get the boat in the first place?
We accidentally stumbled upon the world of cruisers through YouTube during the COVID lockdowns, when we couldn’t travel ourselves. Watching others live and work from their sailboats, we were captivated by the uniqueness of the lifestyle. We were initially a bit surprised by how cheap it could be (we’d assumed sailing was only for the super rich), and also that we’d never thought of it before 😂
We were already passionate divers and loved the ocean. So cruising immediately seemed like a great fit for us! After years of grinding on our startups, getting Nayru felt like both a reward and a new beginning.
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