You don't need to be in San Francisco. I'm building from Surat.
The internet made location matter less for building, and more for perspective. Field notes on building a product for a global audience from a city better known for diamonds and textiles.
When people picture a software founder, they usually picture a specific kind of place. A big tech city, a coworking space, a coffee shop full of laptops and pitch decks.
I am building from Surat.
If you know Surat, you probably know it for diamonds and textiles. It is a city of traders and makers, not exactly the first name that comes up in startup conversations.
I think that is fine. Maybe even useful.
The internet flattened the map
A decade ago, where you lived shaped who you could reach. Today, a product built anywhere can be discovered everywhere.
My customers do not care where my desk is. They care whether the product solves their problem. The tools I use are the same tools founders use in any major tech hub. The platforms where I share my work are the same platforms everyone else uses.
The map has not disappeared, but it matters a lot less for building than it used to.
What location still changes
Location still matters. Just not in the way people assume.
It changes your perspective. If everyone around you is building the same kind of startup, chasing the same kind of funding, and reading the same posts, it is easy to start thinking the same thoughts.
Being a little outside that bubble means fewer people tell you what is “obviously” the right move. You have to think it through yourself. That can be slower, but the thinking is yours.
What I borrow from the city
Surat runs on business fundamentals, and I think founders anywhere can learn from that mindset:
- Margins matter. A business has to make sense, not just make noise.
- Relationships matter. A lot of business here runs on trust built over years. That is not so different from building an audience.
- Craft matters. Cutting a diamond rewards patience and precision. So does building a product people trust.
None of that requires being in a famous startup city. It requires doing the work well.
The real disadvantages
I do not want to pretend there are none.
Being far from big tech hubs means fewer chance meetings with other founders, fewer in-person events, and less of the “someone you know knows someone” effect.
The way I compensate is the same way I approach distribution in general: show up online, on purpose. Write in public. Share the process. Talk to people directly. If chance encounters are rare, you create more surface area for them to happen online.
That is a big part of why I am writing here every week and posting on social. It is not just marketing. It is how a founder outside the usual hubs builds a network.
If you are building from a “non-startup” city
You are not behind because of your postcode.
You might have to be more intentional about community. You might have to explain what you do a few more times. But you also have something valuable: distance from the noise, and a perspective most of the crowd does not have.
Build from wherever you are. Just make sure the internet can find you.
Post twelve of writing in public. If you are building from a city people do not associate with startups, I would love to hear from you: email me.