Move to SF or die trying

December 24, 2025

Like the title says:

Move to SF or die trying

Gothenburg Sweden is amazing, and I will always love Sweden. But right now I am just too drawn to SF.

Reason 1: SF is so dense with people who are chasing the same goal as you. Everybody is looking to build their startup and succeed. That environment is something electric. One thing that you realize is that there are levels to the game. I like to refer to the example that if you think you train a lot of "boxing" or whatever and train, lets say 4 times a week 1.5 hours each session. That sure feels like a lot. But then you realize that someone who is truly passionate about boxing is stacking up the hours that took you 2 months to rack up in one week. You truly get your frame broken. SF is that exposure but in startup building. You realize that there are people who are grinding for the exact same things as you, your friends are working towards the same goal as you, the people you meet with are all involved in startups and everybody has interesting stories related to it to tell. The lack of regularity makes SF exciting.

Reason 2: Raising money in SF is 10x easier than in Gothenburg. Investors in Sweden are generally slow, cautious and with too little capital. The capital that is available in SF is SO much more than in Sweden.

Reason 3: There is something romantic about relocating while being young, moving to a country where you know nobody. It gives you the feeling that everything is possible. It just marks a new stage of your life.

Reason 4: Weather. Swedish weather sucks hard, we get no sunlight at all during the winter, what the fuck? Every summer my happiness is 10x more. The more sun exposure I get the more motivated and happy I am.

"Do not mistake risk with uncertainty." This is an overplayed statement, every unc in business likes to bring it up as motivation. But it is extremely true. What really am I losing moving to SF? Is there any risk that comes with it? If you talk about opportunity cost, not moving to SF would only make me a fool.

What sucks about moving to SF

Crazy expensive

I won't be able to afford rent, I will have to find a way around it, e.g. an incubator with housing. That is probably the goal either way.

O1 visa

The only way for me to get to SF and do what I want is to get the O1 visa. It sucks that the requirements are hard. I am working a lot on putting all the pieces together.