So faced with the prospect of getting very lonely very quickly, Mathias devised a cunning plan.
“I decided that I would hire rooms in shared Airbnb houses, and move somewhere new every week,” he says. “That way, law of averages, I would start to make friends.”
Thankfully for Mathias his idea worked, and over the following months he slowly built up a circle of mates. But his next challenge – the holy grail – was to get himself into a “hacker house”.
A hacker house is a property shared by a number of similar young tech entrepreneurs, who are all trying to get their business proposals off the ground. The idea is that everyone can help each other and share advice, inspiration and contacts.
In mid-2014 he was finally able to get himself into such a property in Silicon Valley, but there was a catch – all 15 of the proper beds were taken. So if he wanted in, he would have to sleep on an airbed in a windowless cupboard.
Mathias, now 29, says he jumped at the chance. “I slept in that cupboard for three months. Did I feel stupid or embarrassed? Not at all.
“Being in the hacker house was invaluable. It pushed me so much as an entrepreneur. It was extremely valuable and without it I don’t think I would be where I am today.”
