The startup toolkit

the office for digital nomads.

5 min read ◦ by Martin Stübler

Intro

We have all wondered how little we would need to be happy. 

Can I go travel the world with a 30 L backpack or do I need 50 L? For our office space this has been a very similar question for many of us during the global COVID pandemic. Converted to digital nomads many people have started to move south to find better living conditions and work life balance in tempered climate. But what about our cosy office setup at home, the split screens and office chair? The question that we are trying to answer here is, how minimalistic can we go on an office setup without compromising on good posture or eyesight. 

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❝ Choosing your place to work from is one of the big advantages of a post-COVID society and a privilege people are discovering now ❞

Martin Stübler

Main

After much persuasion from friends and my mentors at the Founders Institute I have finally decided to share the minimal-office setup optimized over the past 2 years. The list below consists of the 5 items needed to have an ergonomic office space wherever you go. The entire office fits into the back compartment of my backpack and is hence always with me wherever I go, no matter if I’m sitting a friends couch and have 15 min to check Emails or of if I’m on the beach waiting for the next beach volleyball set to start. 

We are all familiar with the textbook drawings of the perfect computer-posture saying something along the lines of, upper edge of the monitor should be an inch below eye hight, forearms parallel to the ground, shoulders back and down etc. The single most important items on this list to get close to our textbook drawing is the notebook stand and if you only get one thing then it should be a raised notebook stand. The second most important item is the external keyboard. I’m used to a US-keyboard so I tested the Liggitech K380 (45$) and the Apple magic keyboard (100$) and went with the more expensive apple product. I did not regret the choice as I’m using it for the biggest part of my waking hours and I just love the key-space and haptic properties of the materials. (Also the battery life is outer worldly, I’m typing on it for almost 3 month ~8h/day and the battery shows still 80%) For the mouse I went for the cheapest and lightest model I could find (Logitech Pebble M350 ~35$) as it’s not very important to me. The little rodent is still holding up after 3 months so I think it was a good decision. Last but not least get yourself covers for the most valuable items in your office. Believe me you will appreciate a good cover for your notebook or keyboard as soon as you set down your bag and a bike runs into it, a dogs starts to mark on bagback in the park or a volleyball+ sand hits your backpack at the beach. I made the covers for notebook, keyboard, and stand out of some cardboard + plenty of duck tape. Doesn’t look pretty and hence provides an additional layer of protection against theft.

  1. Notebook (malus domestica PRO)
  2. Notebook stand: Shred rack (www.shredrack.com) or any other brand, as long as raised
  3. Keyboard (malus domestica magic keyboard)
  4. Mouse (Logitech, Pebble, M350)
  5. DIY protective covers for Notebook, key board, notebook stand and mouse

Open office in Barcelona

Co-working in Zürich

Hot desk in Vienna

Conclusions

Take care of yourself, your daily posture impacts your personal well being. Spend a few bucks on your office setup, it will be money spent wisely. My entire setup amounts to less than 200$ and I could have probably got it for half the price when I would have not bought the magic keyboard. Considering that a single physiotherapist hours required to improve a bad posture, often correlated to chronical back pain, costs often much more than that. I am seeing too many people at Co-working bent over their notebooks in an almost perfect 90 deg angle, shoulders forward and neck extended maximally towards the screen. 

PLEASE DON’T BE LIKE ONE OF THEM 

Please sit upright, relax, keep your shoulders back, your forearms parallel to the ground and your fingers relaxed. Don’t believe me, just try it yourself.

 

Additional tips that I found useful:

  1. If possible put yourself in a position with side-light, not direct from the front (e.g. you looking out a window) nor from the back (with your back towards the window).
  2. Focus actively to relax every part in your body that is not actively involved in the task, e.g. focus on relaxing your body from the waist down if this feels comfortable to you.
  3. Blink as often as comfortable, refocus on a distant object , shake and stretch yourself if comfortable.
  4. Get a humidifier, ambient relative humidity is closely related to eye-soreness. For myself I try to keep my work environment above 40% humidity to help my eyes relaxe. Alternatively you can also resolve to palming your eyes for 1-3 min every hour.

About the Author

Martin has moved to Barcelona in early 2020 in anticipation of this global pandemic. His work as a biotech consultant for several stealth startups in Europe and the US is 100% remote. Starting in 2021 his first company Biofluff and working remotely with US based team members forced him to create a mini-office setup that he could use everywhere. 

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