Live in a van, run a Silicon Valley startup

It was in the split second after I offered her a lift that I realized my mistake.

She was a very high-profile Internet entrepreneur and seasoned investor — someone I was keen to impress. We’d just left an event in Palo Alto and she asked me if I was driving back to Mountain View.

As we walked back to my vehicle, I remembered that my passenger seat was currently sporting my boxer shorts, socks and t-shirt from the day before. In the passenger door pocket was my toothbrush, some toilet paper (unused — of course — who do you take me for?) and other detritus.

In addition, my ride isn't exactly conventional, nor inconspicuous. I'm driving a large van with "Welcome to California" graffitied on one side and "Greetings from New York City" on the other.

It looks like I've just steamed into Silicon Valley from Haight-Ashbury, circa 1967, about the time my mother made her trip to the hippie Mecca. Almost 50 years later, I'm on batch 007 of 500 Startups, having made the trip from the U.K. to the digital Mecca of Silicon Valley to participate in one of the most exclusive startup accelerators in the world with my company, 3Sourcing.

You see, I'm not just driving this van, but living in it as well. If any of you have spotted a shivering British guy in his boxer shorts exiting a colourful van in the milky dawn light of Silicon Valley, that’s probably me. By day I am an Internet entrepreneur, by night I'm on the streets, kinda.

Which brings with it some challenges and interesting juxtapositions. The Tesla-driving musclemen who frequent the Equinox gym at 7 a.m. in PA might wonder why a spindly, bedraggled guy wanders in, ignores the machines, weights and pool, heading straight for the toilet and shower, only to leave 20 minutes later, transformed superman-style, into someone who looks vaguely respectable — without doing a single bit of exercise.