Silicon Valley is built on the demand by NASA and the military industry in the regions. Now angels are chasing successful deals there just because of historical reasons it all started there.
In small Bulgaria there are already 3 start-up accelerators.
Your account is kind of virtual asset/liability. It should be possible to throw it away when you no longer want it.
In forums where you input is important for the overall experience:
- username could become "deleted_account_42"
- you personal details completely removed from the database
- random password assigned to this account.
And voila!
This is due to mediocre middle/upper management. For them it is a huge difference if you are the building next to theirs or in some rural area, although in both cases you will communicate through the wire.
The business is already global, soon or later they'll have to accept this.
You've pretty much outlined all the pros and cons of working remotely. However working remotely is not so common in Europe than it is in US. Probably Europe is lacking behind with 5+ years, because most of the companies here are still on the "top-notch MBA consulting" staff. I still meet people who make their living from 2 excel files they copied from their Big4 internship :)
You said you are the only guy outside US. Have you tries looking for something "nearby"?
For me the interesting part was the tablet he brought back from DPRK. It contained 70+ books with their leader' speeches, but they somehow customized the Android so it is not possible to extract them :D
In small Bulgaria there are already 3 start-up accelerators.