My name is Andre Põlm. I´m a happy person, a wanderer, a nomad, a serial entrepreneur and a life-long learner. I am from Estonia. I´ve lived the expat life in Denmark, Australia, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in Brazil. I´ve traveled to 57 countries on 6 continents. Started and run tens of businesses and projects in 7 countries. I´ve had some great times and some hard hits. Yet, I´ve enjoyed every moment of the experience, despite all the challenges on the road.

The Marvelous City of Rio de Janeiro woke up the inspiration in me, to finally put down my experiences on paper. This lifestyle has taught me a lot and I´ve put together a recipe for a happy life abroad, for a life of growth and learning, and for finding the courage to go and overcoming the fears. The fears that we all have, in one form or another. 

ExpatYears focuses on my life in Rio de Janeiro as a startup founder. As if the usual culture shock wouldn´t be enough... I added the unpredictability of the startup world to the mix. It was a crazy ride.

ExpatYears is not just a travel book. While I write very openly about my personal road and the stories, then I explain the learning points through the prism of neuroscience, psychology, growth mindset, and spirituality. I focus on the best tool that we have in our toolbox – the brain.

For research I´ve lived the life of an expat, taken online neuroscience courses from Harvard and others, NLP courses, traveled to an ashram in India, interviewed other expatriates, not to mention the countless books and articles on the subject matter.