Born and raised in Switzerland, James Heim grew up close to a farm, where as a child he spent lots of time and helped out with various little chores. He went through public schooling and eventually got a master degree in economics from the University of Zurich. After graduating he worked for an international consulting company for a few years, before joining a Swiss foundation, which looks to convince (mostly) technology companies to expand their business into Switzerland. After a few years he was sent to San Francisco to set up the foundation’s presence on the US West Coast. The experiences he made while working with these technology companies make up an important part of what motivated him to write about this topic. After leaving this foundation James travelled to South East Asia for a few months, where, for the first time, he was intensely exposed to a culture much different from the one he was brought up in. His attention to the obvious differences was soon accompanied by a gro