The
West Coast of the US is renowned for its tech start-ups and
entrepreneurial flair but even by these standards, the idea of creating a
new “sea-stead” community for businesses off the California coast is
audacious.

A project known as Blueseed
intends, as described on its website, to “station a ship 12 nautical
miles from the coast of San Francisco, in international waters”. It
continues: “The location will allow start-up entrepreneurs from anywhere
in the world to start or grow their company near Silicon Valley,
without the need for a US work visa. The ship will be converted into a
co-working and co-living space, and will have high-speed internet access
and daily transportation to the mainland via ferry boat. So far, over
1,000 entrepreneurs from 60-plus countries expressed interest in living
on the ship. The project is backed by PayPal founder and Facebook early
investor Peter Thiel.”

That’s impressive but like all such ventures, the devil is in the
legal and political detail. There have been attempts, of varying success
and failure in the past to create such “new jurisdictions”. Only a few
weeks ago, the world was reminded that such ventures can still appear
when the self-styled Prince Roy of Sealand, otherwise known as Roy
Bates, died at the age of 91 after having created, back in the late 60s,
his own micro-jurisdiction on an abandoned anti-aircraft tower off the
UK’s East Anglia coast.

One issue is that at a time when offshore jurisdictions have been
pressured by other nations for their status as so-called tax havens, no
such location can afford to be seen as a place where people hide money.
And the US, with its worldwide approach in taxing US citizens, is
particularly assertive. As a result, any "jurisdiction entrepreneurs"
need to be very mindful of national and international law. 

As far as Blueseed’s founders are concerned, there is nothing utopian
about its venture. Also, the desire to foster entrepreneurship at a
time when immigration visas have been squeezed by recent US
administrations is an issue of direct relevance to the US wealth
management industry. Today’s rookie businessmen and women could
hopefully be tomorrow’s high net worth or ultra HNW individuals. So with
this thought in mind, Family Wealth Report recently visited San Francisco and spoke to Max Marty, chief executive, to find out more.

What, in general terms, is the Blueseed venture intending to do?

Blueseed will enable a thousand of the world's best high-tech
entrepreneurs to pursue their startups in a community tailored to their
success and located within the broader Silicon Valley ecosystem. The
community will include living and workspace, and will be located just
off the coast of the San Francisco bay area, on a vessel in
international waters.

How serious a problem is the inability of entrepreneurs and investors to enter the US?

Entrepreneurs are the engines of growth, and Silicon Valley is the
most fertile soil in the world to raise the next high-tech game changing
companies. This makes for a great combination. However the US is
hobbled with an antiquated immigration system that was never designed
for this sort of world. Because of this, many great people, great ideas,
and great advances are being left on the table. If this problem had
been remedied a decade ago, the technology industry today would probably
be years ahead of where it currently stands.

Describe the reaction of the private sector at home and abroad to Blueseed

There has been much excitement from start-ups and entrepreneurs
around the world, as well as the larger established players in the
high-tech industry. Over 300 companies and a thousand entrepreneurs from
sixty two different countries have already expressed interest in being
aboard. The Blueseed venture has been called one of the most innovative
solutions to a difficult problem that has ever come out of Silicon
Valley, and I hope that we can inspire the next generation of
entrepreneurs to similarly think outside the box.

What is the main argument that you present to lawmakers and
other policymakers about Blueseed as an important venture? What has been
the reaction so far?

Legislators and others have been very interested in the potential for
job growth that Blueseed could bring. The high-tech sector is the
fastest growing and most vibrant part of the US and global economy. Once
our start-up tenants have outgrown our facilities, many of these
companies will choose to continue their growth in Silicon Valley proper,
and this is a very enticing proposition for legislators during a
recession.

 What is the genesis of Blueseed?

Blueseed was born from my own desire to find a solution to the lack
of an entrepreneurial visa, and from my background at "The Seasteading
Institute". (This is a non-profit project devoted to studying the
conditions under which communities at sea can someday materialize as
test-beds for new ideas and ways of living.)

Who has driven this project?

Funding this project will take numerous steps and we are still early
in the journey. We've secured early financial commitments from investors
both in Silicon Valley and abroad, but this is an area we're actively
and vigorously pursuing.

When do you expect to reach sufficient funding support to take the project fully live?

Funding is always difficult to predict, but we expect to complete our
most important fundraising goals by the middle of next year.

How many people have expressed an interest in coming “on board” so far? Where are they from?

Exactly 1,054 entrepreneurs from 320 startups in 62 different
countries have expressed interest in joining our community. The US
itself makes up about a quarter of the interest: US entrepreneurs see
this as a great stepping stone to launch and get traction. The next
countries in order of number of startups are India (9.7 per cent), the
UK (5.3 per cent), Australia (4.7 per cent), Canada (4.4 per cent),
Spain (3.8 per cent), and Brazil (2.8 per cent), with the remaining ~50
per cent coming from all over the world. I don't think there will be a
more geographically diverse permanent community in existence.    

What have been the main obstacles and problems you have had to confront?

We have two primary obstacles. First, as this is a very different
idea from any other start-up, it's finding the right investors who are
looking to diversify and reach into new fields. Second, it's the large
up-front capital expense, which forces us to do our fundraising before
launching, a challenge similar to companies like TESLA or SpaceX have
faced in the past.

 There is constant change in the world of onshore/offshore jurisdictions – how do you see  Blueseed as part of that?

I believe Blueseed will spearhead a new approach. What sets us apart
from many others is that we are highly transparent, strongly connected
with the politics and players in the world's fastest growing industry
(high-tech), and we appeal to a broad and diverse audience of people who
genuinely want to see new ways to tackle old problems. I believe it is
this broad appeal and transparency that will get copied and tried in
other jurisdictional experiments around the world in the years to come,
hopefully with the same care and conscience. 

How concerned are you that the authorities in Washington might just regard BlueSeed as an “offshore” community?

Thus far we've had very good reactions from all levels of government,
from local to federal. Given the nature of our business model and our
determination to proactively address any concerns, I believe we will
have a very positive relationship with all relevant political bodies.

What particular benefits might the wealth management/financial sector see in BlueSeed and related ventures?

From the investor's point of view, Blueseed is fundamentally a
platform to enable the creation of new investment opportunities. In and
of itself, Blueseed will be hosting hundreds of start-ups at any given
time and giving investors who closely associate themselves with Blueseed
ground-floor access to opportunities many of their colleagues have no
access to. More broadly, Blueseed will likely spawn a new generation of
companies looking to address existing problems through the use of
offshore communities. Each of these will also represent new
opportunities to diversify one's investments both geographically and by
industry.

What, if any, precedents are there for this sort of venture? What lessons have been learned from others that have been tried?

There have been attempts, with mixed success, to create permanent
communities and jurisdictions at sea. Naturally the best examples of
these communities at sea would come from the oil industry, and the best
examples of new jurisdictions would probably be the experiment called
"Sealand" off the UK's coast. Naturally these examples are also quite
different from our own, but they do show life at sea for extended
durations is feasible. The cruise line industry has taken this life at
sea and made it a wonderful place to reside, if at least for shorter
durations of time. Perhaps the closest example to us in existence today
is "Residensea", the luxury vessel where many of the world's wealthiest
can purchase a residence and travel the world. 

And finally, how does Blueseed fit in with the general idea of “seasteading”?

I would consider Blueseed the first significant seasteading endeavor ever launched.