Entrepreneurial section?
There's lots of details on engineering and so on but where is the section for entrepreneurial progress? If we think of a seastead as a kind of seagoing business park, shouldn't TSI be signing up businesses as early as possible to get continued funding? I have a few business ideas that could benefit from the unique legal position of residing on a seastead but what's the point of pursuing venture capital if no one else is? Who are the other people here who are interested in starting a business running on a seastead?
Clayton -
Agreed Clayton,
Also, seastead R&D/Manufacturers like ODSI and Hadean International(Formerly GENESIS) were both started in the "Crazy Ideas" section... not the best sub-forum to post business concepts. And smith, you've got it backwards, businesses are solution providers. If a solid engineering plan already exists, it's competition.
King Shannon of the Constitutional Monarchy of Logos.
businesses are solution providers. If a solid engineering plan already exists, it's competition.
I disagree. If, as Clayton said, you think of a seastead as a "seagoing business park" then you have to think like a business park.
If you own a business park in a high-crime, poverty-stricken, run-down part of town then what businesses are going to want to come to you? Plus if the buildings in your park are falling down or constructed poorly it doesn't matter how nice you make the rent...businesses just won't come.
Same thing goes for seasteads. If you want businesses to come and setup shop on your seastead...or if you want investors to put money into it...you need to present solid engineering and infrastructure plans. The questions you need to answer are many. Will it float? Is it safe? Will retail space be cheaper than on land? Are we protected if we do illegal things? How will customers get there? What about pirates? Etc etc etc. Without the answers to those questions, and dozens of others, there is no point talking to potential investors/business partners.
businesses are solution providers. If a solid engineering plan already exists, it's competition.
I disagree. If, as Clayton said, you think of a seastead as a "seagoing business park" then you have to think like a business park.
If you own a business park in a high-crime, poverty-stricken, run-down part of town then what businesses are going to want to come to you? Plus if the buildings in your park are falling down or constructed poorly it doesn't matter how nice you make the rent...businesses just won't come.
Same thing goes for seasteads. If you want businesses to come and setup shop on your seastead...or if you want investors to put money into it...you need to present solid engineering and infrastructure plans. The questions you need to answer are many. Will it float? Is it safe? Will retail space be cheaper than on land? Are we protected if we do illegal things? How will customers get there? What about pirates? Etc etc etc. Without the answers to those questions, and dozens of others, there is no point talking to potential investors/business partners.
Well, the technical problem of being afloat has already been solved by ships. As far as I understand, initial TSI plans will likely start small with the purchase of an existing ship anchored in the EEZ and they would like to do it within two years. If TSI doesn't plan to host for-profit businesses in this ship to take advantage of the legal status of the ship, then what is the point? And if for-profit businesses will be hosted there, then the technical and business aspects can be pursued in parallel... I have absolute faith that cost-effective solutions to all the technical problems can be found... the question I have, then, is who else wants to invest and/or go solicit venture capital with new venture ideas? My venture pitch will be a lot more credible if I can point to 20 other venture ideas that are being pitched to other venture capitalists, meaning, the initial TSI platform is less likely to be just another HavenCo flash in the pan.
Clayton -
Well, the technical problem of being afloat has already been solved by ships.
That's not necessarily true...yes boats can float but they are not meant to be anchored in the deep ocean in one location for extended periods of time. All the technical hurdles associated with that will need to be addressed, and most investors don't have "absolute faith that cost-effective solutions to all the technical problems can be found". Can these hurdles be overcome...probably yes. But investors are going to want to know what those solutions are before investing their money or signing a contract to put their business on your seastead.
If TSI doesn't plan to host for-profit businesses in this ship to take advantage of the legal status of the ship, then what is the point?
Again, you assume that the ship will have a "legal status" that certain types of businesses can take advantage of. There is no certainty that this is the case, and if you expect this to be an added value for potential businesses then you need to show them absolute proof that this will be the case. You cannot pursue the legal and business aspects in parallel...you need to have a solid legal basis before you even sit down with the first potential business partner.
For example, let's say one of the businesses you want opening retail space on your seastead is a hash bar. Do you think anyone is going to do business with you unless you can guarantee them there won't be any legal repercussions? You can't say to them "Come on, open your hash bar and I have absolute faith the legal issues will work themselves out". They won't even look at the contract until you can show them that they are legally protected when operating that kind of business.
Get the engineering and legal aspects worked out first, and then you can go to potential business partners with a well-defined plan that they can understand and accept.
I've already posted a thread on the "Waterworld" floating Atoll platforms. Designed to take Category V Hurricanes, tested close to that, in real-world conditions... Find that design, get co-production rights, to commercialize it. I forget, but believe it was 6 segments with a mechanism that allowed it to flex. It used 4 deep-sea anchor points(as I recall), was partially fabbed on land, assembled at sea and then built-up from there. After filming, they towed the sections to California and reassembled it. Would that not be appropriate? Sure, the set-design wouldn't work, but the platforms and anchoring would.
Put a ferrocement wall around the outside, structures inside. Includes a handy little harbor, too. I don't have the video, anymore, but the description was given, as well as the design company(credits, maybe?).
Surely some of ya'll(if not all) have seen the movie... Could build out from that, in spoked rings. Get the art of living at sea down, then sell the idea... Surely somebody knows somebody that can get a tour and milk the info out of them.
Heck, copy the large chunks of the thing and open "Waterworld Resort." Invite a high-roller out, every now and then, give him a way to tie-up his yacht(anchored buoy?) and drum-up the finanaces that way. Start a chain, in major districts, get a demand. Even maid-services have to have a place to stay... Someone has to feed everyone... Raises the odds that someone will move to the seas, don't you think?
Not saying the monster hotel/casino won't work, but the purse-strings are pretty tight, around the world, at the moment. I don't(and won't) swim in those circles, but I wouldn't mind a chance to raise the sea-farmed, fresh shrimp, fish and oysters... Maybe the boys would like to do some fishing, while they're out... There's another business... Greenhouse, aquaponic, organic vegetables? Bet I'll grow mine, but there's another possibility... Keep it clean, don't allow more than mild drugs, no formal prostitution(awww Not saying the hosts and hostesses, boys and girls can't play... Better keep it disease-free and minimize pregnancy risks, though.)... Bouncers will be a 'must.' Everyone checks their guns and knives at the door, except, of course, the bouncers and staff, but it better be snapped in the holster, so it doesn't get snagged...
My 2 cents, anyway... Boils down to getting something going by economy of the times, technology of the times. Put it just out of sight of land, so they can pretend how far away they are...
Later,
J.L..F.
If you can't swim with the big fish, stick to the reef
Presuppose tha someone had a possibly marketable idea. Whom, here, would they actually need to contact and what level of interaction can they expect, without being shut out of the loop? I mean, it's "my" idea, but I want to see it developed through this organization, with reguards to oversight, but want "my" name on it. Who do I talk to? Maybe it's a modification of someone else's design or idea, that might be more feasible... Perhaps, using current tech. to do what the Gov't and industry believes is not possible, simply by modifying an existing methodology in a new way...
Later,
J.L..F.
If you can't swim with the big fish, stick to the reef
You aren't going to get any businesses to sign up until you have a solid engineering plan. Nobody is gonna buy retail space on your seastead if they don't even know if it will float.
Plus the plans behind that "unique legal position of residing on a seastead" haven't even been completely realized. So far it doesn't look like residing on a seastead will give anyone any unique legal positions.
So I think there is a lot more research that needs to be done before worrying about talking to venture capitalists.