Meet Indian-origin man who bought island, runs a tech school from there, wants to turn in into..., located in...

A private island owned by an Indian-American entrepreneur might be a new country where only “startup founders and gymrats”. Balaji Srinivasan is the former CTO of Coinbase and author of The Network State who has opened ‘The Network School’ which is a three-month educational retreat launched in September 2024 ans is an archetype of his visionary idea of creating “network states” which are decentralized and constituted by digitally native community that is generated through online means and gradually secure real-world territory and governance. 

Nick Peterson, who is a student resident of Balaji Srinivasan’s Network School, has shared a video of a normal day schedule at the school which is housed on the same island that Srinivasan bought. He captioned it, “This is what it looks like when you bet on curiosity….and move to a startup society on an abandoned island.” In the video, he shared the exact times at which he does his daily work, from getting up early in the morning to going to bed early at night. The houses that the residents live in, eating at specific times, even doing exercises and meditation shows a productive way of working daily.  

Who is Balaji Srinivasan? 

An Indian-origin American entrepreneur, Balaji Srinivasan is an investor. He has also co-founded Counsyl, was the former chief technology officer (CTO) of Coinbase, and former general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. His parents were physicians and immigrants to the United States from the Indian South state of Tamil Nadu. 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Nick Peterson (@nickpeterson17)

His educational qualification boasts of degrees like BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. Srinivasan announced that he bought the island, in a Substack post in August 2024. After obtaining the island, he wrote, “starting a new school near Singapore for the dark talent of the world”. In his post he said, “We got an island. That’s right. Through the power of Bitcoin, we now have a beautiful island near Singapore where we’re building the Network School.” 

Srinivasan hopes to build a digital community that is decentralised, spread globally and gains a status that of a real world, an actual country. In the Network school, the residents share common values and goals mostly around tech, crypto, or innovation. Its purpose is to “revitalize democracy for the internet era” and to “pursue truth, health, and wealth by leveling up our attendees personally, physically, and professionally.”