Stranded Technologies Podcast

Adeo Ressi is an iconic entrepreneur, investor, and teacher. He is the CEO of VC Lab, which runs the leading venture capital accelerator. He is also the Executive Chairman of the Founder Institute, the world's largest pre-seed accelerator.Adeo has launched more than 14 venture capital funds and founded 11 startups, having nearly $2 billion in exits before the age of 30.Adeo speaks about his mission with VC Lab. VC Lab has to date accelerated 236 new VC firms and reduced the time to start a fund from 18-24 months down to 5.8 months.VC Lab is designed to turn venture capital into a force for good in the world.Traditionally, VC is an exclusive club and accessible only in select locations like Silicon Valley, New York, London, Berlin, etc.Regions like Latam or Africa need entrepreneurship the most to solve local problems, but the locally available capital is predatory.It is no accident that venture capital has not yet scaled globally: as so often, the barriers are regulatory. The "dinosaurs of the industry" have set up moats.Starting a VC fund is a black box, and requires a significant amount of upfront capital for legal fees to comply with a set of onerous laws.VC Lab is solving the problem by creating a full-stack: a free acceleration program, standardized legal advice in three domiciles, and fund management software.VC Lab is doing more than anyone to globalize access to VC by reducing the barriers to starting a fund for managers committed to the ethical principles of the Mensarius Oath, thereby unleashing a new wave of innovation through entrepreneurship.Towards the end of the episode, Niklas comments on why he chose VC Lab and how it helped him start Infinita VC.Check out VC Lab if you're thinking of starting a VC fund (applications for Cohort 10 are open): https://govclab.com/Infinita Linktree: https://linktr.ee/infinitavc This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitacitytimes.com

Dan Epstein is Director at Trust Ventures, a VC fund helping entrepreneurs overcome regulatory challenges.As a political economist and regulatory litigator, Dan is uniquely positioned to understand the politics, law, and economics of regulation and how it affects entrepreneurs at the forefront of technology.Studying and practicing regulatory litigation on both the government side, and the entrepreneurs' side led Dan to surprising and important insights.Insights that are essential for any entrepreneur.You may not think of yourself as a regulatory entrepreneur yet, but maybe you are.According to Dan, entrepreneurship is about redefining an industry. Uber or Lyft is not a taxi company but invented the ride-sharing business.It's important for regulatory entrepreneurs to think about this because the existing industry is regulated not to fend off competitors and get a ticket to survival.Dan and Niklas develop some nuanced views about regulation and charter important territory for how to navigate the complex regulatory landscape.While the U.S. regulatory state is sclerotic, we do see hope for sustained activism, "right to try" regulations, and sunset clauses, as well as using the playbooks that are increasingly being developed for regulatory entrepreneurs.As VCs, we also see increasing international competition for jurisdiction, and entrepreneurs have the opportunity to choose.There are challenges, but there are exciting opportunities on the horizon for regulatory entrepreneurs.Infinita Discord: https://discord.gg/dwbNh7NKNiklas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NiklasAnzingerInfinita Website: https://infinitavc.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitacitytimes.com

Niklas speaks with Thibault Serlet, the Director of Research at the Adrianopole Group, a firm providing intelligence on special economic zones (SEZs)Thibault is one of the world's leading thinkers on the past, present and future of governance innovation through SEZs.SEZs are business parks that are geographically walled off from the countries that they're in, and they have their own laws.The most famous examples are Shenzhen, China and Dubai, UAE, which both were growing into modern megacities and hubs of technology & prosperity.With the Open Zone Map Project, Thibault found more than 5.000 SEZs worldwide, a fact that is little known in the Western world.SEZs have a fascinating history, including the trade and export hubs of Europe starting in Champagne, France, proto-venture funding of city captures by crusaders, and as a tool to modernize an economy of 1bn+ people in post-Mao China.What makes SEZs so interesting is that they make governance innovation possible on a small scale, something that is not possible on a large scale due to entrenched interests. Successful innovations can then scale.That makes SEZs a laboratory for the future, both when it comes to governance innovation, and when it comes to harboring innovative firms or individuals.We talk about the pitfalls of governance innovation, such as the failed libertarian attempts since the 1960s Operation Atlantis.Also like anything, SEZs can be used for horrible things like human trafficking in the Golden Triangle in Laos.SEZs are a tool and can be used for good and bad.To illustrate their potential, Thibault talks how they could be used to test policies to combat climate change, such as a carbon tax or a biodiversity futures market.SEZs and governance innovation are at the heart of unleashing the potential of stranded technologies and start a new wave of technological progress.Infinita Discord: https://discord.gg/dwbNh7NKNiklas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NiklasAnzingerInfinita Website: https://infinitavc.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitacitytimes.com

Niklas speaks with Eli Dourado, a senior research fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University.Eli is also a blogger, investor, and self-described "regulatory hacker".Eli and Niklas have a conversation about many things technology, innovation, and regulatory bottlenecks. His breadth of knowledge includes aviation, energy, housing, cryptocurrency, biotech, cybersecurity, and many more areas.Eli has a background in regulatory and technology policy. He was involved in initiatives such as saving the internet from UN regulation and the debate about noise limits in civil aviation, in his role as a public policy specialist at Boom Supersonic.Energy is the key to a better future. The major regulatory mistake was the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which led to a major slowdown in the adoption of nuclear energy and hampered America's ability to build new infrastructure.Eli sees potential for modular and small-scale nuclear power. He also sees geothermal energy as a major potential source of clean energy, made possible by better drilling techniques developed during the hydraulic fracturing boom.Generally, Eli sees the pro-progress camp aligned with the environmental movement. The major disagreement he has is with the de-growth camp. Instead, to solve environmental challenges more economic growth is needed.Economic growth is at the heart of improving society in all areas and developing better solutions for problems such as climate change.After a Tour de France through many promising areas in technology, Eli is optimistic that entrepreneurs can overcome the regulatory challenges that often come with adoption. It's hard, but it can be fun, and come with a moat for your businesses.Infinita Discord: https://discord.gg/dwbNh7NKNiklas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NiklasAnzingerInfinita Website: https://infinitavc.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitacitytimes.com

Niklas speaks with Mark Lutter. Mark is the Founder and Chairman of the Charter Cities Institute, a non-profit which is building the ecosystem for charter cities. Mark has a PhD in economics from George Mason University.Mark also has a podcast called the Charter Cities Podcast, a fantastic listen to learn about this fascinating movement.Mark and Niklas start by talking about how they both became more motivated to pursue experimentation to fix or build alternatives to government institutions as a result of the covid-19 pandemic, and how they hope charter cities can propel new technology development such as biotech and longevity or drone delivery.Mark talks about charter cities, how to finance them and the many other challenges involved in building them. First and foremost, charter cities are a political challenge and require local partnerships and buy-in from national governments.Mark believes an optimistic scenario could lead to charter cities having 3 million residents in ten years with growth rates 1-2 percentage points higher than the surrounding region. Charter cities have a very long time horizon and are up against the inherent stability of existing institutions: people typically don't move unless there is a really strong motivation such as political or religious persecution, or instability.This stickiness of existing institutions is something Mark believes is often underestimated by proponents of "network states" such as Balaji Srinivasan. While charter cities have overlaps with network states, Mark believes there is not enough migration flow out of developed countries with bad institutions - the much stronger force pressure to migrate is from developed to developing countries.Mark cautions against claiming the sacred concept of political sovereignty and instead opts for partnerships with governments. He sees the biggest potential for charter cities in Africa, because of the strong urbanization ratesMark is a key thought leader in the charter cities space, and achieved tremendous success in increasing awareness and developing the right templates through the Charter Cities Institute - it was fascinating to have Mark on to share his learnings!Infinita Discord: https://discord.gg/dwbNh7NKNiklas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NiklasAnzingerInfinita Website: https://infinitavc.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitacitytimes.com

Niklas synthesizes insights after thinking about regulation & innovation by talking to experts and practitioners for more than 8 months.Why are regulations important?John Maynard Keynes observed that capital accumulation and technical improvements enabled economic growth.Keynes calculated that with 2% growth per year, the economic pie increased by 7.5x in 100 years. If it would be 5%, it’s 130x our current level of wealth.That would lead to an age of superabundance.Regulations have a much larger impact on those than immediately obvious. They directly affect Keynes' factors of capital accumulation and technical improvements.If we want to reach an age of superabundance, we need to look at our process for making rules that impact hundreds of millions of peopleThe 10 theses are:(1) Our knowledge of the multi-layer effects of government regulation is comparable with medieval doctors' knowledge about the human body.(2) It is an obfuscation to equate regulation with government regulation. There are many more ways for achieving the same effects.(3) Our association of regulation with stability is influenced by pro-authority bias.(4) Regulation mostly targets groups that are unpopular with the majority.(5) Government regulation mostly follows as an overreaction to public events.(6) We regulate seen consequences and disregard unseen consequences.(7) In the absence of binding obligations, public officials have a herd mentality.(8) Most business regulations fail because they don’t address the Safety Paradox.(9) The main problem with regulation is the process of how we make decisions.(10) Bad regulations are hard to get rid of (Machiavelli Effect).Towards the end, Niklas discusses different solutions such as ethical exit, jurisdictional shopping, competition, and experimentation in governance.Over the coming episodes of this podcast, we'll get more in-depth about solutions, entrepreneurs that achieved the impossible, what promising governance experiments are underway and how to achieve 100x growth for humanity.Please send feedback and guest wishes to Niklas:Discord: https://discord.gg/dwbNh7NKTwitter: https://twitter.com/NiklasAnzingerEmail: niklas@infinitafund.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitacitytimes.com

Niklas speaks with Santiago Pinzon, the founder and CEO of ORKID.ORKID aims to revolutionize healthcare in Latin America through autonomous drone delivery. In this episode, we talk about technological and regulatory challenges in the aviation industry, and how to unlock a future of rapid logistics.Aviation is a fascinating industry that has developed high safety standards and technology that leads to extremely safe passenger flights.However, we note something we call the "safety paradox". High safety standards lock in old technology to the detriment of experimentation with new technology, which could, inadvertently be even safe and have massive benefits.The developed world has made it very hard for the commercial drone industry. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) applies the same standards to non-passenger drones as to passenger aircraft, i.e. drone delivery is regulated like an airline.Standards developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) are not mandatory, but most countries abide by them because they lack the knowledge to assess new technologies or the willingness to try something new.However, there are good news. A company named Zipline has been invited by a forward-thinking government administration in Rwanda to trial healthcare deliveries via drones. The success was amazing: reduced maternity mortality by 50-60%.ORKID is close to a breakthrough with the regulator in Brazil, a country proud of its aviation industry, to start operations in Sao Paolo. Special jurisdictions like Prospera are similarly promising for drone adoption, and islands are a great use case.The future of rapid logistics is coming, and ORKID is on the forefront!Niklas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NiklasAnzingerInfinita Website: https://infinitafund.com/Discord: https://discord.gg/Z4H6UjbubK This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitacitytimes.com

Niklas talks with Joshua Scigala, the Co-Founder and CEO of TheStandard.io, which offers over-collateralized stablecoins backed by Gold, Bitcoin and Ethereum.Josh and Niklas talk about the recent events surrounding the collapse of FTX, the crypto trading platform. Josh has been in the industry since 2010 and has seen many collapses and creative destruction over the years. He believes the industry has a way of overcoming failed experiments and bad ideas by writing better code.Better code instead of laws and regulation is at the heart of the ethos of DeFi.Secondly, we talk about stablecoins and Josh's mission to create a privatized and decentralized Gold Standard for the 21st century.Stablecoins create access to the financial innovation of the crypto ecosystem while allowing a host of important everyday transactions. Unlike algorithmic stablecoins, TheStandard.io is backed by rare assets, i.e. Gold, Bitcoin and Ethereum.The Standard aims to solve inflation by leveraging devaluation to work for savers, not against them. Besides leveraging rare assets, TheStandard.io also aims to innovate when it comes to decentralized governance through prediction markets.The pace of financial innovation in DeFi is mesmerizing, but the industry is threatened on multiple fronts by bad PR and regulatory overreach. However, they survived multiple crises and came out stronger by building antifragile systems.Join us on the mission to create a better, decentralized financial system for the Prospera Fintech & DeFi Summit 2022 (Nov 18-20).Niklas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NiklasAnzingerInfinita VC Website: https://infinitavc.com/Discord: https://discord.gg/Z4H6UjbubK This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitacitytimes.com

David K. Levine is an economist at the European University Institute and at Washington University in St. Louis. He is the author of Michele Boldrin of "Against Intellectual Monopoly", an empirical study of the economics of intellectual property (available for free here) that concludes that IP is not necessary for innovation and as a practical matter is damaging to growth, prosperity, and liberty.IP law allegedly offers protection of innovation, most importantly in the form of patents and copyright. Most economists see IP protection as a "necessary evil". However, David believes they are in fact an unnecessary evil.While IP laws do increase the reward for the innovator through a legally granted monopoly to produce and sell a unique product, they also have perverse effects such as making it costly and cumbersome to use other inventions, and they reward the inventor with better lawyers over the inventor with the better innovation.So-called "patent trolls", for example, deliberately patent everything they can and sue other people to extract money. Surprisingly, many of the most famed inventors in history such as James Watts (steam engine) and the Wright Brothers (airplanes) turn out to be patent trolls. James Watts' predatory use of patent laws against his competitors had possibly delayed the Industrial Revolution by two decades.David uses multiple examples from the music industry to the pharma industry to show that the alleged benefits of IP law are in fact empirically not demonstrated.IP law is, therefore, a great example of a pernicious regulation that is holding back innovation not only in one but in many different industries across the board from media production, software, and financial markets all the way to pharma.This episode offers deep insights into the history and mechanics of innovation. We learn about the so-called "lifecycle of innovation". Innovation typically starts with tinkerers and hobbyists, becomes a professional industry, and develops wide use of patents only late in its development to sustain the privilege of incumbents.It shows that we need to develop a much better understanding of innovation as a process that requires permissionless tinkering.Niklas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NiklasAnzingerInfinita Website: https://infinitavc,com/Discord: https://discord.gg/Z4H6UjbubK This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitacitytimes.com

Niklas speaks with Caroline Cochran, the COO and co-founder of Oklo, joined by special guest Mac Davis, the CEO of Minicircle.Oklo is revolutionizing nuclear energy to create a clean energy future.Nuclear energy is probably the best example of a stranded technology. It has the potential to give us a low-to-no-cost, low-to-no-carbon future economy - but it is held back by industry stagnation, political obstacles and regulatory strangulation.In this episode, we'll learn about Oklo and Caroline's mission, and how so-called "powerhouses", micro-scale advanced fission power plants that are orders of magnitude safer than old nuclear power plans, can disrupt the energy industry.The safety of these micro-plants is by design, using metal fuels. If the fuel expands through heat, the metal expands to shut down the reaction.Caroline explains the process of convincing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), a regulatory agency that has not licensed a single commercial nuclear power plant from application to start of operations since its beginnings in 1974.While the process can be slow and expensive, Caroline also observes that their path has been one of much faster iteration and that nuclear is increasingly on a path to greater acceptance.Oklo is on track to build the first NRC-licensed nuclear reactors, paving the way for a nuclear revival to produce cheap and clean electricity that is advancing humanity in the fight again climate change and accelerating technological progress.Niklas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NiklasAnzingerInfinita Website: https://infinitafund.com/Discord: https://discord.gg/Z4H6UjbubK This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitacitytimes.com