 My name is Naval. I'm an entrepreneur and investor out of this San Francisco Bay area Started companies like opinions and Angel list, which is the largest platform for online fundraising and startup recruiting And I'm an investor in seed stage in early companies like Twitter and Uber and Postmates and so on so forth Yeah, New Zealand actually has a lot of assets going for it, which are obvious. Obviously beautiful nature rule of law very low corruption English-speaking Kind of Western norms which are useful for doing business because A lot of the norms and doing business come from the Western world And three-hour time zone shift from Pacific time on the West Coast in the United States But it's still small enough and That it can experiment and so I think there's an opportunity here to Run this country as an incubator for systems level experiments with the understand their experiments They might fail in which case you shut them down, but You know if New Zealand were to do say 20% of the regulatory arbitrage that a Malta does It would get 10 times the business because people want to live in New Zealand It's a real country with a real culture in a certain size and scale if you were to For example, if you wanted to attract blockchain companies or drone companies or AI companies or self-driving car companies In New Zealand, it wouldn't take that much right? You could carve out one town and say this is good for self-driving car experiments You could take one open area and say this is good for all the drone experiments You could take one sector the financial sector and say okay We'll let you do crowdfunding properly and raise money for ICOs and so on within You for utility tokens and we're going to define that very clearly for you So New Zealand could run these kinds of experiments is economic experiments and do really well In a sense EHF is a very radical but very interesting low-cost experiment EHF in my mind is very much like a venture-style bet where for a very small amount of money And a very small number of visas which is like far less than get issued on an annual basis you Run a experiment where you attract the most talented people in the world and you kind of see what happens When you look at Silicon Valley or Hollywood Those areas are successful not because they create entrepreneurs or they create actors It's because they attract entrepreneurs and they attract actors and actresses So the successful cities in the United States and successful regions are attractors. They're not creators and With something like EHF and a global impact visa You're sweating every detail in every single visa And you're setting up an ecosystem to attract people who can then catalyze something larger around them So I view New Zealand as a place to run these kinds of potentially high-outcome low-cost experiments whether it's an immigration whether it's in cryptocurrency regulation whether it's in drones or Whether it's even in ecosystem design development rescue Etc. I think if you were to like Come up with a list of like the top 10 countries in the world where people would want to live where they don't already live New Zealand would make that list every time And in fact it would make that list for a broader set of reasons than some of the other countries that make that list like You know if you ask the random person in the third world like what country do you want to go to? All right, if they say United States, okay land of opportunity all that branding around that People might some people might say Switzerland or Singapore But that's for tax reasons or whatever If someone's going to Malta, they're doing it for regulatory arbitrage, right? New Zealand is people would say livability, right? It's just overall quality of life I'm hard-pressed to think of a place in the world that has higher overall quality of life and well-being and then New Zealand is kind of a Has the advantage and the disadvantage of being remote, right? Advantage in that that's what protects it if New Zealand were say on the border of Asia If if it physically shared a land border with Asia guarantee you look very different It'd be the population would be ten times as large and we wouldn't be talking about Immigration or innovation. We'd have the opposite problem. We have problems of pollution and and land use and those kinds of things so It is it is a strength that New Zealand is remote but now thanks to airplanes and the internet New Zealand can compete and participate in the global economy at a level that I don't think it could have even 20 years ago The internet is making remote work much much easier. It's spreading knowledge and know-how. It's spreading trade Asia has become such a superpower in terms of market so that having a place that is accessible to both Asia and to the west is Gives it a very unique position literally the only thing that stands between New Zealand and A Singapore Hong Kong level of economic success without the development because you don't want this place to look like Hong Kong or Singapore But in terms of the employment rates and the GDP growth and all that kind of thing Literally the only thing that's standing in the way is just a few little regulatory and immigration changes here and there would do it Now with airplanes New Zealand is very accessible and with the internet You know you can live here and do almost anything I think EHF is compelling because it is a very unique experiment It is the only place in the world where people are being incredibly thoughtful and intentional about Who is immigrating to the country and what they're doing in this country right today? If you look at most of the world Immigration is sort of this highly politicized battle where we don't want those kinds of people in the country or they're stealing our jobs Or on the flip side you have too many people Trying to get into a country and it's based on who crossed the border first or who already has a relative And there's no good system to choose and even the systems that are in place For example the the US has an H1B visa which is supposed to be a skilled visa or they've an 01 genius visa And these things get hacked they get hacked to import a certain kind of labor and they have template fillouts and so on whereas I see with EHF you have intentional immigration design and Then the amount of effort that's taken to acclimate us to New Zealand It's not like here you are welcome to New Zealand go right which is how most immigration works instead It's here are the Maori people here's the culture and the history here's what we care about in the environment Here are people who are working in different sectors and and what they need help with and what they can help you with the level of integration that's done it has to be the most Thoughtfully designed immigration program in the world and if it works well, then you could see it scaling up So it's that literally New Zealand sucks in a crazy amount of talent and creates a template for the rest of the world So I think in that sense it is a solution To the immigration problem being incubated and that is one of the biggest problems in the world today You have done a really good job of selecting People who are it is a balance of people who have done great things and people who are going to do great things and obviously There's no way of telling for sure But I look at it as a venture portfolio and you've collected a venture portfolio of a hundred and something people of whom Ten are going to do really amazing things and you can't tell which ten right now It's probably not me because I'm over the hill But you know for the younger people and there's going to be one who's going to make a significant impact on New Zealand or two Or three, but it'll be 10 or 15 years from now But it'll be a non-linear impact And I think that that's a that's a hard thing to build to manage a venture portfolio But when I look at the people they all have that characteristic There are social entrepreneurs. There are You know, there are classic technology entrepreneurs there are Resource lifestyle entrepreneurs everyone there is very self-driven very very motivated people everyone has a story Everyone has something they're hustling over something that they're trying to push out there into the world. They're all creative people They all have a point of view. So it's in that sense. It's a very very impressive group I think EHF has done as good of a job as it possibly can integrating them in a short period of time but then they just have to come back more spend more time with each other and We also the tools now where they could stay connected remotely. So I think it's quite the Petri dish you assemble and something will come out of it I think that first of all, you already have the critical mass with some great people So if you're building a new business or a new non-profit It's it's a great Coordination point to find other like-minded people It's good to get to New Zealand because it gets you out of your normal comfort zone And then you kind of have some shared experience together that builds trust very very quickly and when you're doing business or creating something trust is really important and so just putting them into the same place and Having them go through shared new experiences Is really interesting even though this is It's not really germane to my business I Found the close-up interaction with the Maori really interesting because we talk about Indigenous peoples in the United States, but they're kind of hidden away. They're on reservations. They're heavily outnumbered One doesn't see them unless one seeks them out and the level to which New Zealanders have integrated the Maori And other Pacific Islanders that the indigenous peoples who are here and the level to which they're willing to be open To welcome new people into their nation given the traumatic history of what happened here I Don't I don't know if there's another place in the world like it. It may be unique So in that sense just seeing that I think is a model Because we are going through a phase right now Maybe it's social media. Maybe it's the times who knows but it seems like all the men in the world are at war with all the women and all the You know whites are at war with the non-whites like if you go on Twitter today That's the impression you get and it's even though. I'm sure that there are many things to be resolved here Seeing an older culture like the Maori have a place where you know both men and women have power But very different kinds of power that reflect who they are and then watching them integrate into this society and this society Integrate into them. I know it's not perfect. I don't I don't know the history, but at least from here It's educational. It seems good. Yeah, basically I think that Anyone who's coming as part of this program has to be prepared to contribute to New Zealand because New Zealand is Extending you something pretty amazing right when the Maori show up and these people had their land taken from them and when they welcome you to their home, that's Pretty amazing. I mean there's there must be a lot of pain behind that so in appreciation of that you got to bring something to the game too and I think everyone can contribute some combination of time talent and resources time into the local community and You know physically in the place getting to know it Talent in terms of your unique attributes insights Whatever you bring to the table and resources. Some of us were coming with big resources should contribute to local charities the investment Circuit over here Has to be done in a way that is scalable and sustainable, but you know, EHF is small today. It's what like a hundred fifty Fellows maybe going to a couple of hundred But I think when you when people look back in time and say wow per New fellow who came in the level of contribution I would be surprised that there's a single immigrant program in the world that would match it I also I actually also think that at this point EHF is a pretty exclusive club Right, it's got there's just there's a signaling benefit to it. There's a credentialing benefit to it I've looked at the numbers the acceptance rates are quite low and I know some very very capable people who are not accepted So, you know in that sense, this is a club that may not have you as a member So if you apply you're you're you're in pretty good company This is not the kind of club where just anyone can get in this is a very intentionally crafted community So just if you do get in you're gonna you're gonna meet and connect with people that normally you would never be able to have Have the time and space to form an actual connection with Look the quirky challenging things where I think also still weirdly necessary Like I'm not a sit still and listen person So I don't like sitting in a dome while someone give long talks On the other hand if the team there hadn't worked tirelessly to break the ice. We would not have bonded To me the staff was very impressive the Maori people are very very impressive If I were gonna change one thing I just spend more time outdoors and less indoors just because it's so beautiful here But I may have also picked a week when I didn't rain that much And I think other classes may have been here when it was raining more But I prefer more outdoor sessions more small group activities And kind of less indoor large group activities, but overall I think the for you know one week The level of bonding that is achieved. It's pretty amazing. Yeah, I think for the government the best thing it can possibly do is Probably have a regulatory friendly environment that allows some level of experimentation for these age companies Private sector it's about technology education having a technically literate workforce having people trained in computers and Putting them in some kind of a central hub whether it's Wellington or Auckland For the companies I think Because thanks to the internet and to due to rising prices and cost of living in the Bay Area San Francisco Bay Area people are getting comfortable this idea of having a small office in San Francisco and the main Organization say here if there's access to talent And then I think over time if there's a good technically literate workforce here You could even see startups like Stripe or Square or Airbnb or Uber Putting up technology outposts here in New Zealand Which I think would also help create that ecosystem that top soil into which startups can eventually grow Yeah, I think I'm happy to work with local people for crypto regulation crypto conferences And helping make New Zealand one of these stops on the Grand Crypto tour And then I want to help EHF itself the the parent organization. It's easy to do outward things for The the whole ecosystem But I think each if itself is really interesting Because from what I understand has 400 visas to bring in 400 great people who are going to make a difference And I want to make sure that when we can show that that's working with the impact of very Intentionally selecting those 400 people and tracking them and motivating them and so on when we see what the impact is any Sensible government and I'm sure other governments the world want to copy it They'll be like well, I want to do that with 4,000 people or 40,000 people and how do I do that? I want to make sure that the model is figured out properly You know, I come from the private sector where we're used to accountability We're used to things actually working not just talking So I want to make sure that whatever comes out of EHF on the other side is Quantifiable trackable and can clearly be shown The benefit that has had can clearly be shown Doing the HACCO is definitely out of my comfort zone but something I needed to do I feel like New Zealand is one spark away from a economic forest fire Maybe it's a wrong analogy to use here because forest fires are a bad thing But I mean in the sense that you can ignite something here all the raw materials are here I don't think there's anything really missing. I think this is just needs that spark Maybe EHF is that spark maybe regulation Deregulation in some key areas that spark maybe just the internet enabling more remote working will create that spark But I don't think we're far I'm not saying New Zealand is going to be Silicon Valley overnight But it could be a place where a reasonable mid-sized technology industry starts thriving and growing And New Zealand becomes an exporter of technology