New Zealand as a Technology Hub

With Naval Ravikant, Founder of AngelList and CoinList

Naval Ravikant at New Frontiers, hosted by Edmund Hillary Fellowship (EHF).

Naval Ravikant is the founder of AngelList and CoinList, platforms that democratize access to funding and talent for startups and crypto projects. Naval is also a prominent angel investor in Silicon Valley, and recently joined the Edmund Hillary Fellowship in New Zealand, as an EHF Fellow in Cohort 4.

This post features video clips of interviews with Naval at the recent New Frontiers summit in March 2019. We discussed a broad range of topics — from blockchain policy to immigration to digital literacy to the inner game of entrepreneurship and more — through the lens of Aotearoa New Zealand as an emerging hub for global talent and technology innovation.

Here is a condensed version of Naval’s talks on stage:

(12:46)

In his provocative landmark style, Naval has a way of saying a lot with a few words, what some have referred to as “Navalisms”. Naval traces this communication skill back to his childhood passion for poetry. Twitter has now given him a platform for this craft, where he’s amassed a large and enthusiastic following, along with him being featured in many prominent podcasts and publications.

Naval at EHF Welcome Week in Aroha Valley.

We asked Naval about his experience thus far with EHF:

(2:01)

“The most thoughtfully designed immigration programme in the world” — Wow! Thanks for those kind words, Naval.

Here is Naval discussing what inspired him about the Māori welcome to Aotearoa:

(1:41)

Naval focuses a lot of his attention on the crypto / blockchain space. In this next clip, he discusses the potential of networks enabled by tokens, and how forward-looking governments can set policies to attract innovators:

(3:45)

The New Zealand startup ecosystem is known for having a thriving angel community, but a shortage of investment at the Series A stage (aka “the gap”). On this point, Naval shares the counter-intuitive insight that funding markets actually develop backwards. This is consistent with several of the observations from Callaghan’s recent report “Growing the Pie”:

(2:43)

Here are the complete videos of Naval’s interviews on stage, beginning with Part 1:

(22:41)

Part 2:

(57:31)

And Naval’s backstage interview:

(17:02)

For anyone considering the Edmund Hillary Fellowship and Global Impact Visa, here’s a final thought from Naval about contributing to NZ as an EHF Fellow:

(1:25)

Thank you Naval for the meaningful contributions you’ve already made to New Frontiers and EHF. Also, thank you Royster Productions for the videos and Andi Crown for the photography.

Follow @Naval on Twitter.