Entrepreneur-ship: Blueseed Aims to Open Ocean Vessel Incubator

Zach Davis November 30, 2011 Tweet

When the law stands between your vision and reality, simply move around it.  At least that’s what Blueseed hopes to accomplish.

In their own words, Blueseed “is creating a high-tech visa-free entrepreneurship and technology incubator on an ocean vessel in international waters.”  Because of the current state of immigration law and regulations, many of the worlds brightest minds are prevented from coming to US soil to create their ventures.  Blueeseed hopes to bypass the “US soil” part of the equation by bringing these entrepreneurs onto an incubator cruise ship just off the coast of the Bay Area and into unregulated international waters.

Although Blueseed hopes to get around these technicalities by bringing their offices to the ocean, a big selling point to the international entrepreneurs will be their ability to make regular trips to the mainland.  A “B-1 visa” promises to be the way around this.  This particular visa allows non-resident to visit the United States for seminars, conferences, and other similar business related meetings.

Still, there is no guarantee Blueseed’s creative entrepreneur-ship (get it?) will be able to get off the ground, so to speak. Because each trip back to the mainland will be in the hands of an immigration official, there will be “a little bit of uncertainty every time they come in,” according to immigration attorney Greg Siskind.  He goes onto say, “Depending on what that person had for breakfast may determine the future of your business.”

The floating incubator is the creation of Max Marty, the former Director of Business Strategy at Seasteading Institute, a firm focused on establishing “permanent, autonomous ocean communities.”  Being the son of two Cuban immigrants himself, Marty’s novel concept should come as no surprise.

Tech Cocktail recently ranked the top 15 U.S. start-up accelerators.  It will be interesting to see what happens if Blueseed is able to follow through with its vision, as they will have access to a much larger talent pool with their bypassing traditional immigration law.  Stay tuned.

Let us know in the comments what you think of the concept.  Would you join the entrepreneur-ship?