Former Blueseed team member here. This is completely misleading.
The reason we failed to get anywhere was that we couldn't find any viable path forward without raising $30M, and our team had neither (a) deep SV success & connections or (b) deep maritime experience and connections, so were unable to raise that money.
Finding the right MVP for seasteading is both extremely difficult and absolutely necessary for success.
Not part of the effort but I've found that lack of experience rarely seems to hold people back. Its a good thing in that they develop experience but it also means that when they show up asking for investment with no experience, it is unlikely to to be successful.
Of course the trick to solving any huge problem you have no experience in solving is to line up a list of all the things you would have to know before you could be successful and knock them off the list. In this case I'd expect first on the list would be to get a ship pilot's license.
Well, yes. I'd guess that most investors want the people they're funding to have prior experience in whatever industry, before starting a business in that industry.
The way the parent poster makes their situation sound, it'd be like saying "I'm starting an internet startup. I don't have anyone on my team who knows anything about computers or the tech industry, but....."
Reading the Wikipedia article on Blueseed, it does not appear that any of the three founders had much experience at anything. The Seasteading Institute seems to have some overlap with Blueseed. Not entirely clear how much.
Vessels that are intended to house people but not go anywhere are called "accommodation ships". Most of them are barges intended to be moored in a protected harbor.[1] There are only a few deep-sea accommodation ships.[2][3] Those exotic ships have cranes for deep-ocean replenishment and refueling, and station-keeping thrusters so they can be stationary in deep water. Except for offshore construction and drilling operations, there's not much demand for housing people in the middle of the ocean.
There are used cruise ship brokers.[4] Amusingly, one of their ships is marked "This vessel is not for start up companies". Cruise ships are intended to make port regularly and be serviced and replenished in port. They don't have the cranes and station-keeping thrusters for routine deep-ocean replenishment. Navies do deep-ocean replenishment when necessary, but it's dangerous to bring two large ships close together. Here's U.S. Navy refueling at sea:[5]
The Seasteading scheme seems to avoid the problems of deep-sea operations. But if they're in waters shallow enough to build a breakwater, it's easier to fill or build on pilings.
The "offshore independent libertarian country in the ocean" scheme has been tried at least four times.[6] The concrete barge scheme in the 1970s sank in a hurricane. Building up a reef with barged-in sand was tried off Tonga in 1972. Tonga invaded and took it over. A platform on piles off Italy was tried in 1968; the Italian government sent four cops and took it over. And, of course, there is Sealand, an old tower off the coast of England, which continues to pretend it is a country.
This whole thing comes across as something from people who read Atlas Shrugged and took it too seriously. Then again, the Koch brothers might go for it.
The reason we failed to get anywhere was that we couldn't find any viable path forward without raising $30M, and our team had neither (a) deep SV success & connections or (b) deep maritime experience and connections, so were unable to raise that money.
Finding the right MVP for seasteading is both extremely difficult and absolutely necessary for success.