Who is Indian American Balaji Srinivasan? An Entrepreneur who Buys an Island to Build a Startup Nation

While President Trump is wooing foreign millionaires with his ‘Gold Card’ visa, Indian American Balaji Srinivasan is busy building a decentralized, digital-first nation on an island for tech startup founders outside the United States. Balaji, among Silicon Valley’s most unconventional investors, has bought an island near Singapore and is planning to convert the island into a nation for startup founders, tech entrepreneurs, thinkers and digital community builders.

Srinivasan has long believed that the next Silicon Valley might not be in the US. With the tech world changing fast, he felt it was time to build something new outside the old systems. That is what led him to launch the Network School, a hands-on for startup founders and fitness enthusiasts. It is the first real-world test of his bigger idea of building self-governed communities, also known as Network State.

Balaji Srinivasan’s Vision for a New Tech-First Country

In 2022, he published a book titled The Network State: How to Start a New Country. It introduced a bold idea: why wait for governments to change when you can build your own? Using the Internet, like-minded people can form online communities, raise funds, purchase land, and start living by shared values. In 2024, Balaji and his team acquired a private island near Singapore and launched the first live experiment of the Network School, which he sees as a possible foundation for Network State, a tech-first nation for startup founders.

Who is Indian American Balaji Srinivasan?

Balaji Srinivasan is an Indian-origin American entrepreneur, investor, and futurist. He was born in Long Island, New York, in 1980, to physician parents who immigrated from Tamil Nadu, India. He often credits his disciplined upbringing and early love for technology to his family. While other kids were reading comics, Balaji was exploring math with his grandfather and learning computers.

He holds four degrees from Stanford University, including a PhD in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s in Chemical Engineering. He also taught at Stanford, sharing his knowledge of statistics and bioinformatics. His first success came with Counsyl, a genetic testing company he co-founded in 2007. The firm helped couples screen for hereditary conditions before having children and was later sold in 2018 for $375 million.

Then came 21.co, a bitcoin-related startup that pivoted into Earn.com, a platform where users could get paid in crypto to answer emails. That company was acquired by Coinbase, where Balaji became the first Chief Technology Officer. He also joined Andreessen Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital firms, as a General Partner, where he backed early-stage crypto and biotech startups.

Over the years, Balaji has invested in more than 200 companies, including Ethereum, OpenSea, and Alchemy, cementing his place in the tech elite. But the most interesting chapter in Balaji’s story is just beginning.

What is Balaji Srinivasan’s Network School or Network State?

The Network School isn’t just a place to learn. It’s a complete environment where founders live together, work out daily, code, build companies, and debate the future of tech and governance. The curriculum covers everything from AI and crypto to community building and digital law. Participants are selected not just for their skills but for their values. Belief in Bitcoin, trust in AI as a force for good, and a shared vision of freedom and innovation, these are some of the foundational ideas behind the school.

For Balaji, the Network School is a working prototype for what he calls a “Network State.” Just as the United States was once a radical new idea shaped by liberty and self-rule, the Network State is a digital-first evolution of that concept, born from the internet rather than geography. Balaji is already thinking beyond this island, with similar plans of building a next-generation society in Dubai, Tokyo, the Mediterranean, and possibly even India.

Right now, a three-month program is underway at the Network School. Up next is a one-year fellowship that’s currently in the works. Fellows will be selected through a rigorous process and will receive $100k in funding to build a new or existing venture after successfully completing the program. All participants are expected to relocate to the island, where they will live, build, and grow together with other founders.