it’s a hot summer day in 2006 45 degrees
Celsius and I can feel individual beads
of sweat easing out of every pore of my
body
I’m huddled under an acacia tree and
what is now known as South Sudan despite
the heat I’m covered from head to toe
long pants long sleeve shirt a big hat
even a scarf to fend off the relentless
swarm of mosquitoes and flies eager to
absorb moisture from my body my job is
to manage a 20 million dollar
development fund for the peace and
reconstruction of South Sudan I can
remember sitting under this acacia tree
looking out over the horizon I was
really struck by the lack of any visible
signs of Technology whatsoever
and I don’t just mean mobile phones TVs
or cars no no permanent buildings of any
kind no roads with cement no utilities I
remember asking myself how is it
possible that this far into the 21st
century even the most basic rudimentary
technologies can invade some parts of
the world that thought and the misery
that can create really stuck with me so
fast-forward 10 years I’m now a
practicing business angel I’ve been
doing it for about two years I was drawn
to angel investing because of the
promise of new technologies and the
problems that it would help us solve
I started out strong as an investor
optimistic really buying into the vision
of individual entrepreneurs but after
seeing dozens and dozens and eventually
hundreds of pitches my enthusiasm began
to wane I looked around me
I was surrounded by some of the most
active and creative investors business
angels venture capitalists in all of
Europe but when I really looked at their
portfolios I had a hard time connecting
with what they were doing what the
purpose behind it was and as the
entrepreneurs came in one after another
each time less and less it seemed to me
that they were solving important
problems I was I was struck here’s some
of the most creative ambitious people on
the planet and these are the problems
they’re trying to solve we are a global
population of seven billion people well
on our way to nine billion we steep with
real crises an environment food and
water shortages environmental crises
biodiversity these are huge issues these
are imminent threats not to our
lifestyle but to life these along with
other issues and other challenges make
us reflect and I think in this
generation we will have to answer the
question can we human beings sustain
life on this planet how is it possible
that we’re trying to solve any problems
except this it was Winston Churchill who
once said to get to your destination you
will never arrive if you stop and you
throw rocks at every dog that barks well
we’re throwing a lot of rocks so how do
we begin to think of these big
challenges and how we can address them
well one way is through investment and
today I’d like to pause for a moment and
reflect on what I’ve learned in my own
experience there’s two kinds of funds
that I want to talk about the first
third development funds development
funds look at two investment criteria
the first is impact they identify a very
specific social environmental problem
that they want to solve and the second
is speed
they’re very good at mobilizing
resources quickly to affect those
problems in my case we were given a
million dollars and three years to
mitigate what was the impact of 22 years
of civil war in South Sudan we did this
through a series of rapid peace
dialogues but we were expressly
forbidden prohibited from investing in
any kind of technology those were the
rules of the fund and I think well it’s
important that we will be able to
articulate impact measure it report on
it and while it’s important to mobilize
resources quickly development funds will
never be the instruments of
sustainability that they’re intended to
be without technology on the other side
of the coin we have venture capital
funds VCS also like to take two criteria
into account the first is client
adoption how quickly can we get
customers on board and the other is the
sophistication of the technology itself
the question they ask is how fast can I
get to 1 billion customers but at no
point in their process of evaluating
investments do they look at the impact
of their technology it’s simply not part
of the process and when we talk about
exponential technology in particular and
this concept of fast customer
acquisition and advanced technologies
conceptually neither one of these can
help us without an underlying and common
purpose so I propose a new investment
model for everyone to use in order for
us to address these huge complicated
problems requires a tremendous amount of
collaboration cooperation and focus but
I think they both have something to
offer so my proposal is that we take
three elements that we look at speed
we look at technology and we look at
impact the overlay of these three are
what I call
until technology now transcendental
technology is the idea that specific
technologies can and do improve
humankind we can eradicate disease
eliminate poverty alleviate hunger if we
focus but too often we are distracted
too easily by focusing on the concept in
the framework transcendental technology
it requires all investors inventors
entrepreneurs to stop and continuously
reflect on three questions number one
what is the technology that I’m working
on is it the right technology number two
does this technology solve a problem of
sustainability and number three will
this solution solve the problem fast
enough if the answer to any of these is
no do I have the courage to stop what
I’m doing and walk away in search of a
new challenge it takes a lot of effort
and a lot of diligence to leave
something that you’ve been working on
behind but that is the challenge that
faces us at this point in history global
killers are things that I think threaten
all life equally there’s the very real
possibility that the air we breathe the
food we eat and the water we drink
cannot sustain life on this planet any
model for investment that we have every
model of investment that we have must
address these questions the good news is
that there are some positive examples in
the world for us to follow the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation for example in
collaboration with dozens of private and
public entities have raised and invested
more than four billion dollars to
eradicate malaria in Africa since 2013
they’ve made tremendous progress towards
saving half a billion lives their
solutions come too
directly out of the laboratory advanced
focused or Indy on how to eliminate and
eradicate one disease again
collaboration cooperation and above all
focus that is transcendental technology
in practice there are dozens of other
ideas like that small and large in all
areas of environment healthcare
biodiversity food security each one of
these are small seeds towards solving a
bigger problem but critical to the
long-term sustainability of life in some
areas like energy and healthcare there
are positive signs and good data points
that say we might be on the right path
but in other areas like biodiversity
food and water scarcity we are very far
behind we must quickly identify and
accelerate the rollout of technology
from labs we must increase the amount of
resources we dedicate to them and we
must do it quickly there is a natural
phenomenon in the world that I think
reflects our situation well a seed needs
four things to grow it needs rich soil
it needs water it needs air and it needs
sunlight but there’s one seed that
stands out this seed can exist in a dry
pod for more than a thousand years yet
still retain the spark of life when we
do plant it it needs to be planted deep
in dense mud it never touches the air or
sees the Sun it must be covered in
several centimeters or even metres of
water once planted this seed may not bud
for one or two years but with a bit of
patience and if you watch the dark dirty
water where it grows eventually the most
amazing thing will appear
and as this bud unfurls itself it would
reveal a beautiful lotus flower the
lotus flower is a symbol of
transcendence and it changes entirely
the landscape around it lotus seeds
replicate quickly where they are planted
always seeking to expand their reach I
think this is a good time to reflect on
our state in presence in the world right
now I think it’s easy to think about the
challenge of planting a seed in the mud
waiting for years to watch it grow it’s
easy to be daunted by the challenge that
presents it’s comfortable to plop down
at the end of the day on the sofa flip
on Netflix and disconnect for a while
but the fact of the matter is the
solutions to all of the world’s problems
exist right now as seeds some of the
seeds are new seeds new technologies new
ways of thinking new ways of working
some seeds may have existed for decades
in dry pods some seeds are already
planted and our job is simply to nurture
them and help grow and a few of us will
have to have the courage to dive into
the dark dirty water and plant anew but
in truth you never know where the next
lotus flower will appear or what trends
and dental technology will take
humankind to the next level so please
whether you’re an investor an
entrepreneur or an inventor
ask yourself what lotus seed can I plant
and help to grow thank you [Applause]
Celsius and I can feel individual beads
of sweat easing out of every pore of my
body
I’m huddled under an acacia tree and
what is now known as South Sudan despite
the heat I’m covered from head to toe
long pants long sleeve shirt a big hat
even a scarf to fend off the relentless
swarm of mosquitoes and flies eager to
absorb moisture from my body my job is
to manage a 20 million dollar
development fund for the peace and
reconstruction of South Sudan I can
remember sitting under this acacia tree
looking out over the horizon I was
really struck by the lack of any visible
signs of Technology whatsoever
and I don’t just mean mobile phones TVs
or cars no no permanent buildings of any
kind no roads with cement no utilities I
remember asking myself how is it
possible that this far into the 21st
century even the most basic rudimentary
technologies can invade some parts of
the world that thought and the misery
that can create really stuck with me so
fast-forward 10 years I’m now a
practicing business angel I’ve been
doing it for about two years I was drawn
to angel investing because of the
promise of new technologies and the
problems that it would help us solve
I started out strong as an investor
optimistic really buying into the vision
of individual entrepreneurs but after
seeing dozens and dozens and eventually
hundreds of pitches my enthusiasm began
to wane I looked around me
I was surrounded by some of the most
active and creative investors business
angels venture capitalists in all of
Europe but when I really looked at their
portfolios I had a hard time connecting
with what they were doing what the
purpose behind it was and as the
entrepreneurs came in one after another
each time less and less it seemed to me
that they were solving important
problems I was I was struck here’s some
of the most creative ambitious people on
the planet and these are the problems
they’re trying to solve we are a global
population of seven billion people well
on our way to nine billion we steep with
real crises an environment food and
water shortages environmental crises
biodiversity these are huge issues these
are imminent threats not to our
lifestyle but to life these along with
other issues and other challenges make
us reflect and I think in this
generation we will have to answer the
question can we human beings sustain
life on this planet how is it possible
that we’re trying to solve any problems
except this it was Winston Churchill who
once said to get to your destination you
will never arrive if you stop and you
throw rocks at every dog that barks well
we’re throwing a lot of rocks so how do
we begin to think of these big
challenges and how we can address them
well one way is through investment and
today I’d like to pause for a moment and
reflect on what I’ve learned in my own
experience there’s two kinds of funds
that I want to talk about the first
third development funds development
funds look at two investment criteria
the first is impact they identify a very
specific social environmental problem
that they want to solve and the second
is speed
they’re very good at mobilizing
resources quickly to affect those
problems in my case we were given a
million dollars and three years to
mitigate what was the impact of 22 years
of civil war in South Sudan we did this
through a series of rapid peace
dialogues but we were expressly
forbidden prohibited from investing in
any kind of technology those were the
rules of the fund and I think well it’s
important that we will be able to
articulate impact measure it report on
it and while it’s important to mobilize
resources quickly development funds will
never be the instruments of
sustainability that they’re intended to
be without technology on the other side
of the coin we have venture capital
funds VCS also like to take two criteria
into account the first is client
adoption how quickly can we get
customers on board and the other is the
sophistication of the technology itself
the question they ask is how fast can I
get to 1 billion customers but at no
point in their process of evaluating
investments do they look at the impact
of their technology it’s simply not part
of the process and when we talk about
exponential technology in particular and
this concept of fast customer
acquisition and advanced technologies
conceptually neither one of these can
help us without an underlying and common
purpose so I propose a new investment
model for everyone to use in order for
us to address these huge complicated
problems requires a tremendous amount of
collaboration cooperation and focus but
I think they both have something to
offer so my proposal is that we take
three elements that we look at speed
we look at technology and we look at
impact the overlay of these three are
what I call
until technology now transcendental
technology is the idea that specific
technologies can and do improve
humankind we can eradicate disease
eliminate poverty alleviate hunger if we
focus but too often we are distracted
too easily by focusing on the concept in
the framework transcendental technology
it requires all investors inventors
entrepreneurs to stop and continuously
reflect on three questions number one
what is the technology that I’m working
on is it the right technology number two
does this technology solve a problem of
sustainability and number three will
this solution solve the problem fast
enough if the answer to any of these is
no do I have the courage to stop what
I’m doing and walk away in search of a
new challenge it takes a lot of effort
and a lot of diligence to leave
something that you’ve been working on
behind but that is the challenge that
faces us at this point in history global
killers are things that I think threaten
all life equally there’s the very real
possibility that the air we breathe the
food we eat and the water we drink
cannot sustain life on this planet any
model for investment that we have every
model of investment that we have must
address these questions the good news is
that there are some positive examples in
the world for us to follow the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation for example in
collaboration with dozens of private and
public entities have raised and invested
more than four billion dollars to
eradicate malaria in Africa since 2013
they’ve made tremendous progress towards
saving half a billion lives their
solutions come too
directly out of the laboratory advanced
focused or Indy on how to eliminate and
eradicate one disease again
collaboration cooperation and above all
focus that is transcendental technology
in practice there are dozens of other
ideas like that small and large in all
areas of environment healthcare
biodiversity food security each one of
these are small seeds towards solving a
bigger problem but critical to the
long-term sustainability of life in some
areas like energy and healthcare there
are positive signs and good data points
that say we might be on the right path
but in other areas like biodiversity
food and water scarcity we are very far
behind we must quickly identify and
accelerate the rollout of technology
from labs we must increase the amount of
resources we dedicate to them and we
must do it quickly there is a natural
phenomenon in the world that I think
reflects our situation well a seed needs
four things to grow it needs rich soil
it needs water it needs air and it needs
sunlight but there’s one seed that
stands out this seed can exist in a dry
pod for more than a thousand years yet
still retain the spark of life when we
do plant it it needs to be planted deep
in dense mud it never touches the air or
sees the Sun it must be covered in
several centimeters or even metres of
water once planted this seed may not bud
for one or two years but with a bit of
patience and if you watch the dark dirty
water where it grows eventually the most
amazing thing will appear
and as this bud unfurls itself it would
reveal a beautiful lotus flower the
lotus flower is a symbol of
transcendence and it changes entirely
the landscape around it lotus seeds
replicate quickly where they are planted
always seeking to expand their reach I
think this is a good time to reflect on
our state in presence in the world right
now I think it’s easy to think about the
challenge of planting a seed in the mud
waiting for years to watch it grow it’s
easy to be daunted by the challenge that
presents it’s comfortable to plop down
at the end of the day on the sofa flip
on Netflix and disconnect for a while
but the fact of the matter is the
solutions to all of the world’s problems
exist right now as seeds some of the
seeds are new seeds new technologies new
ways of thinking new ways of working
some seeds may have existed for decades
in dry pods some seeds are already
planted and our job is simply to nurture
them and help grow and a few of us will
have to have the courage to dive into
the dark dirty water and plant anew but
in truth you never know where the next
lotus flower will appear or what trends
and dental technology will take
humankind to the next level so please
whether you’re an investor an
entrepreneur or an inventor
ask yourself what lotus seed can I plant
and help to grow thank you [Applause]
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