Alright, things went a little bit hectic. I did huge progresses with the island. And I lost track completely with some other things.
We started to build: first bungalow, jetty, gazebo, swing on top of the sea. Things are happening as you read this.
It wasn’t specifically planned, but it had to start.
During my last trip to Buka Buka Island, I realised my initial plans were off. I lived in the region for 2 weeks straight, and I learnt a lot.
We need to work only with locals to build 95% of the project.
We need to use local wood and materials.
We need to be more flexible and stop treating this as usual real estate.
Things will change each time I’ll go there.
Because I learn how to build more efficiently, how to work with locals, because I get newer and better ideas every day.
I can’t just write stuff in a pitch deck and grab money from investors with it.
The seed money we were lucky to get from private investors is enough for us to get to open “something” for this high season.
And yes, it will just be a MVP (Minimum Valuable Product).
People don’t do that in the real estate industry.
They get a budget estimation, they plan everything, they raise the funds, and then they build and operate.
Here, we’re on a remote island.
We want to make things as sustainable as possible.
Which involves a steep learning curve and a lot of adaptation on the way.
Also, we develop the project in a region with little to no track record of similar development, even outside of the island itself.
If I kept spending hours updating the pitch deck all the time I have a new idea, I wouldn’t be developing Reconnect.
I chose to lose the opportunity to raise a significant amount of capital, and to focus on those investors who understand where we stand.
Those who understand why I can’t give them a forecast of how much they will make in 3 years.
I know it’s not standard,
but what we do is not standard.
And money is everywhere.
We just need to find the right one, at the right moment.
So we’re doing this.
We build the project.
And use the seed money to prove the concept by opening an MVP of the resort.
Now, I know I haven’t shared as much as I would have loved to.
I more or less abandoned this blog, and haven’t responded to dozens of messages and emails.
I hope you will understand why I chose to put my priority somewhere else.
I hope you will keep reading those post and sending me messages, I promise I will do my very best to answer everyone.
Thank you for following the journey and supporting me so far.
Tomorrow I’ll be back on the island with a content creators team.
We will shoot videos, take pics and prepare 3D animations for people to see more of what we do and plan to do in the future there.
Talk to you very soon,
Thomas