When a State Becomes a Startup, or Peter Thiel’s Private Club

In August 2026, a closed gathering of the Dialog community – one of the world’s most private technology elite clubs – will take place near Dublin. At first glance, it appears to be just another private retreat. However, documents published by Wired have generated widespread attention. According to the leak, participants plan to discuss scenarios for World War III, the future of military technologies, artificial intelligence, nuclear energy, new models of government, and even the formation of future social ideologies.

The main intrigue, however, lies not so much in the agenda as in the guest list.

Among the more than 220 registered participants are current U.S. cabinet members, senators, senior officials from Donald Trump’s administration, representatives of the intelligence community, NATO leadership, leading Silicon Valley investors, and founders of major technology companies. Such a concentration of political, military, and technological elites inevitably raises an important question: where does the boundary between the state and private capital lie today?

At the center of attention once again is Dialog founder Peter Thiel, one of the most influential figures in the modern technology industry.

Thiel has long since become much more than a successful entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of PayPal, founder of the venture capital firm Founders Fund, one of Facebook’s earliest investors, and co-founder of Palantir Technologies, a data analytics company that works closely with U.S. intelligence agencies and defense organizations. In addition, he actively finances research in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, life extension, cryonics, and anti-aging medicine. Thiel has repeatedly stated that he hopes to live to the age of 120 and believes technological progress is the primary tool for reshaping humanity’s future. As a result, every event he organizes automatically attracts extraordinary attention.

According to Wired, Dialog’s registration documents include U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll, Senator Ted Cruz, Congressman Jim Himes, along with numerous current and former White House officials, intelligence officers, and members of the diplomatic community.

Particularly noteworthy is the participation of General Alexus Grynkewich, Supreme Allied Commander Europe and head of U.S. European Command.

Formally, these meetings are private events. Nevertheless, the presence of so many government officials inevitably fuels debate over how deeply the interests of governments, businesses, and technology corporations have become intertwined. This is especially significant given that representatives of Palantir – a company holding multi-billion-dollar defense, intelligence, and data analytics contracts with the U.S. government – are also among the attendees.

Ten years ago, such a combination would have seemed extraordinary. Today, it is increasingly becoming the new normal. Yet an even more interesting development is unfolding.

What is happening may reflect a much deeper transformation that is gradually changing the very nature of power. Half a century ago, a startup simply meant a small innovative company. Later, startups became symbols of rapid growth, continuous experimentation, flexibility, and the search for new business models. Today, this mindset is expanding far beyond the business world.

The startup philosophy is increasingly being applied to cities, public institutions, and even entire countries.

Where states once evolved over decades, new projects are now attempting to create entirely new jurisdictions almost from scratch. Private cities, special economic zones, digital communities, experimental tax systems, and so-called network states are beginning to emerge. Cities are no longer viewed merely as geographic locations. They are becoming products, complete with their own brands, investment strategies, governance models, digital infrastructure, tax frameworks, and long-term scaling plans. In essence, this represents an attempt to design public institutions in much the same way modern technology companies are built.

This idea is now being actively discussed by many Silicon Valley investors.

One of its best-known advocates is former Coinbase Chief Technology Officer Balaji Srinivasan, who introduced the concept of the Network State. Under this model, a digital community united by shared values, capital, and technology is created first. Financial systems, digital identities, and legal structures follow, while territory comes only afterward. In other words, a state begins to exist first as software code and a connected community before eventually becoming a geographic entity.

This concept has moved beyond philosophy. Several projects are already pursuing this vision, including Pronomos, which finances private cities, and Praxis, which has spent several years developing the concept of a future technology-based city-state. Notably, many of these initiatives are backed by the same investors who attend Dialog events. Together, these developments are gradually reshaping the logic of competition among nations.

If countries competed for factories and industrial capacity during the twentieth century, and for multinational corporations at the beginning of the twenty-first century, today’s competition increasingly focuses on talented individuals, advanced technologies, artificial intelligence, capital, and developer communities. Governments are now competing not only through tax policies but also through the quality of their digital infrastructure, the speed of decision-making, the flexibility of legislation, and the attractiveness of their institutions. Artificial intelligence is likely to accelerate this transformation even further.

Where building public institutions once required decades, modern digital systems now make it possible to model legislation, administrative procedures, and governance structures at unprecedented speed.

Several countries have already begun experimenting with similar approaches. One of the most discussed examples is Argentina, where proposals have emerged to recognize legal entities managed by AI agents.

Not long ago, such ideas belonged to science fiction. Today, they have become the subject of real legislative debate. That is precisely why the Dialog gathering has attracted such intense interest.

The significance lies not in conspiracy theories, but in the fact that these private forums increasingly bring together the people making decisions in politics, defense, finance, and advanced technology. More and more often, these networks become the places where tomorrow’s rules are discussed long before they appear in parliamentary legislation or official government programs.

The main conclusion is not that states are disappearing. Rather, the way they evolve is changing. Institution-building is gradually moving away from traditional bureaucratic systems toward technological platforms, digital ecosystems, and venture-style thinking.

If the defining question once was, “Who will govern states?”, a new question is becoming increasingly important: “Who will design the rules by which those states will operate?” It is around this question that many of the most significant political and technological debates of the coming decade are likely to unfold.