From Expedition to Ecosystem: A New Mentor Residency in Bhutan

By Timour Kosters and Serj Hunt‍

⚡ At a glance

• What it is: A selective residency of one to two weeks in Bhutan, matching mentors with Pelsung Innovation Lab teams working on live technical, business, and institutional challenges.
• Who it’s for: Experienced founders and senior operators in product, technology, business, finance, operations, design, research, or policy who can offer practical help.
• How it works: We will handle your visa and on-the-ground logistics. You’ll have a place to stay, transport, and help with meals. You’ll be expected to pay for your flights and food, as well as general personal expenses.
• How to apply: Fill out the three-minute interest form. Serj Hunt and Chencho Tshering will follow up about fit, dates, and current projects.
  

Bhutan is building a new generation of institutions, companies, and public infrastructure around Gelephu Mindfulness City. The most useful role for the Edge City network is increasingly clear: bring experienced operators into the country for long enough to work alongside Bhutanese builders on real problems.

Edge City and Pelsung are opening a rolling mentor residency for founders, product and technology leaders, investors, researchers, designers, and other senior operators. Approved mentors will spend one to two weeks in Bhutan, with longer stays possible when useful, working directly with participants in the Pelsung Innovation Lab and meeting people across the country's emerging innovation ecosystem.

The rolling residency is separate from Edge City's November 11-19 curated group journey. It is designed around individual mentors, small placements, and live Pelsung work.

The residency is small, selective, and contribution-first. The aim is practical work that continues after the first conversation: helping a team narrow a product, pressure-test a business model, design a technical system, structure a financing vehicle, improve a pitch, or make the next important introduction.

From a trip to a working partnership

Edge City's relationship with Bhutan began with a series of visits and grew substantially through the September 2025 Edge City Bhutan expedition. Thirty international participants joined the trip, and the group convened a 120-person Ideas Exchange in Thimphu with local builders, officials, and members of the Pelsung community.

Several participants stayed actively involved after returning home. Edge City brought on Chencho Tshering as Chief of Staff in Bhutan, early mentors began supporting Pelsung teams, and a one-week expedition gradually became a working partnership with people building Bhutan's next generation of institutions and ventures.

Serj Hunt, who joined the expedition, has helped develop the mentor pipeline with Chencho. His original essay on Bhutan explored the country's unusual combination of spirituality, sustainability, AI, and Bitcoin. The mentor residency is one concrete way for people in the Edge City network to participate in the work now underway.

What Pelsung is building

Pelsung is a Bhutanese youth innovation and capability-building initiative connected to the country's wider transformation and the development of Gelephu Mindfulness City. Hundreds of Bhutanese participants, known as Pelsups, have gone through its programs; a highly selective group then advances into the Pelsung Innovation Lab, where they work on live national and institutional challenges.

The Lab is a problem-driven capability platform. Some projects may become companies, while others may become policy tools, operating systems, investment structures, nonprofits, or new public infrastructure. The shared thread is practical work with a clear owner and a real path to implementation.

Current project areas include:

• A special investment vehicle for Bhutan's agricultural sector
• New food principles for Bhutan
• A dynamic QR system for educational books
• A hiring engine for Bhutan's hospitality and tourism labor market

The projects evolve as new challenges enter the Lab. Mentors are matched to the work where their experience can have the most leverage.

Why embedded mentorship matters

The Pelsung team has already learned that inspiration alone has limits. A well-known founder can give a memorable talk, while a builder working through an unfamiliar problem often needs someone who will open the document, inspect the product, ask difficult questions, and stay for the second conversation.

That is the gap this residency is designed to fill. The strongest mentors can translate years of operating experience into specific next steps, then remain available long enough for a team to test the advice and return with better questions. Some relationships will continue remotely after the residency as informal advising, collaboration, or investment conversations.

What the first mentors accomplished

The first phase ran from January through June 2026 and gave the partnership a useful proof of concept:

• 4 international mentors, including three in person and one virtual
• 43 teams engaged across the Pelsung ecosystem
• 174 Pelsups reached during seven days of in-person work in Gelephu

Adrian Koegl, whose background spans computer science, blockchain, cryptography, and community building, spent five days in Gelephu and ran 26 sessions with 83 participants. He continued supporting the Zhabdrung team after returning home, helping with project planning and strategy.

Kat Stein and Alicia Borja Alvarez followed in May. Kat brought experience in AI for social good and zero-to-one product strategy; Alicia brought capital markets and financial engineering expertise. Together they ran 15 sessions and reached 91 participants over three days.

Kat Stein and Alicia Borja Alvarez in a working session with Pelsung participants.

Serj contributed remotely through systems mapping and systems-thinking material for Innovation Lab Pelsups, and he continues mentoring the Zhabdrung.com team. His involvement helped establish a model in which useful relationships can continue after a mentor leaves Bhutan.

These first residencies also helped refine the model. Mentors need a clear brief, tight matching, enough time with each team, and a path for useful relationships to continue after the visit.

What a residency looks like

Each placement starts with the mentor's actual experience and the problems currently inside the Lab. Edge City and Pelsung agree on dates, identify relevant projects, and create a focused schedule before the mentor arrives.

A typical residency includes:

• Direct working sessions with Pelsung teams, individually or in small groups
• Workshops shaped around the mentor's expertise
• Meetings with relevant founders, officials, institutions, and GMC stakeholders
• Time to understand Bhutan and the context surrounding the work
• A short post-residency debrief, with optional ongoing support for well-matched teams

Most placements will last one to two weeks, and the team may consider longer stays when a project calls for them. The current working plan centers Innovation Lab time in Thimphu, with time in Gelephu or elsewhere in Bhutan when relevant to the mentor's projects and schedule.

Pre-trip preparation is intentionally light: a background brief, an introductory call with Chencho, project matching, and the paperwork required for the visa. Mentors should expect to arrive ready to engage deeply and adapt their plans as they learn more about the teams.

Who should apply

The strongest candidates are experienced founders and operators who can teach from work they have actually done. Priority profiles include:

• Founders who have built, launched, or scaled companies
• Product and technology leaders with experience in AI, software, data, digital infrastructure, or hardware
• Business operators with expertise in go-to-market, partnerships, finance, investment, compliance, or organizational design
• Researchers and practitioners whose work connects directly to a live Pelsung challenge
• Designers and communication leaders who can help teams turn complex ideas into clear products and narratives
• Policy and governance practitioners with practical implementation experience

Curiosity about Bhutanese culture and the country's development philosophy matters. A contemplative background can add depth to the experience; selection will center on the mentor's ability to help with live technical, business, institutional, or creative work.

The best mentors arrive ready to listen, work side by side, and share context rather than prescriptions. Bhutan is building on its own terms, and every visiting mentor enters a relationship that Edge City and Pelsung have developed carefully over time.

What Pelsung and Edge City provide

For approved mentors, the current support package is expected to include:

• A waiver of Bhutan's Sustainable Development Fee, normally US$100 per day
• Furnished accommodation in Thimphu
• Access to a chef, with grocery arrangements agreed in advance
• Local transportation for program activities
• Visa and in-country coordination
• Project matching, introductions, and a tailored briefing

Mentors should plan to cover their international flights, the standard Bhutan visa fee, groceries, and personal expenses. Flights usually connect through Bangkok, Singapore, Delhi, or Kathmandu.

The logistical support makes the residency easier to join, while the core exchange remains straightforward: Pelsung creates access to talented teams and meaningful challenges; mentors contribute time, experience, and attention.

Express your interest

The residency is now accepting expressions of interest for rolling placements later in 2026. Capacity is deliberately limited so that Pelsung can match each mentor carefully and give every visit enough support.

Register your interest here. The form takes about three minutes. Serj Hunt and Chencho Tshering will follow up to discuss your background, timing, and potential fit with current Pelsung projects.

Bhutan has no shortage of ambitious ideas. This residency is for people who want to help turn a few of them into working systems, stronger organizations, and durable relationships.