Recap: The Long Journey Residency at Edge Esmeralda 2025
What was built and what we learned during this monthlong program.
September 8, 2025
Summary
This year at Edge Esmeralda 2025, Long Journey Ventures and Edge City ran the first-ever Long Journey Residency at Edge Esmeralda: a monthlong experiment to help frontier, magically weird founders leap from -1 to 0.
14 residents lived and built together in our popup village, working on projects from brain-computer interfaces to synthetic biology, causal world models, and autonomous port systems. Over four immersive weeks, they hit major milestones; from raising funding and recruiting first hires, to prototyping breakthrough technologies and discovering new scientific biomarkers.
Beyond the progress, residents described the month as life-changing: co-living sparked collaborations, late-night kitchen-table sessions led to breakthroughs, and the community made people feel both supported and stretched. What emerged was proof that the right environment can accelerate ideas, deepen trust, and transform founders at the earliest stage.
Here’s what was built during this residency program and the lessons we learned as organizers.
What We Set Out To Do
- Accelerate early founders from idea (or pre-idea) to concrete pilot, prototype, or experiment.
- Seed culture by bringing together people who feel “magically weird before consensus.”
- Provide a strong container: structure and support without over-programming, so that courage and speed compound
What Was Built
Avery Krieger — Constellation (Neurotech)
“I collected one of the largest multimodal datasets of its kind, closed key fundraising conversations, and enrolled participants for the pilot — all while having fun.”
Avery is building Constellation, a foundation-model platform trained directly on neural, physiological, and behavioral streams — with applications for curing mental illness and powering brain-computer interfaces. At Edge, Avery secured donated equipment, enrolled participants, and recorded data daily, while also signing a lead investor and making an early hire. By the end of the month, Constellation held one of the largest multimodal datasets of its kind, setting the stage for a foundation model of brain state. The residency gave Avery conviction that clarity of mission, not massive resources, is what attracts support.
Keoni Gandall — Software-Defined Biology Lab
“I completed a Pichia plasmid for T4 ligase, prototyped a small product line, solved a DNA delivery issue, and raised $250K to run for 6 months.”
Keoni’s project lowers the cost of biotech by automating wet-lab experiments. At Edge, he rediscovered the joy of tinkering while also hitting major technical and financial milestones: completing a Pichia plasmid that both lowered his own costs and opened a new product line, uncovering key lessons in DNA cloning, and raising $250k to extend runway. Living alongside other founders made the difference — constant exchange and casual feedback reminded him that biology can be playful and powerful at once.
Eleanor Ye — Stratium (Causal World Model)
“We finished the structural graph stack and rewrote our ML pipeline with 98% consistency, while also launching a multi-agent critique protocol to improve our design flow.”
Stratium is building a causal world model that transforms global information into a living, LLM-powered graph of cause and effect. Over four weeks, Eleanor and her co-founder locked down the ontology, replaced brittle regex with a robust node/edge builder, and finished the first full structural graph. She also designed a multi-agent critique protocol that turned out so useful it was applied to both ML pipelines and Git branching. Beyond the technical wins, Eleanor reframed her role — from architect to “ecosystem gardener” — and left with a new “abundance posture” of sharing ideas freely and treating collaboration as the operating system.
Sunir Kishan Manandhar — Autonomous Ports
“I built a real-time container tracker from scratch, hosted a hackathon, and turned a visa emergency into a win with top-tier recs.”
Sunir arrived intent on building a container tracker; he left determined to transform the shipping industry. During the month he built a real-time tracker from scratch, organized a hackathon judged by Space Force, YC, and Stanford, and turned a sudden visa emergency into an advantage with top-tier recommendations. The residency helped him stop thinking like a hacker and start acting “like a storm,” fueled by the intergenerational exchange at Edge.
Matteo Vinao Carl — Scalable Neural Interface
“I replicated key findings in a new cohort, discovered a novel biomarker for brain aging, and showed that it works on off-the-shelf EEG — proving this tech is viable beyond the lab.”
After a decade in academia, Matteo came to Edge disillusioned by institutional limits. The residency helped him see a new path: science as a founder. Alongside that personal shift, he validated key technical milestones — replicating PhD findings in an independent cohort, identifying a biomarker of brain age, and proving viability on low-cost EEG devices. He also collaborated with Avery to run a 1,000+ hour pilot study. Co-living, he said, was “one of the top five experiences” of his life and the catalyst for his move to San Francisco.
Meg McNulty — Cosmic Labs (Agentic Networks)
“I rewrote key parts of the pitch, leading to higher clarity and conviction… we finished our beta, cracked open a new market, and laid the groundwork for new experiments.”
Cosmic Labs is building network infrastructure for AGI-era systems. At Edge, Meg reshaped how she tells the story: tailoring messaging to investors, buyers, and users with constant feedback from peers. That clarity carried into tangible wins: finishing a beta deployment, unlocking a new market, forming a data-center alliance, and lining up a paid proof-of-concept. She also interviewed 25 engineers for new hires. For her, co-living was key: debugging sales tactics over dinner and sharing honest conversations about burnout gave her lasting momentum.
Faheem Kajee — Aaura (Social Adventures)
“Massive progress on the quality of adventures created on Aaura, plus loads of performance enhancement and a battery of new ideas to launch.”
Aaura is a social app that lets users step into digital adventures with friends or characters. At Edge, Faheem boosted performance, improved the quality of adventures, and left with a stack of new ideas to launch. More than anything, the residency reminded him to think bigger and bolder — a mindset reinforced daily through co-living collisions and late-night idea sessions.
Laura Turner — Synthetic Biology Platform
“I gained strong validation on the company’s direction — particularly on pivoting to a duckweed chassis, which opens up powerful new possibilities for production.”
Laura is building a platform to reprogram plants into bio-factories, starting with saffron. During her 1.5 weeks at Edge, she gained validation for a key pivot — moving to a duckweed chassis — and had promising conversations with Cold Spring Harbor Lab about running assays. For her, the residency’s slower rhythm was just as important as technical progress: time to reflect and connect deeply with housemates sharpened her conviction to keep building with intention.
Max Heald — Refs (Interest-Graph Matching)
“I did a bunch of user interviews, product design, and built toward the smallest possible MVP — which I’ll ship within two weeks of leaving Edge.”
Refs is an app for interest-based matching that lets users traverse the network themselves. At Edge, Max stripped the product to its core through interviews and design work, homing in on the smallest possible MVP. He left with a build nearly ready to launch, plus new habits and clarity gained from living alongside other focused founders.
Neha Desaraju & Mackay Grant — Squaretower Markets
“We finished development on our first market and had lots of valuable customer conversations — laying the path for launch.”
Squaretower is a derivatives platform for on-demand GPU compute. During the residency, Neha and Mackay completed development on their first market, hosted an AI infra dinner, and gathered critical customer feedback. For both founders, the residency broadened their view of community — seeing the company as part of a larger tapestry of collaborators. The momentum carried forward is focused on launch and seeding a flywheel of business development.
Miles Segal — Rapid ASIC Foundry
Miles is building a lightning-fast ASIC foundry, repurposing vintage nanofab equipment to deliver custom digital chips within 24–48 hours. His one-week stay didn’t allow for hands-on building, but conversations across the residency boosted confidence and sharpened his next steps. The biggest value came from informal exchanges that reinforced his excitement to keep pushing forward.
Residency Flow
The month followed a light but intentional rhythm. Mornings began with co-working over shared meals, often spilling into working sessions through lunch.
Demo days alternated between the Edge Esmeralda town square and the residency house, creating moments of collective focus and feedback.
Evenings brought intimate life-story sessions that built deep trust, alongside guest-led facilitation in the first week focused on visualization and intentionality.
Throughout, dinners and 1:1s with Long Journey partners offered residents both mentorship and space to connect with visiting guests.
What we learned
1. Transformation Through Immersion
Every residents described the month as life-changing. Being dropped into an ecosystem of hundreds of builders working on everything from AI safety to psychedelic research created what one resident called “a perpetual state of possibility.”
They left with mentors, collaborators, new projects—and in some cases, new trajectories for their lives. Several residents reported receiving collaboration offers, invites into research projects, or follow-on funding opportunities.
2. Proof That Environment Matters
The village itself became the curriculum. Morning yoga on the lawn, coworking in converted barns, serendipitous hikes through the redwoods—these rhythms weren’t just healthy, they seeded collaboration. The balance of wellbeing + frontier work turned out to be catalytic. Residents noted that having health designed into the environment gave them more focus, more resilience, and more room to take creative risks.
3. Cross-Generational & Cross-Disciplinary Exchange
One of the most consistent highlights was access to mentors and peers from diverse domains. A high schooler building neural interfaces could end up jamming with a longevity researcher over lunch. A young founder working on open-source biotech found guidance from multiple senior entrepreneurs. These collisions gave residents a sense of being taken seriously, and of having something to contribute right now.
4. The Power of Community & Belonging
Perhaps most importantly, residents felt deeply seen. Several shared that for the first time, they were in a space where their curiosity and ambition weren’t “too much,” but exactly what the community celebrated. That sense of belonging will ripple forward, not just in their projects, but in their lives.
Why It Matters
This residency showed that popup villages can be powerful accelerators. Living and building together compresses time, unlocks courage, and deepens trust. Residents left with prototypes, hires, capital, and, just as important, a community to carry forward.
Looking Forward
Our next stop is Edge City Patagonia (Oct 18–Nov 15, 2025). Anchored by 10-15 residencies, we’re doubling down on this structure for our popup villages. With residencies spanning onchain building, d/acc, vibe coding, creative expression, global citizenship, emerging markets, mindfulness, consciousness, and regeneration, there is a wide spectrum of topics to dive into.
Apply here to attend →
Beyond Patagonia, our vision and roadmap is clear: build a global ecosystem with network cities where founders, technologists, creatives, thinkers, and researchers can plug into for collaboration, resources, and community. Fellowships and residencies are a cornerstone of how Edge City nurtures the next generation of frontier builders.
Resident Quotes
“I realized I don’t need massive resources or a large team to build the future I envision. What I need is a clear mission and conviction.” — Avery Krieger
“This month helped me clarify how to talk about what we’re building… it reshaped how I think about sales, messaging, and even prioritization.” — Meg McNulty
“I got back some of the joy of biology… small, stupid, unprofitable projects just for fun… in many ways, those projects can be very valuable.” — Keoni Gandall
“I came in to build a container tracker. I’m leaving, ready to bulldoze an entire broken industry.” — Sunir Kishan Manandhar
“The residency acted as a kind of petri dish of high-agency individuals and gave me the catalytic energy to reimagine my life trajectory.” — Matteo Vinao Carl
Thank You
Huge gratitude to the Long Journey team: Lee Jacobs, Cyan Banister, Arielle Zuckerberg, Mike Wang, and Carolena León for creating this with us. And to the residents, who brought courage, curiosity, bold ideas, and open heartedness into the village.
This is just the beginning.
Make sure to follow along @JoinEdgeCity for more fellowships and residencies.
We hope to see you soon in Patagonia! ☀️
— The Edge City Team