Polymath · Bali
Exclusively for the members of The Polymath Network / Art of Mondays / RAW Global / Concordia Club
Project Polymath
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Becoming polymath
What is “Polymath”? Watch the 45-second intro →
Three observations, filed over years of studying the polymath. Together they point to one conclusion: there should be a place built for this kind of person.
Why this works
The branding
Ask someone if they know the word polymath, and most people say no. Explain what it means, and you hear it straight away: they recognise themselves in it. Between a word nobody uses and an idea everybody feels sits a wide-open branding and marketing gap.
Everybody wants to be their own Leonardo da Vinci. At Project Polymath, you learn how to become one.
The data
Wellness is the fastest-growing sector on Bali. Plenty of resorts on the island run a gym and a spa, and they do well. But we flip it to go even further: not a resort with wellness on the side, but wellness with a resort on the side.
Our guests do not travel to switch off. The resort's job is creating the environment for focus. Wellness is a big part of that, both physically and mentally. The room won't matter, the facilities will.
Sixteen units and an environment for focus
- 12 one-bedroom suites on the upper floor of the main house
- 4 two-bedroom townhouses on stilts further down the ridge
- Café, co-work and pool in one open room under the suites, with the library wall along the back
- Skill studio, the heart of the resort, in its own open pavilion
- Fight zone with a boxing ring and an octagon, for striking and strength
- Spa with sauna, hot tub and ice bath
- On 44 are of jungle land with the most beautiful views
This design is not the final design yet, I’m working with the architect on the final drawings. The design guide shows the look and the materials. The architect’s drawings are round two.
The ROI plan
One model, one variable: occupancy. The realistic case is our planning anchor. The first six months are a designed soft launch at lower rates, to fill the house, build the reviews and the community, and grow into the realistic case from there. Rental income only; capital gains come on top.
| Pessimistic40% occupancy | Realistic60% occupancy | Optimistic80% occupancy | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average weekly rate | €1,850 | €1,850 | €1,850 |
| Revenue per year | €626,854 | €935,282 | €1,243,709 |
| Operating expenses (45%) | €282,084 | €420,877 | €559,669 |
| Operating net | €344,770 | €514,405 | €684,040 |
| Return paid out | 11.7% | 18.3% | 24.9% |
Year-one snapshot at today's rates, no annual growth assumed, on a €2.0M project valuation. Return paid out is what the company distributes after 22% Indonesian corporate tax, as a share of the valuation, before dividend withholding tax and any personal tax in your country. For a Dutch investor the 15% treaty withholding brings the realistic case to 15.5%. Most Bali projects top out around 15%. The full model, the exits and the tax picture per country come in round two. Indicative, not guaranteed.
Top 3 reasons to ask for round two
01 · The developer fee
Most developers take a 40 to 50% developer fee on a project like this. I take 5 to 10%. Polymath is not built to make me rich; it is built for a long-term goal: a portfolio of investments with returns this high, a trusted investor community, and more projects like it. A smaller fee keeps the total investment lower, and that means a higher return for everyone in.
02 · A concept developer
Polymath is led by a concept developer, not a project developer. Designing the concept, the interactive stay and the brand is my craft, and it is what makes fair prices and a return this high possible. Behind it is more than a year of development work, and a project-developer mentor with over five years of building on Bali, who works on this project with me.
03 · Built in public
Most developers build first, and only then look for ways to fill the rooms and build a brand. I start on day one. The whole build and everything around it is filmed and posted on our socials, so a following grows with the walls. By opening day, 50,000 to 100,000 followers who love the concept and sit in our target audience are already there. We open with our people, instead of going out to find them.
Brand ambassadors
I've had a talk with a single investor from Indonesia, the founder of Bali Investment Club and Soebagio & Partners. I showed him the project and, well, he wanted to fund the full 2 million euros. I respectfully declined, for one reason: I believe this project has so much potential that I have the privilege to choose my investors.
I would rather build it with a circle of like-minded people who put in a ticket, hold real shares, and then actually use and improve the place with their own skill-set. Investors who train here and bring their people are worth more to Polymath than capital alone. That is why I'm saving this project for people like you: the members of The Polymath Network, Art of Mondays, RAW Global and Concordia Club.
The full picture
- The full model, line by line. Revenue, costs, fees and tax per scenario, the data behind every number, and why 60% is realistic.
- How Bali works. Foreigners cannot own land: how it is held (a lease or a PT PMA) and what that means for you.
- The legal steps. The company, your shares, the shareholder agreement, the notary and the permits, in order.
- The exit. When and how you can sell your share, who can buy it, and how the exit fee works.
- The plan to the first guest. Drawings, permits, contractor and build, step by step, to opening day.
- The team around it. Who I am and what I do. My mentor, a project developer with over five years on Bali. The architect, the operational manager and the rest of the team.
I've always had much interest in everything, and according to most people, this lifestyle gets you nowhere. You need to focus on one industry, one project or one job. Well, we're here to prove them wrong.
I am building a resort in the hills of Munduk around one idea: becoming a polymath. I started on this concept before I knew communities like yours existed. When I found them, the visions turned out to be the same: skills over comfort, a community that trains together, builds a business together and becomes polymath together.
This is round one, the concept round: what we are building, why, and the core numbers. The how, the data behind every number and the plan from here to the first guests come in round two.
