Want a great startup community? Don’t copy Miami

Hey everybody! Rae here, co-founder of DNNR.

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Why Miami tech never happens + how to actually build a thriving startup community

I kicked the hornet’s nest. I didn’t mean to go viral hating on the Miami startup scene, but I had a string of bad experiences in 2022-2023 while I was living there that I was never very public about.

But earlier this week on my way to the coffee shop I saw this article: why miami tech never happens.

The article from Dax (who has 119k followers btw) spoke to what I experienced. So I fired off a repost in the coffee line assuming it would flop like all my other tweets. But 4k likes, 895 saves, and 290 reposts later… my day was derailed.

Rae@raechellambert

Husband and I tried Miami for 1 year after living in SF and NYC tech scenes. Very top heavy - mostly successful founders and VCs who go to live in their nice houses and aren’t out there being part of the community Tons of larping founders - I got invited to some “female founder

1:24 PM · Mar 22, 2026 · 884K Views

245 Replies · 236 Reposts · 4K Likes

Besides me spilling the tea on Miami Hack Week not paying my team the $10k prize money, my post resonated because a lot people had unmet expectations about Miami.

I actually take no joy in that fact.

Please know that if the hackathon organizer had called me after and explained that sponsors fell through and he didn’t have the cash, I would have understood and moved on. But instead I was ghosted for 6 months and when I finally got in touch, they acted surprised I was trying to reach them.

The reason I bring this all up: I know San Francisco will always be king, but I want the other 2-10 ranked startup towns to be great. Being a successful founder requires being in the game for a long time, and it’s easier to do that if there are a lot of solid tech cities to choose from.

So instead of just shitposting, I’m sharing what it takes to build a thriving startup community, and what I wish Miami had done differently (but still can):

• Optimize for sweatpants builders, not rooftop selfies

• Create free or very cheap third spaces where people can show up and work

• Run long hack nights and open builds instead of cocktail “mixers”

• Be publicly accountable when things break and over‑correct in favor of founders

• Be accessible, but use strong filters on your time

• Codify decentralized playbooks so others can spin up meetups, groups, and content

• Invest in content infrastructure that turns local founders into public leaders

• Treat founders as scarce talent to be recruited, not customers to be billed

• Build your “community” around celebrity drive‑bys and PR stunts

• Let gatekeepers prioritize status signals over actual competence

• Monetize early‑stage founders with fees and memberships before supporting them

• Ghost people when commitments fall through—own it, fix it, and learn

• Over‑optimize for big‑name speakers instead of building internal ninjas

• Confuse a city’s Twitter hype with actual local support and infrastructure

Every weekday morning I go to F45 (HIIT group workout for 45 minutes) and then head next door to sit in a hotbox with a bunch of strangers.

Well, they aren’t strangers anymore.

Banya, the social sauna, might be one of the most underrated health protocols. Regular sauna use has been linked in long-term studies to better cardiovascular outcomes and lower all-cause mortality, especially at roughly 15–20 minutes per session, multiple times per week.

Bryan Johnson’s own protocol is a daily 20-minute dry sauna at 200°F, though even he suggests most people aim for a more moderate 3–5 sessions per week at 175–195°F. He says it’s one of his most effective (and attainable) health protocols.

But Banya is not just sauna, it’s social. The one I go to is co-ed, and the sauna can cram 15 people in.

It’s chatty. People wear funny hats (to protect their ears/heads from the heat).

People bust each other’s balls and make plans to hang out.

It’s in the social layer — real conversation, familiar faces, sober connection, community — that you get something more powerful than just a sweat sesh. Because strong social ties are also linked to longer, healthier lives, a social sauna does double duty: helping the body and helping the soul.

• TJ Larkin sits down with Rae Lambert to explore how hostless dinner clubs are the new monetization engine for local 70+ creators. Youtube, Spotify

• Landon from Wichita Life shares how he grew to nearly 38k subscribers and built a thriving local media business with dinner clubs, Facebook ads, and ManyChat. Youtube, Spotify

• Marissa Lovell built a $100k local newsletter from home (she uses DNNR to monetize). Youtube, Spotify

DNNR.io is the #1 white-labeled dinner club platform
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Last month I shared this new direction for the newsletter and 19,811 of you read it.

Thanks for being here, it means the world. I’m thrilled to build the offline future with you.

✌🏻 Rae, Co-founder of DNNR