“You mustn’t live too far from Miami, right? You must get to party a lot!”
…is the reaction I get when telling people I’m from Florida.
St. Augstine is my home, America’s oldest city - paved with cobblestone streets and Spanish colonial architecture - but it’s an hour and twenty minute flight away or a four-ish hour drive from Miami and its epicurean attractions.
Miami’s the de facto archetype for what the party-leisure lifestyle is today, picture Al Pacino, Hawaiian shirts, aviator sunglasses, martini clinks, lowriders and yes, vices - lots of them. From the 70’s it’s been where corporate Wall Street pundits dreamt of getting summer placements managing Floridian funds.
Flash forward over 50 years later and it’s passionately steered by 47-year-old mayor Francis Suarez who gets his salary paid in bitcoin and hangs out with the Nelk Boys.
Miami is now America’s tech-hub, thanks to Florida’s favorable tax conditions paired with the mayor's innovative ambitions, the city has become a hotbed for VC investment and start-up support.
But all that aside, when telling people from the UK and Europe that I’m Floridian, they still picture gaudy locals, parties, and again, vices.
And in all honesty, I don’t mind that.
I appreciate parties, whether they’re beachside or highrise or cooped up midwinter in a cozy cigar bothy. I love to network with new people and reconnect with old friends.
But vices, however, have lost their allure.
Last week I was at Closer to the Sun, an all-inclusive invite-only festival in Mexico featuring Slightly Stoopid, Cypress Hill, and the like. Let’s face it - if there’s a coordinate in spacetime to partake in substances and concoctions - it’s Closer to the Sun.
That being said, It was the final day, everyone was getting ready to go all out, enjoy every drink and smoke under the sun.
But...I didn’t partake - I soaked in (no pun intended) the sea, the sand, and the beautiful faces and company from all walks of life, I jumped and headbanged stage front for the entire Cypress Hill set - my “high” was in being present to the moment. (Don't get me wrong, the younger me would have had a nice sized Jazz cigarette burning through the entire set)
In the midst of a party, the abundance of drinks and substances, I had a breakthrough - in the most unpretentious way possible - the catalyst was a work email.
I had to arrange a meeting with a representative of Barclays Bank's "Eagle Labs" - a program where startups can get connected with investors.
But the catch was it was midnight in Cancun and his only slot free before taking a break for the holidays was 8AM UK time - which just so happened to be 3AM Eastern Time.
Meaning I had three hours to prep, pitch, and pretend I wasn’t in the midst of my most anticipated week of the year.
But the future of my team took precedence over any instant gratification I could get now, and ironically that brought me closer to the present moment than anything else.
Underslept, jetlagged and to make matters comical my favorite music was reverberating live from the stage into my hotel room - but I was “dialled in” as the kids call it - it was a focus and euphoria like no other.
I felt a dancing interplay between purpose, drive and joy - without the helping hand of substances.
I was in founder mode.
Steve Jobs was very much a product of the '60s.
...during his late teens and early twenties, psychedelics were his maternal shaman while the Beatles and Bob Dylan were his paternal way-finders.
“Taking LSD was a profound experience, one of the most important things in my life. LSD shows you that there’s another side to the coin, and you can’t remember it when it wears off, but you know it. It reinforced my sense of what was important—creating great things instead of making money, putting things back into the stream of history and of human consciousness as much as I could.” - Steve Jobs
But as a founder of Apple, he was famously a non-drinker-non-partier, devoting himself to his team and craft.
He channeled those expansive visions gleaned from tripping and tune-outs not into ongoing hedonism, but into relentless craftsmanship and disciplined leadership at Apple.
The journey from reveler to founder wasn’t about denouncing creativity, pleasure, or the wisdom gleaned from altered states; it was about crystallizing those insights into something lasting—an architecture of innovation, design, and purpose.
I find myself in a similar place.
While I haven’t completely mirrored Jobs’s path, I’m carrying forward a spirit that values the lessons from life’s wilder chapters—my own escapades, my younger indulgences, my many parties on different continents—and distilling them into the work I’m doing now.
Instead of seeking another rush through the usual vices, I’m finding a more profound “high” in creation, in possibility, and in the interplay of vision and execution.
Yes, I’m from Florida, and I’ve seen my share of nightlife and sun-soaked leisure. I’ve danced in crowds, felt the adrenaline of live music thrumming in my chest, and—back in the day—embraced whatever substances added color to the experience.
But these days, whether I’m at a festival in Mexico or a strategy meeting in Edinburgh, the real “high” comes from being present and committed to what I’m building.
The present moment... it's Ironic honestly.
We (Stoners, Psychonauts, Hippes etc.) spent so long trying to break free from or "Un-brainwash" ourselves from the corporate/societal realm that we never noticed the prison was of our own doing.
The chains existed through our own desire to escape, but there was never anything to escape from but ourselves.
This is where Eduba comes in.
Like the early Apple team, we’re working at the intersection of creativity and technology, searching not just for problem-solutions but for entirely new ways people can engage with knowledge and one another.
It’s a “Jobs to be Done” world, we’re told—but we’re also aiming beyond that, into a realm where we preface it with “What could be?”
The generative AI we’re developing, the experiments in user experience, the evolving understanding of how humans learn and connect—these aren’t just business pursuits.
They’re part of a tapestry woven from cultural insights, personal evolution, and a collective desire to do something that matters.
At Eduba, we see technology not as a surrogate for human connection, but as a medium through which we can amplify it.
Much like Jobs focused on simplicity, elegance, and the deeper human truths underlying his products, we aim to create something that feels not only useful but meaningful.
We’re blending rigorous problem-solving with the kind of open-minded playfulness that psychedelics once teased out of Jobs’s psyche—only we’re doing it sober, alert, and fully engaged with the here and now.
No vices required.
The clarity and drive I feel today come from embracing the moment, from knowing that my team’s future hinges on my ability to show up, focused and inspired, at 3AM or any hour demanded by opportunity.
Each conversation with potential partners, each prototype, each piece of user feedback—weaves into something larger.
It’s a journey that acknowledges where I’ve come from (St. Augustine’s cobblestone roots, my Florida upbringing, youthful festivals), and also points forward to something much bigger than myself.
So, yes, when people from across the pond think “Florida” and assume a never-ending party scene, I’ll let them.
I’ve enjoyed those rhythms, but I’ve also stepped beyond them. Like Jobs—whose youthful explorations informed but didn’t define his legacy—I’m taking the best of what I’ve learned from every chapter of my life and channeling it into building Eduba into something extraordinary.
Much like Jobs, I’m channeling the interdimensional wisdom and creativity of my prior “trips”, and the warmth and jolly of my many escapades.
The real rush comes not from indulging every quick fix, but from focusing on a long-term vision that can change how we learn, connect, and grow together.
this is part 4 of my founder log series on linked in, click the link to check out the others:
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