5 Lessons Learned from Throwing a Yacht Party for 160+ founders, investors, and operators during #MiamiTech week

At the start of 2022, our team at Brex had one goal: to throw the biggest, and most anticipated event during Miami Tech week. Needless to say, we succeeded.

After the official introduction of Brex into the Miami market at Art Basel 2021, it was clear - Brex was here to stay. So we asked ourselves, how do top that event?

What is the most Miami way to do #MiamiTech week (insert yacht gif here lol).

On April 23, my team took a leap of faith and trusted me to throw a Yacht Party for 160+ founders, investors, and operators during month.

Here are 5 lessons we learned:

1. Dream Big

This event was obviously risky on so many fronts. But the bigger the risk - more often than not - the greater the reward.

Not only did we create memorable impact for 160+ founders, investors, and operators, but we generated half a million impressions in 60 days (got several new clients, too ??).

2. FOMO works

If you give everyone access, then EVERYONE will have access. Supply and demand.

When there’s a legitimate limit to the amount of guests present, the incentive for attending said event increases. Exclusivity builds desire, desire builds traction; thus, ultimately, builds organic engagement.

3. Be Intentional

Yes the yacht party was fun (duh - it’s a yacht lol) - but what most didn’t know is that each yacht was heavily curated with each of our 12 partners’ interests in mind.

If you as a founder or investor aligned with one of our partners' target audience, you were chosen for their boat.

Everyone has to benefit - and the best way is by having a purpose for every move you make.

4. Delegate so you can focus on your greatest strengths

Since this was the first Brex Yacht Club, we treated it almost like a startup within a startup. We did 99.5% of the legwork (which was limiting but effective).

Next year we know to hire a team to run the day-of show so we as an organization can focus on spending more quality time with potential + existing customers

5. Show Gratitude

It truly takes a village to build community. This event would not have been what it was w/o our rockstar partners.

Through collaboration, we set a strong foundation for more Brex Yacht Clubs to come (date for next year has already been put on the calendar ??

Conclusion

All in all, if you have the support to pull something BIG off, you should try everything at least once (just like you would in a startup).

Then from there, at least you know how to move forward so that next time, you can be bigger and better.

Are you in a large startup/corporate entity? Have any big ideas you want to flesh out?

Happy to jam and be helpful where I can. [email protected]

Follow me on Twitter @JeanineSuah