When Nao Madison moved from London to Miami last year to build a boutique recruitment firm, she found a tech community with momentum and a barrier she could not ignore. While there were plenty of conferences, meetups and founder events, they also cost money to attend, and some of the most practical sessions, the ones built around training, tools and access, were among the most expensive.
Madison has spent 18 years as a talent advisor and recruiter, working with startups and larger companies across the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and the United States. In Miami, she launched a boutique creative, product and engineering recruitment company, giving her a close view of the talent, access and support gaps founders face as they build.
That is the gap Madison wants to address with Founders Rise Miami, a new free community and workshop series created with women and minority founders in mind. “I wanted to make sure to give access so that others can come and learn how to vibe code and build their first prototype, test it with customers or take it to a VC even,” said Madison [pictured above].
The community’s first event was Vibe Code Your Vision, a free hands on workshop led by Jessica Campbell of Creative Currents. The session at Mana Tech was designed to help attendees use Claude to turn an idea into an early product or prototype. The workshop went beyond teaching attendees how to use a tool. It was about helping founders better understand the ideas they want to build. “My workshop is technically about vibe coding, but it’s really about something bigger: defining a vision and using one of the most powerful, and sometimes controversial, tools of our lifetime, AI, to help accelerate that vision,” Campbell said.
Campbell has spent more than 13 years working across strategy, design, product and innovation, including roles as a producer, creative, strategist, AI educator and innovation lead. She said the workshop draws from design thinking and product vision frameworks, but applies them to the goals, businesses and creative projects participants bring into the room.
Madison said the launch event was the first step in a larger plan to build a free support network for founders who may not have easy access to paid programs, technical talent or investor guidance. She wants Founders Rise Miami to remain free for attendees, while eventually bringing in sponsors or grants that would allow the community to host more sessions, reach more founders and pay speakers for their time.
She is also building partnerships around the community, including Women Invest in Women, Founder Institute Miami and The Venture Mentoring Team. The goal is to connect founders with mentorship, pitch support, founder education and access to people who can help them move beyond a single workshop.
In the future, attendees can expect programming around AI, pitching, burnout, fundraising readiness and founder foresight, all designed to give founders practical support they can use as they build. Madison said she is also planning smaller sessions where later stage founders can get direct feedback on their pitch, story and funding strategy.
Longer term, Madison sees Founders Rise Miami expanding beyond Miami into Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton, while also creating a recorded learning library for founders who cannot attend in person. For Madison, the goal is to make sure more of Miami’s founders can access the tools, support and community they need to keep building here.
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