📍 Miami. Good Rooms. Better People.
- Rich Washburn
- 1 hour ago
- 2 min read
I almost didn’t go. Miami traffic and I have a complicated relationship. It usually wins. Jimmy (founder of Data Power Supply) invited me down, thinking the room might be a good place to show off some of what we’re building with VaporVault. I showed up mostly curious… and ended up fully digging it.
Two weeks ago, Praveen Yalmanchi toured a data center project we’re working on (with his friend Art), and tonight was more of the same energy — thoughtful, welcoming, zero ego, real conversations.
Praveen builds good rooms.
Art was there too — the man with actual human-sized robots. I don’t mean “robotics concept.” I mean legit robots. By all measurable standards, that makes him the coolest person in any room I’ve ever been in. I’m equal parts impressed, inspired, and quietly jealous in the healthiest way possible.
Martin and I had a great AI/software conversation — sharp guy, deep thinker. If you need serious engineering talent, he’s someone to know.
And then there’s Sophia Mendez Cruz — system design, product development engineer, and completely unshaken by any layer of the conversation.
Infrastructure, abstraction, product strategy — she tracked it all. As a dad with a young daughter, seeing young women step confidently into technical leadership spaces like that is just awesome.
Also — and this is important...
I may or may not have been orbiting the cookie tray for a solid five minutes trying to exercise discipline.
Sophia basically said, “Go ahead.”
And that’s when the slippery slope began.
Chocolate chip cookies were afoot.
They paired perfectly with the coffee, and I take zero responsibility for what happened after that. So yes — thank you for greasing the skids there.
Tulio’s later sealed the deal. Luciana’s smoked Old Fashioned was Jedi-level.Traffic trauma was forgiven (temporarily). But more than the food or the drinks, it was the people. Warm welcome...sharp minds...real builders.
I didn’t bring the energy to that room — I got to be part of it.
Grateful for the invite. Grateful for the conversations. Grateful I didn’t let traffic win. Looking forward to the next one.
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