Today I’m Attending a Biohacking Conference in Miami… and I Can’t Help but Think Back to early 2000’s!
If you haven’t heard the term biohacking yet, you soon will. It’s the rapidly growing practice of using biology, technology, and self-experimentation to optimize your body, mind, and lifestyle. Think of it as next-level wellness, combining ancient wisdom with cutting-edge science.
Even here in health-conscious Miami, I’m expecting this conference to be lightly attended. Why? Because functional medicine and biohacking are still in their early stages. We’re in the “early adopter” phase. The crowd you see at these events is usually one of two types: the extremely fit chasing an edge… or the extremely wealthy looking for a shortcut.
My trainer jokes about this often, and while it gets a good laugh out of me, there’s some truth to it. Most people haven’t yet made the connection between personal responsibility, science, and healthspan. But just like any frontier, the pioneers show up first and the masses follow later.
All of this reminds me of a small conference I attended back in 1998 on a niche topic no one was really paying attention to: live streaming.
There were maybe 50 booths. Most companies were startups you’ve never heard of, pitching wild ideas that felt like science fiction. I didn’t go for the vendors, I went for the speaker lineup. The guests? Bill Gates. A then relatively unknown Mark Cuban. And the CEO of the (at-the-time) industry leader, RealNetworks.
I sat 10 feet from Gates. Front row. No lines. No crowds. No hype.
And you know what? 99% of those companies didn’t make it. They were too early, too speculative, or simply unable to survive the wave of disruption that followed. RealNetworks, the “big fish”, was eventually devoured in the marketplace by Microsoft. Cuban? He sold his company for billions. The rest is history.
Why do I share that? Because this moment in biohacking feels eerily similar. A small crowd. Big ideas. A few future billion-dollar breakthroughs scattered among a sea of well-intentioned but premature bets. Everyone a bit too salesy! 
I’m curious to see which companies have staying power and which will disappear by 2030.
And yet, amidst the shiny tech and futuristic treatments, I keep coming back to something my trainer Titus Jean always says:
“80% of your health comes from the basics. The remaining 20% — including biohacking — only matters if you’ve got the first 80% dialed in.”
So simple, yet so easy to overlook.
Do you move your body daily? Eat mostly whole, unprocessed foods? Sleep well? Avoid toxins and manage your stress?
Because let’s be honest, we all know people who are deep into supplements, wear the sleep rings, track every biomarker… yet still skip workouts, eat like garbage, and live in chaos. That’s putting the cart way before the horse.
Personally, I take just a few supplements: omega-3s, vitamin D3 with K2, and a full-spectrum mineral. Occasionally I’ll rotate in magnesium or berberine. But even then, I’m not convinced they make a huge difference. I prefer to focus on nutrient-dense foods, real movement, and consistent daily habits.
All that said, I’m excited to be here today. I’m here to learn, to observe, and to see the future, even if it’s only visible to a few of us right now.
Because if history has taught me anything, it’s that the future always starts small.
And those paying attention early… often get a front-row seat.
