I like building things for the real world: robot simulations, user-focused products, and a relentless drive.

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Dara speaking on the TEDx stage Dara Miao

I have a relentless drive to reach my goals, and I bring an athlete's mentality to everything I build. Years of competitive golf and going to the gym have made discipline second nature.

In my TEDx talk, “How Athletics Fuel Academic Success,” I talk about how I learned to compress my training, using less time to achieve the same result. I did this through strategic shortcuts: heuristics that skip the slow parts, tackling my weaknesses first, and showing up consistently.

Years of introspection have given me a remarkably clear mind, at work and in life. That clarity lets me do two things at once: help build technical companies, and explain their value to the people who will actually use them. I also love bringing people together by curating intimate groups of builders and founders.

the course9 holes · par
fun facts
dateOct 3, 2026player

01Work

02Involvement

03Tinkering in code

contributions in the last year

04Storytelling

I'm a storyteller at heart. On Instagram and TikTok, I show what I build and how I live. On X and LinkedIn, I write what I think: my values, my wins, and opinions I'm happy to debate. With an audience of over 20,000 people, I'm grateful to be able to express my creativity through content.

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Mar 2026

I hosted the Founders Table: 10 founders and one VC.

I curated the mix: undergrad and grad founders next to alumni who'd raised, building everything from space robotics to flavored eggs.

Read on LinkedIn ↗︎
Sep 2026

18 lessons from 18 years of life

How I make decisions and why: no plan B, committing fully before judging a path, pacing for a marathon instead of a sprint, seeking out people who disagree with me, and why I don't set long-term goals.

Read my article →︎
Jun 2026

How I run a full-time startup job, four platforms, and weekend trips without dropping anything.

Granola notes piped into Obsidian as Claude's context, Poke as my personal assistant, my tools wired together through MCPs, and automations built with Claude and n8n.

Read on X ↗︎
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