Austin is about to be saturated with memberships. I'm building something else: deliberate dinners in my own home, eight to ten people, curated so you know exactly who you came to meet. Here is the full vision for No Bad Company, and why I scrapped the membership model to get there.
The Dinner I Keep Building in My Head
I'm chaotic in my head lately, in the best way. I've been sitting on a vision for over a year now, and I'm done sitting on it. Time to say it out loud and start building.
Quick reintroduction, since this one's personal. I'm Chloe Chiang. I've been a realtor in Austin for 18 years. I'm also the founder of No Bad Company, my lifestyle brand and production company. NoBC exists because we believe one conversation can change your life. We curate serendipity through world class hospitality experiences and brands partner with us to access the world we've built amongst the good company we keep.
Selling real estate has less to do about market stats and more to do about people, their emotions and values. They're confessing their fears and their dreams. I'm part therapist, part architect of someone's next chapter. I'm engineering their ecosystem of home, lifestyle and community. And it turns out that same skill, making people feel safe enough to tell their story, translates directly into hosting.
Where this came from
Over a year ago I hit real burnout. Disconnected from myself. I could barely get out of bed. I'd go on walks for hours in silence because I couldn't consume anything, not even music or podcasts. (now I listen to multiple podcasts a day!). Needless to say, I couldn't get on camera. Any spark of creativity would quickly dissipate followed by a spiral of self hatred because I couldn't force myself to do what I said I would. Some friends suggested a medicine journey years ago, and now felt like the right time. I wasn't going to be able to will myself "back to normal." I was going to need help- perhaps divine help. I did my first medicine journey in April 2025, MDMA and later psilocybin. The party girl in me wanted a cigarette the whole time haha. I came out of it actually more depressed and anxious, but I felt like it was necessary. My body needed to bring that to the surface so it could be released. My walks started bringing me visions and my creativity started coming back. I journaled a dinner concept that I've been sitting on and I'm ready to start running with it.
The vision
Here's what I want to build in my house.
You get invited on purpose. I message you directly: I want you at this dinner, and there are two people I specifically want you to meet. I tell you their names and why. You already know this isn't a random guest list.
You show up dressed how you want. Cocktail attire, the funky hat, sweatpants if that's your version of comfortable. You're greeted with your favorite cocktail and an icebreaker card, one of about 400 I've written, walking in through the side entrance so it already feels like a different world.
You watch the chef cook. There's a musician playing or an artist painting live, because Austin has no shortage of talent that deserves a room, and I want to build that room. I want you to feel transported. I want you to feel surrender and excitement because I've got you and there is something here that will change your life. Then dinner, eight to ten people, and I'm still working out the choreography of moving people around the table so you're not stuck talking to the same person all night when someone at the other end is also who you came to meet.
After dinner, we move to the speakeasy. A few more cocktails, vinyl, Polaroid cameras, a photographer and videographer working the room so nothing gets lost. Then the coffee table book. Every dinner becomes a chapter: the menu signed by the chef, photos of the food and the cooking, and a guest book where everyone signs, dates, and leaves a word or a line about their night. That's nostalgia in real time. People being present and a good old fashioned house party. Life is better in good company. This builds cultural capital that brands will pay to be a part of.
The part nobody tells you about building this. It is extremely hard to do this well under $500 a head once you add a chef, bartender, server, photographer, artist, and host, and that's before I even charge for producing it or for the venue itself. I want to sit at my own dinners and enjoy them, not run them, and that costs money.
I think the real economics live in corporate dinners and brand partnerships. Groups coming in for South By or F1 who want something local and special, not another $500 a head night at a beautiful but predictable restaurant. Bring your product into the room instead: on the bar, on the menu, in the story that is customized to the evening.
Why membership is off the table
I spent real time building a membership model for NoBC. An application, deep questions about who you are and who you want in your orbit. I'm scrapping it. Austin is about to be saturated with memberships, and most people can't justify more than one anyway. So instead of one big application, I'll ask sharp, specific questions per event and build the picture of my community over time, event by event, instead of asking for it all up front. The goal is to have brand partnerships to make the events affordable for guests… and myself.
What I'm actually building
Experiential dinners and good old fashioned house parties. Pizza and robes nights with martinis. Vinyl listening parties. Backyard concerts. Holiday parties. Parties that start at 7 or 8 and end by midnight, so you still get your morning back.
I'm not chasing another founders club or another wellness membership. I'm building the room I actually want to be in: good food, good music, curious and generous people, the kind who are unapologetically themselves. A party that fills your cup instead of draining it, so you leave more motivated to build whatever you're building.
There are plenty of rooms for builders and dreamers already. I want to build the room where they actually get to exhale.
If you know a chef, a mixologist, a magician, a storyteller, an artist, or a performer of any kind who wants to be part of this, I want to hear from you. This one's a passion project before it's a business, and I'm building it in the open.
Thinking about your next move in Austin?
