Marjorie Spitalnik had already done the accelerator circuit. She was building Little Rebels, a company that turns women from history into plush dolls with educational experiences attached. She was already in the United States. Another program in Miami sounded, to her, like something she might not need. She joined anyway. In an interview published by Mana Tech, she later reported a worldwide distribution deal and an investment from another founder, Caetano Altafin of Woof. The useful thing had turned out to be the people.
- Mana Tech helps international technology companies enter the U.S. through Miami.
- Its offer combines market-entry advice, founder events, workspaces and investment connections.
- Miami Immersion lists a $3,500 fee, with no equity or sales commission.
- The homework still belongs to the founder: introductions do not close the sale.
Spitalnik’s account is a testimonial, not an experiment. Still, it offers a useful way into this company. Much of startup life is spent perfecting something that can be demonstrated on a screen. Expansion introduces a less tidy problem: finding someone who understands the business well enough to help it travel.
A building meets a business problem
Mana Tech is the technology and innovation arm of Mana Common, Moishe Mana’s community-building platform. Its base is Downtown Miami. The ambition connects two scales of work: helping a founder find an American customer, and helping a neighborhood become a place where founders, investors and companies want to gather.
In April 2022, Mana Tech merged with Base Miami, a Latin American-focused accelerator. Base Miami founder Charly Esnal became managing director; Mana Tech’s current team page lists him as CEO. The combination joined market-entry experience with the resources of a business already committed to Miami’s physical spaces.
“We’re not a traditional accelerator, we focus on market entry.”
Charly Esnal · April 2022
That distinction matters. A founder with customers in Chile may need help identifying an American buyer, pricing a contract or explaining the product to an investor. General encouragement has limited value when the next decision concerns which customer to pursue on Monday.
The $3,500 introduction
The Miami Immersion Program packages this work into remote preparation and an in-person Miami week. Founders receive mentoring, revise their sales or investor pitches, meet people in the local ecosystem and present at Demo Day. One exercise has the cheerfully theatrical name “Wow! Statement”: a short self-presentation intended to get the explanation moving.
Or two payments of $1,750.
No equity. No sales commission.
The public page lists $3,500, payable in two installments of $1,750. It says the program takes neither equity nor commission on sales from its meetings. This gives founders a concrete purchasing decision: pay for preparation, feedback and access, while keeping ownership.
The same FAQ supplies a useful boundary. Mana Tech does not actively generate leads. It connects participants with mentors, experts and advisers. A founder buying this service should arrive with a product to explain, a customer hypothesis to test and the time to follow up.
The customer does not travel unchanged
For companies needing more preparation, U.S. Market Fit offers a tailored 12-week online program. Its intended participants have customers at home, plan American expansion within 12 to 18 months, and may be struggling with U.S. pricing or their target client. The page also advertises monthly one-to-one sessions for six months.
The practical lesson is portable: treat success at home as evidence worth examining. A different market may require a different buyer, sales process or explanation. Copying the pitch before testing those assumptions is wonderfully efficient until the pitch reaches someone who has no reason to care.
Mana Tech also creates cohorts for corporations and governments. Its corporate program page features recaps involving Microsoft, ProColombia, and Softex with Ingenio. Institutions can bring a selected group into the same learning and meeting process, rather than asking each founder to construct a network from scratch.
The meeting that changed the plan
Another connection produced a particularly revealing change of direction. Refresh Miami reported in March 2024 that adviser Mati Barbero met Chilean education company Appoderado through a Mana Tech program. He encouraged the team to postpone its exit plans and pursue its ambition to expand into America.
Barbero left Mana Tech and became co-founder and COO of the U.S. spinoff, School in One. The publication reported a $500,000 pre-seed angel investment. This was funding for that new company, not for Mana Tech. What the example demonstrates is the possibility that useful advice becomes a working relationship.
The physical community supports those possibilities. Mana Hubs offers coworking, private offices, meeting rooms and event space. A desk gives a founder somewhere to work; events and shared facilities create occasions to meet. An independent adviser or another accelerator may solve a similar problem. Mana Tech’s distinctive combination places advice inside a continuing local community.
Six tickets to Miami, then more work
Scale2Miami makes selection explicit. Its August 2026 announcement describes an online validation phase selecting 20 startups, followed by six invitations to Miami. Finalists present to an angel network described as more than 150 investors. Prior winners Kresko RNA Tech, Bildin and Unify AMS were receiving weekly advice through a 12-month acceleration program.
Selection stages and network size; these numbers do not represent completed investments.
The announcement described funding processes still underway. An investor audience is an opportunity to earn a decision. Founders should keep that distinction in their budgets, and judge the program by the quality of preparation and relationships as well as eventual outcomes.
The network gets a larger address book
In September 2026, Mana Tech announced an investment in a Monashees fund and a partnership connecting the Brazilian venture firm’s founders with Miami’s customers, investors and market-entry support. On October 6, it announced Tech Cities of the Americas with former Quito mayor Mauricio Rodas. The first summit is planned for December 3-4 in Miami.
These initiatives extend the same idea to funds and city ecosystems. For an international founder, the immediate test remains pleasantly concrete: does the next conversation improve the next decision? Spitalnik arrived doubtful about another accelerator. Her account suggests that, sometimes, the person across the room is the part of the program worth remembering.