Picture this: It’s 5am and alarm clocks are going off. But instead of reaching for the snooze button, hundreds of people are getting up, wriggling into sequin jumpsuits and dabbing glitter on to their faces. They then head off to a surprise venue. By sunrise, they're all dancing together. Surrounded by a DJ, live saxophones, and fire spinners, they fuel up on cold brew and green juice, with no alcohol in sight [2].
This is Daybreaker: a community built around early-morning sober raves. Co-founded by serial entrepreneur Radha Agrawal in 2013, it has become a movement with events on all seven continents [3]. What began as an experiment with 150+ friends has bootstrapped its way to a seven-figure business, with over 800,000 community members in 30+ cities who dance, connect, and start their day with a bang [4,5,6].
In this deep dive, we cover how the community got started, how it grows, functions, and makes money.
Daybreaker has reimagined what it means to party and build community in the modern world [1,2]. The concept combines three core elements: alcohol-free morning dance parties, yoga and wellness practices, and neuroscience-backed community building through what Radha calls the "DOSE" methodology [6][11]. Each event follows a structured three-hour format beginning at 6am with yoga set to deep house music, followed by two hours of high-energy dancing with live performers, and concluding with intention-setting rituals [2,12].
The community serves a diverse, multigenerational audience seeking authentic connection and self-expression [5,13]. Participants range from busy professionals and entrepreneurs to wellness enthusiasts, college students, and anyone looking to break free from traditional nightlife culture [8,14]. The movement has attracted notable attendees including primatologist Jane Goodall, actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Teri Hatcher, TV chef Bobby Flay, and various celebrities who participate authentically rather than as paid endorsers [3,9].
Since inception, Daybreaker has achieved remarkable growth through organic word-of-mouth marketing [3,6,15]. The business operates in cities across the world with additional presence on 12+ college campuses [16,7,8]. Annual revenues have reached seven figures through diversified income streams including ticket sales, corporate partnerships with major brands like Nike, Adidas, American Express, and IBM, plus educational offerings and virtual experiences [4,5,9].
Radha had become increasingly uncomfortable with the traditional nightlife. It felt toxic and misaligned with her values [2,17]. "We'd want to go out at night. We'd go to nightclubs... and it was just everyone on ketamine.” It all felt "dark and negative" [2] and "I had to edit my dance moves and let my freak flag fly because some creepy dude..." would take that as an invitation [2]. This personal frustration led to a simple but revolutionary question: what if you could recreate nightlife's energy and community while removing the negative elements? [3,17].
"What if we removed all the vices of nightlife and instead of a mean bouncer… we replaced it with a hugging committee? What if we replaced alcohol with green juice, coffee, and tea," Radha wondered [3].
So in 2013, she and friend Matt Brimer (co-founder of General Assembly) decided to test this concept, organizing the first Daybreaker event during a New York snowstorm with a modest $2,500 budget. They invited 300 friends; 180 showed up, and the response was overwhelmingly positive [3,15].
Events remained invite-only at first. “The events are actually password-protected,” says Matt. “We really wanted to keep it tight… to make sure that it didn't kind of blow up or that we didn't damage the ethos of the community too soon.” As a result, they actively avoided PR for months until they felt like the sense of community was strong enough [41]. Daybreaker continued to be run part-time for the first year and a half or so, before Radha went all-in on it [7]. The event format has been a constant work in progress. They iterated by talking to attendees and getting feedback about what was or wasn’t working through surveys and chats. They used the number of smiles and vibe of the party, as well as attendee retention to guide their decisions [53]. If the vibe isn’t “Daybreaker enough. We’re doing something wrong,” says Matt.
Each event functions as a carefully designed three-hour journey combining multiple elements to maximize both individual joy and community connection [1,2,12]. The experience deliberately triggers the "DOSE" methodology—dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins—four neurotransmitters associated with happiness and bonding [6,11].
“We announce a new venue, a new theme, a new location. It's always secret. You never know where the next venue is going to be,” says Radha [49].
The Daybreaker experience begins the moment participants arrive at an event, with the signature ‘hugging committee’ replacing traditional bouncers at the door [2,3,26]. This immediate shift in energy signals that attendees are entering a different kind of space focused on warmth and inclusion rather than exclusion and judgment [2,12]. The hugging committee, trained in consensual touch practices, provides optional physical connection for those seeking it while respecting boundaries [3].
Events start with an hour-long yoga experience set to deep house music, often incorporating sound bowls and live instrumentation [1,2]. This transitions into a two-hour "full-on immersive dance party" featuring extensive performative elements designed to "wake up all of your senses" [2,3]. Unlike traditional club experiences, Daybreaker events feature duelling saxophone players, breakdancers, aerialists, fire spinners, and other live performers who create an ever-evolving spectacle throughout the morning [1,2]. The idea is that every 10-15 minutes there’s a new element that kicks off to keep the energy up.
The grab-and-go refreshment model offers free green juice, coffee, and tea rather than alcohol, reinforcing the wellness-focused atmosphere [2,12]. Environmental design plays a crucial role, with carefully considered lighting, DJ booth placement, décor, and color palettes creating what Radha describes as "a truly welcoming and inclusive" atmosphere [3]. Ritual elements include intention-setting readings where everyone recites poetry together, group jumping hugs, and compliment stations that encourage positive interaction between strangers [2,3].
Nothing is left to chance - they have a run of show for the whole event, which are almost like an immersive theater experience. A journalist recapping an event they attended, describes how they had an artist creating finger paintings near the stage, while a giant jellyfish bobbed through the crowd. Later, the DJ instructed everyone to sit in front of the stage while slam poet Anis Mojgani recited a poem. They were then led through a meditation, reflecting on being grateful, compassionate, and kind [42]. To close things, they all read out loud a “mission of mischief” from a card, which they were instructed to tape to a park bench to spread their energy and positivity to others [44].
After each event, the Daybreaker team and volunteers come together to discuss what worked well and what didn’t [40]:
“We think about experience design… it's about the lighting, it's about the check-in flow… it's about the smiles on the dance floor, the music and the vibe, and how people leave."
They even arrange the physical space such that they get a “bowl effect”, raising the outer edges of the space so that “people can see each other on different levels,” explains Radha [48]. “That's another experience of safety… to be able to make eye contact with anyone.” The look and feel is vitally important to Radha [51]:
“We often overlook the importance of aesthetics as it relates to attracting the right community members… Colors, fonts, logo designs, materials… all play an important role in creating community.”
As Matt puts it, “We sell a feeling,” and so everything needs to be just right [53].
Daybreaker’s following caught the attention of Oprah Winfrey, who booked them for the “Oprah’s 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus” tour. They went on a nine-stadium tour with Oprah, but it was cut short when the pandemic hit [46].
During COVID, they had to quickly switch things up. They took their offering offline, translating the community-building elements to online platforms [9,10,19]. The company hosted virtual events every Saturday morning via interactive Zoom. 6,000 tuned into the first one, or tried. It didn’t go so well. Things “glitched out, people couldn't hear us, it was like a tech nightmare,” remembers Radha [56]. But they persisted, and soon they had the tech issues sorted and were regularly attracting 15,000-30,000 participants [10,19]. These sessions featured major performers like Gloria Estefan, Gloria Gaynor, the Gypsy Kings, and the Village People, helping the community expand from cities to a global audience in 170 countries [9,10].
“Participants get dressed up in the theme of the week, log on for a body-moving group activity, then dance ‘together’ to a rad DJ via an interactive Zoom chat,” describes Radha. Again, attention to detail and the experience of it all is where Daybreaker shines. Digital Zoom backgrounds and costumes match the event’s designated theme, and Radha “will ask participants to hold up photos of the first person they want to hug when isolation is over, or instruct them through a choreographed dance” [45].
They also launched Daybreaker+, a membership platform, that provides a collection of dance, yoga, and mindfulness videos, which people can subscribe to and bring a little sense of Daybreaker into their living room [47]. “Investing in this digital community ultimately doubled their revenue streams,” notes Radha [56].
Since then, they've continued to experiment with other formats. Most recently they ran a one-day festival called "ALIVE: LDN" in London on September 7, 2025. The event featured: DJ sets from Groove Armada, Sam Divine, Sarah Story, and DJ Madam X, as well as live performances from Facesoul and Madame Gandhi, some Yoga, a run, a dance triathlon, sauna, cold plunges, and breathwork. They also collaborated with Othership (the immersive sauna experience) on "Heatwave," which combined sauna journeys, ice bath plunges, and dance parties run from 9pm to midnight.
Daybreaker has multiple revenue streams, generating seven-figure annual returns [4,5,9]. One big revenue stream is ticket sales for individual events, with pricing typically ranging from $25-$35 for early bird tickets to $150+ for premium experiences [15,8]. The accessible pricing structure ensures the community remains open to a range of people while generating sustainable revenue [20].
Corporate sponsorships represent another crucial revenue stream, with major brands like Nike, Adidas, American Express, Tropicana, and IBM partnering with Daybreaker for both financial support and co-marketing opportunities [4,5,9]. These partnerships prove particularly attractive to brands because, as Radha notes, "we're sober, we're no longer a liability for cool brands to work with" [3]. They curate “10 exceptional health & wellness focused brands,” and feature their products on their refreshment stands at events, too [37].
“I would say it's an 80/20 split, 80% sponsorship revenue, 20% ticket-sale revenue,” says Radha [56]
During the pandemic, the business model expanded to include a subscription-based offering [9,10]. Daybreaker FIT, targeted at college students, was priced at $299 per year and included online classes, 21-day habit-building challenges, and access to exclusive video content from entrepreneurs and wellness experts [9,7]. Virtual events proved remarkably successful, with the company selling over 200,000 tickets during the pandemic period [9,10].
The company has also developed corporate training programs focused on community building and employee wellness [23,8]. They even launched a private events arm “because companies need joy too,” says Eli Clark-Davis, Daybreaker co-founder and CRO, who heads up partnerships [36]:
“Brands have sought after us to create solutions that are more art and community forward for their teams from Nike to LinkedIn to Amazon and Facebook, along with universities across the country.”
There is no membership application process for attending events [2,3]. Instead, participants purchase tickets for individual events through the company's website, Eventbrite, and various event platforms [24,25]. The morning timing naturally selects for people willing to prioritize this type of experience, while the sober environment attracts participants seeking authentic connection [1,2,12].
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Daybreaker's growth is achieving such massive scale with zero advertising spend in its early years [3,6,15]. The company's growth strategy relied entirely on what Radha calls "whisper sharing"—organic, word-of-mouth marketing driven by participants' genuine enthusiasm for their experiences [3,6], which she says accounts for “99% of our entire growth” [49].
"All of our marketing was done through whisper sharing by joyous community members feeling so good that they had to tell all their friends about it," Radha explains [3]. As one industry analysis noted, "92% of attendees bring friends within 3 events" [11].
Geographic expansion followed a careful community-building model rather than traditional franchising [3,16]. Radha developed a “Community Architect Toolkit,” a comprehensive 50+ page playbook for building Daybreaker anywhere in the world. It includes templates for conflict resolution, event design, and volunteer coordination, that all new market leaders (or “Catalysts” as they’re called) are trained on [13].
Controversially, this training required final-round candidates to "spend a night at her apartment" in what Radha describes as "one giant slumber party" [3]. This intimate onboarding is designed to ensure that new leaders understand both the tactical and cultural elements necessary for success [16], although Radha admits it’s “pretty HR unfriendly” [38].
"The idea is that when you're growing to new cities, instead of getting to know each other as colleagues, we get together first as a family. Everyone we bring on, we fly them to New York," Radha explains [3]. This decentralized model allows Daybreaker to scale and run bi-weekly events in cities around the world with just 4 in-house producers, leveraging their 50+ Catalysts [39]. All while maintaining authenticity—something many franchise systems fail to.
Estimated growth in cities looks like:
It hasn’t always worked out, though. Some of the catalysts turned out to not be a great fit. Back in 2016, for example, their first launch in London failed, and they had to re-launch some months later [52]:
“The cities that missed were often the ones where it just didn’t work on many levels… perhaps the climate and the time that we launched. London was one of those ones where we didn’t find the right producers until just recently.”
Operationally, its also tough to run events that early in the morning - getting people to deliver for 6am has proven tricky [54]. The production of live events is a very stressful thing, too. “There’s so many moving pieces, so much can go wrong,” explains Eli. “It’s like, ‘Oh my god, the DJ hasn’t shown up yet,’ or ‘That equipment is broken’” [55].
It has also been difficult to balance keeping a consistent experience across locations, while letting the city’s local vibe come out. New York City has a more laid back, hipster feel while Los Angeles goes all in on costumes and kitsch, says Eli [52].
“All we ask is that you get 3,000 people in your community to sign up, and then that unlocks your city,” says Radha. “Instead of saying, okay, great, we're gonna launch a city and build it up. We actually ask the community to want us to be there” [43].
Radha’s big personality, combined with the unique and photogenic nature of Daybreaker events, has meant they’ve earned a lot of media coverage, too. Publications like The New York Times and the Guardian to Business Insider, ADWEEK, Fast Company, GQ, and Buzzfeed have written about their events. Since they run in multiple cities and change venues often, they feature regularly in local TV and print news, too.
What’s more, celebrity and influencer engagement has amplified their reach [9,28]. High-profile attendees, like Jane Goodall, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Bobby Flay brought additional visibility [3,9,28].
This all works well on social media, too. Daybreaker currently has 195,000 followers on Instagram, 80k on their primary Facebook page, and 350,000 on its @dance Instagram account. They also have ~30 city groups on Facebook, which range from a few hundred to several thousand members [50]. In the last year, they’ve had more than a billion social media impressions [34].
Other growth drivers include its use of Eventbrite for ticketing. Eventbrite allows Daybreaker to handle different currencies, time zones, and local regulations [24,32]. However, the platform's marketing tools and discoverer features help attract new participants, too. "1 out of 4 tickets sold on Eventbrite" come from discovery on the platform [24].
They’ve also partnered with organizations like Mindvalley, which has expanded its content distribution, combining Daybreaker’s "dancing and positivity" with mindfulness education [21].
From public sources we can estimate that member growth looks like:
Daybreaker operates with a lean team. Radha serves as CEO and Community Architect, maintaining hands-on involvement in both strategic direction and community building [5,16,23]. Tim Patch is Chief Operating Officer, handling operational execution and vendor relationships [29]. Tim launched Daybreaker in DC in June 2015, joining the HQ team around 2018 [35]. Both Tim and Eli became co-founders alongside Radha, while Matt stepped back.
For major events and ongoing operations, Daybreaker works with trained MCs who understand the company's values and can guide participants through the experiential elements that make each event feel special [2,3]. These facilitators maintain the community atmosphere and help to ensure newcomers feel welcomed [3,26]. The company also recruits extensive volunteer networks, including the signature hugging committee [2].
“Every single person who comes to Daybreaker, who volunteers, who's on our team, is there to spread love and energy. And people can feel that energy is our most potent form of communication… Daybreaker is successful because we share good vibes and people want to be around good vibes.”
True to Radha's full-on style, Daybreaker is evolving, too. They've started weaving in community building courses and workshops as part of Belong Institute (Daybreaker's education arm) and formally established Belong Center, a non-profit organization with a mission to "end loneliness and inspire belonging through experience design, public arts and culture". This shift takes them from morning dance event brand to a comprehensive wellness and community-building ecosystem with educational, non-profit, and diverse event formats.
So there you have it. That’s how Daybreaker turned sober raves into a million-dollar community✌️
Design experiences, not events
Rather than simply organizing dance parties, Daybreaker thought about the experience holistically, basing decisions around its DOSE methodology. Try to think through attendees' emotional and physiological states, not just talk topics and keynote speakers.
Constraints create community
Daybreaker's morning timing, sober environment, and musical preferences make for a clear brand identity - providing clarity for potential members and strengthening community bonds between members. Build your community for a specific type of person, not everybody.
Product-led growth isn’t just for tech companies
Daybreaker achieved massive scale with zero advertising spend by focusing on creating experiences so compelling that participants became natural advocates. By investing in the member experience, word-of-mouth can create sustainable growth. You don’t need paid marketing.
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Gareth has spent 15 years in founding marketing roles at community-led startups. He shares his learnings through deep dives.
