The best time to care about
your health

Munich's first DON'T DIE meetup, and one of the first anywhere. A small group of strangers, coffee, and one shared question: what does it actually take to live longer and better? The people who showed up didn't just stay curious. They came back.

Month after month, the meetup tried a new shape. Coffee walks, a casual 5K run, guest speakers, deep dives into the science. In October, the community spent an evening on rapamycin with Krister Kauppi, who joined remotely, alongside a virtual edition the same night.

After a year of meetups, Maurice made a decision: this should become more than a monthly DON'T DIE gathering. The move was planned, and on October 11 the first domain was registered. Longevity Munich was born, and it was never supposed to stop at Munich.

Munich was working, and Munich alone was never the plan. Longevity Germany took shape: the next domain was bought just before Christmas, and an open call went out for people who wanted to organize chapters in their own cities. One application stood out. That person had already been at a Wirtshaus Stammtisch meetup: a random conversation about NMN and David Sinclair, the right vibe, and another conversation soon after. But who was that person?

It was Laura Pezza. In January it became official: she was all in on making Longevity Germany real. Time to take it beyond Munich. The beginning was surprisingly formal, as the first messages show. They co-hosted their first event that same month, and the plans on the table already reached past Germany.

When Bryan Johnson personally asked hosts worldwide to organize DON'T DIE First Steps walks, Munich answered with a winter walk and coffee. Weeks later, the community got together for a movie night of the Don't Die Netflix documentary. Nine DON'T DIE meetups in, the community kept honoring where it came from, even as it grew into a name of its own.

Going national meant looking the part. Freelance designer Paula Asche came on board and created the identity and logo the community uses today. What began under the DON'T DIE banner now had a face to go with its name.

At a bouldering meetup, the team met Raphael Hauser. He became the person who was always there. First helping with Munich events, later supporting the expansion across Germany. That same month, Nuremberg launched its own chapter.

Christian Ziegert joined the team to help structure the growth. Planning started for chapters beyond Munich and Nuremberg, with Hamburg, Berlin, and more on the list.

Two cities in two months. Hamburg held its first event on October 8. Berlin followed in November, with Carlos Fontecha and Zelda Vilmar stepping up to lead and build a local community from day one.

Longevity is more than physical. Johanna Kresin joined the team to bring psychology into the conversation. From stress, sleep, and motivation to how people think about aging in the first place.

The year had one more first in it. On December 6, Frankfurt held its opening event, the fifth German city on the map. What had started the year as a Munich project ended it as a national one.

On January 4, San Francisco became the first chapter outside of Europe, with Krish helping build the local community from the start. Around the same time, Gaurav Ghosh and Daniil Gavlitskii joined to launch the community's first podcast.

Miami followed with Anu Pahalajani leading the chapter, and a launch event in Zürich brought the movement to Switzerland. Around the same time, Lukas Eichhammer, who the team first met at ISPO Munich, joined to develop a regular Stammtisch format.

While the map turned international, Germany kept growing underneath. Cologne launched with Kiarash at the end of March, Heidelberg followed in April, and Mainz joined in May. Three new chapters in three months, each started by someone who had simply raised a hand.

Two capitals, seven days apart. Vienna launched with Iveta Simsa in mid-June, and London followed a week later, the community's first step into the UK.

At the end of June, Shenzhen held China's first event, and Shanghai followed just eight days later. A community that had started with coffee and strangers in Munich was now meeting in two of the largest cities on earth.

By midsummer, the pace had stopped surprising anyone. The Bodensee chapter held its first event in early July, and more leads were already on board: Geneva under Valentina Movtchan, Zagreb under Petra Juric, and Düsseldorf getting ready. The dots were appearing faster than the map could be redrawn.

As of mid-July, the next wave is already scheduled: first events in Riyadh, Paris, Los Angeles, Valencia, Austin, Houston, Boston and New York, all within four weeks of each other.

What started as a handful of strangers at a DON'T DIE meetup has grown into more than 25 chapters across ten countries, and over 60 events. New chapters are forming every month. The next one might be yours.