Clouds & Waves: No Hidden Fees on Being Human
Spirit Airlines died on May 2nd, 2026.
Bailout collapsed. Final flight landed in Dallas. Gone.
You know why they really died?
Because in 2012, a dying Vietnam veteran named Jerry Meekins asked for a $197 refund. He had cancer. He had a doctor's note. He couldn't fly.
Spirit said no.
Because in 2007, a Spirit CEO accidentally hit reply-all on a customer complaint and typed the five words that became the airline's real mission statement:
"We owe him nothing."
That wasn't a mistake. That was the truth slipping out.
But this event isn't about Spirit.
Spirit is just the cleanest tombstone for the philosophy quietly killing modern business:
The transactional reflex.
The "what's in it for me" handshake.
The consultant who bills you for the meeting that confirmed the next meeting.
The vendor who charges extra to print the contract you already paid for.
The boss who calls it "feedback" and means "leverage."
The colleague who keeps score.
The friend who only calls when they need something.
We've built a whole economy where every interaction has a meter running.
And it's making us miserable.
Clouds & Waves is the opposite of that.
CirrusNorth and Ride The Next Wave are two crews who refuse to do business like Spirit Airlines did life.
We don't charge for the carry-on. We carry the bag.
We don't board you in Zone 47. There's no zone. There's a long table.
We don't sell you a $5 water. We buy you a taco.
When something goes wrong, we don't email "we owe you nothing."
We show up.
What to expect
Where: Malcolm Yards Food Court, Minneapolis
When: Wednesday, June 17, 2026 | 3:00 to 8:00 PM
Cost: Free. Actually free. No upsell at the door.
Food: All of Malcolm Yards is yours. Martes Tacos. OG Zaza. The full lineup.
Format: Long table. Real talk. Zero PowerPoint. Zero pitches. Zero name tag theater.
Who shows up: Founders. Operators. Engineers. Designers. AI builders. Recovering consultants. People who still believe business should feel human.
Who this is for
→ The leader who's tired of every conversation feeling like a negotiation.
→ The builder who knows the best work happens when people actually like each other.
→ The exec who's done with networking events that feel like timeshare pitches.
→ The friend who said "I'd actually go to one of these if it wasn't... that."
This isn't that.
Who hosts this
CirrusNorth - Midwest cloud and DevOps consultancy. AWS Partner. They build infrastructure the way we build AI prototypes: candor over theater, outcomes over dependency. Led by Adam Johnson.
Ride The Next Wave The Unconsultants. AI prototypes in 4 weeks. Outcomes over PowerPoints.
Two firms. One philosophy: we owe you everything.
Drop in any time between 3 and 8.
Bring a friend. Bring two. Bring the colleague who needs out of the transaction.
Save your seat. We saved it for you.