OpenCoffee

Paul Robinson writes:

One of the more interesting phenomena in recent months has been the rise of OpenCoffee. For those of you who are old enough to remember the "First Tuesday" events of the dot.com era, at first you might think it's a re-hash of that tired old dog. Thankfully, it's a lot fresher and more interesting for most of us.

The big difference is that it's not really a social networking event and is much more about collaboration and sharing ideas. As some of the background thoughts on purpose explain:

"Imagine it more as a big open lounge where people come and go, talk to others in their industry, showcase demo’s of what they are working on, save the world, and ultimately maybe get some work done and run a few small meetings."

"OpenCoffee should feel like a public office for people interested in startups."

As the name suggests, it's a coffee and chat as opposed to wine and nibbles (wise choice given some of them start at 8am), and instead of being managed and costing participants money to turn up, a group of interested parties just "take over" a local coffee shop. Think of it as a bit like flash mobbing, but with a point.

There tends - at the events I've been to at least - to be an emphasis on technologists, but I can't see any reason why the events can't accommodate more people who are interested in start-ups generally.

There are currently 73 regular events happening across the globe, and there seems to be a slight bias to European cities. More are being added all the time, and as the start-up cost is near zero (so Web 2.0, eh?), there's nothing stopping anybody starting one.

My local event, OpenCoffee Manchester, is back after an August break, and I have to say I'm looking forward to it. It's smaller than some events out there, but it has already become an interesting little incubator of ideas and relationships. If you're in the neighbourhood, pop by. Otherwise find - or consider creating - an event like it near you.

Comments

[Manoj Ranaweera]

Thanks Paul for the coverage. Look forward to meeting you tomorrow to discuss edocr, project sahara, etc. Regards Manoj