A good start last thursday to Saul’s new Open Coffee Club concept (although I must take some credit here for suggesting we needed something like this over a breakfast meeting with him and some VC’s one friday) 
It really is good to have an event which isn’t really planned as a special occassion, is in the morning from 10am, and doesn’t involve beer. 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.
Now, there’s a few key things we all need to do here to ensure it becomes a real success over a longer term:
- Let’s not treat it just another social networking event – if you don’t make it along, it’s not the end of the world – there’s one every week. You don’t have to go round speaking to everyone – sometimes it’s good to meet a few good people and a few in-depth discussions – the other people will probably be there next week!
- More demonstrations – let’s have more of these. We noticed one or two people going to one of the tables and just showing some new techology or even what they have been working on to-date. Definitely should be much more of this. You never know, it might stir some ideas for business partnerships with people or they may be able to match you with people who can help and enhance your offering. Plus, it’s much more fun!
- Never, ever, have name badges or colour coded tags: it’s not that type of event and never should be. It’s not even an event – it’s a place where internet people come and go for coffee, chat, and a cake.
- Filtering the people – which can be a bit controversial. Last week was perfect – a great blend of good people from our internet industry who could potentially add real value to someone else’s business or aspirations. Now, what I don’t want to see, and I’m sure everyone else feels the same, is a bunch of PR execs, recruiters & headhunters, or bob from the stationary department at big corp X coming along because they smell opportunity. If we want it to become the cult of e-cademy, then that’s the quickest way to go about it. Let’s just be polite but firm if they saunter on to our pad.
- Journalists, VC’s, and Angels are more than welcome and we should help give them some fun and interesting stories, and opportunities. These guys often have a good perspective on the industry as a whole and are definitely worth talking to in the non-pitch sense. Remember, they’re here to take part too and get away from people trying to sell them things – at least for a few hours.
There we go!
Finally, I read a really interesting blog post by Ben Metcalfe the other day who wrote some really good comments on the start-up scene over here in general. He actually even put forward the idea that we should be working with the Silicon Valley community in this non-geographic world of techology. I whole heartedly agree! While we may be a different unique eco-system, there is no reason we can’t combine forces with our US pals and push for a global community. Open Coffee club is one example where I can see European supporters visiting the events in the US, and vice versa. Let’s get the guys there to start doing the same!
