The OpenCoffee Club Movement
The OpenCoffee Club is "a place for people who love startups to hang out and meet" according to their recently launched social site on Ning.com. From Cork to Capetown, Seattle to Sydney, and Paris to Palo Alto, people are getting together on a weekly basis to discuss all things startup and to meet and pitch their ideas to VCs. For an idea that only kicked off last February, it is beginning to take the world of web entrepreneurs by storm.
What is it?
The OpenCoffee Club started as an attempt to establish recognized, open and regular meeting places where entrepreneurs can meet with investors in a totally informal setting. It is the brain child of Saul Klein, a venture partner at Index Ventures and a VP of Skype who is based in London. The goal of OpenCoffee, Saul told me, was "to create something that can be replicated anywhere else at little or no cost ... where entrepreneurs can meet and know people might be around for them to talk with."
OpenCoffee, London; pic by Lloyd Davis
The idea is simple. Events are arranged on a set date in a set location. Entrepreneurs and people interested in the industry come along to chat, discuss their ideas, and build relationships. VCs also come along and entrepreneurs have a chance to pitch their ideas to them - and discuss whether they might be interested in funding them etc. One success story I have heard of so far is Moveme.com which got the ball rolling on their funding at one of these events.
John Jennings, Simon Curran and Wannita Phanchana at Limerick OpenCoffee; pic by Irish Typepad
The main attraction for people who come along seems to be the relaxed atmosphere. It's a great way to meet other startups in your area and build new relationships. For VCs its a quick and easy way to meet with a group of local entrepreneurs and to get to see their products/ideas in action. For a lot of people the conference circuit has been the only outlet to network with potential investors and other startups face to face, but this can be an expensive game for people on tight budgets. The OpenCoffee Club is free for anyone interested to come along.
An Open Coffee Club in action in Munich
Where's the Fire?
The fire is everywhere and is spreading quickly. There are now 38 coffee clubs in various cities spread around the globe, and anyone can start one. Sam Sethi from the UK blog Vecosys told me last night: "Open Coffee Club is like speed dating for VCs and Entrepreneurs. VCs can come along and quickly meet lots of interesting startups and hear their ideas". Conor O Neil from new Irish startup LouderVoice recently wrote the following about his first visit to the OCC meetup in London on the 14th May: "The energy in the room was infectious and everyone was there to meet and talk and network... The attitude of everyone there seemed to be one of community. 'Oh you havenít met X? I'll introduce you' was a phrase I heard many times over."
From the point of view of the VCs, Johannes Ditterich from Target Partners told me: "Open Coffee Club institutionalizes and supports what is currently in the air in Europe already: The dawn of a culture of entrepreneurship with a new generation of founders and startups." And Nic Brisbourne from Esprit Capital Partners had this to say: "I make it a priority to get to OpenCoffee. I like going because it's a great place to pick up a feel for what is going on at ground level and because I get the chance to put something back by sharing thoughts with entrepreneurs who are just starting their companies."
Conclusion
Events like these should have an instant appeal to anyone in this business as a free and easy place to network and build community. Where will it go from here? Saul (OCC Founder) tells me that they are planning their first international OCC meeting next week in Amsterdam before the NextWeb conference. He also hopes that with the launch of thier site on Ning.com, many more people who don't have a OCC nearby can start to network online.
If you are interested in starting a OCC then you can get in touch with Saul Klein. I will be at the NextWeb Conference next week and hope to make it there on time for the first international Open Coffee Club, which is being billed as "500 cappuccino please!".
Have any R/WW readers been to an OCC event? If so we would love to hear about your experience in the comments.
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If anyone from the UK is planning on attending one of these, please let me know. I'm v. interested in attending one, but it'd be great to chat with other interested parties beforehand.
An informal meet will for sure help in the long run.
Any one in Bangalore interested in this. Drop by a word.
It is great to hear it is going International. Being in Rotterdam (slightly south of Amsterdam) myself I'll definitely try making this next week.
Though there aren't any Starbucks in Holland, it should be good none-the-less.
Sounds much like the now defunct "First Tuesday" idea in the the UK about 5 years ago to me
OpenCoffee is great.
we launched the Boston chapter a few months ago. more info here.
http://www.opencoffeeclub.org/profile/bijansabet
Jon - there are several key differences with OpenCoffee
Firstly, it's not focussed on funding - its really about people meeting others involved in startups to share experience and war-stories.
Secondly, it's during the day, not in the evening - so it's really more a work thing than a social thing
If you want to see some of the spirit behind OCC and the philosophy, which couldn't be less-First Tuesday if it tried - check out http://localglobe.blogspot.com/2007/03/opencoffee-club-structure-vs-free-form.html
Or come along to one of the 39 current locations
Even if you keep the "VC" angle out of it (and that's probably best, lets face it), its a great place for people to meet up and think about how they could work together. I've already identified a key opportunity through the Limerick OpenCoffee and we are working with two other organisations to bring it to fruition. Re: comment on First Tuesday, I think the VC money in the room distracted everyone from building an actual company. OpenCoffee, from my experience, seems to be different.
Another success story is edocr, which is currently in stealth mode that I co-founded with RJ and two others. We developed the idea at OC Manchester inaugural event and cemented a month after by incorporating the company. I will blog about the story once we have real substance (a Beta). OC Manchester is treated as a more relaxed version of NW StartUp 2.0 events. Why not drop in at www.nwstartup20.co.uk - Next event is on 14th June
regards, Manoj
NOTE: The company I mentioned that got funding after going to one of these events is actually MoveMe.com and not moveon.com.
The Manchester OCC (thanks to the good work of Manoj above) is starting to gain momentum. As a VC I've enjoyed meeting entrepreneurs in a less formal setting where there's a better chance to be constructive. I live equidistantly between Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield so I'm going to be spread rather thin though! For me it certainly seems more gritty and more friendly than I remember 1st Tuesdays being.
It's one of those spectacularly simple, but potent ideas. Cape Town is heading for it's third next month (thanks Eric).
This is a great example of the power of crowdsourcing & using existing social media platforms to transform the standard tired model of networking into something fresh and valuable. Well done Saul,
OpenCoffee is a great idea.
We launched the spanish chapter a few weeks ago in Barcelona, but during the evening! (May be easier in Spain...)
If any one is interested to come, there is more information here:
http://www.opencoffeeclub.org/profile/ollivier
We hosted the Amstrdam version this morning. It was outside, in the sun, and with a lot of people. The bar we picked didn't open until 9:20 so some of us went to get fresh coffee at a nearby cafe. Nice atmosphere with actual deals taking place. Be there next week!
As someone who has themselves been running an entrepreneur network (in Barcelona, Spain) for the last 4 years, I have to say how positive I felt when I met the local OCC organiser, Ollivier Jacq.
I have seen various groups start up and "compete" over the years, but I really like the style of OCC and hope to attend their meetings myself.
I have to agree though that the presence of VC's should be secondary. Starting a business, whether in the internet or elsewhere, should be about getting up and running, not getting capital. In some cases that may not be reasonable, but in most cases VC's will want to see some reason to believe in you first. An idea is not enough, and hyping the presence of VC's will divert fom the real benefit of connecting with other entrepreneurs.
All the best to all those starting businesses out there. I wish you all every success.
It reminds my the "First Tuesday" network of the first bubble :) The start phase is exciting ... but after a while you don't find the interesting people. Just the ones who want to show their faces :)
I first learned about OpenCoffee Club two months ago through Jason Mendelson and Brad Feld's blog www.askthevc.com. After speaking to Jason in Colorado, I realized that Houston with it's geographically spread out business landscape was an ideal place to hold an OpenCoffee Club. I've been involved with a number of formal and established business networking groups as well as informal ones like barcamps and meetups so OCC was a natural fit for me. In the course of two weeks, I planned, promoted, and held Houston's first OCC - and for the roughly 40 people that attended, it was a smashing success.
I've written about our OCC in my own blog as well as put up a few pictures: http://bulldogfinancial.com/bullblog/?p=33 and http://bulldogfinancial.com/bullblog/?p=34
OpenCoffee Club and tech mixers are an excellent "social" network type event - its like MySpace, but live. I've enjoyed it so much that I put a site together to keep track of all the great mixers happening all over the world. Via TechMixers.com
It so simple - and so effective. I have had great conversations and met some really interesting people at all the Open Coffees I have attended. Thanks Saul!
None in SF? surprising...
I attended the first Open Coffee in Washington D.C. two weeks ago. Tomorrow, we meet again (it's early, 8-10am). About a dozen folks were at the first one.
It's a great idea, and very effective. More information shared, in a casual environment, than one would think possible. Step right up to a firehose of ideas (nice excuse to drink even more coffee as well :-) It's great to have eyes and ears focusing on and truly interested in what you have to say ... what you are passionate about ... and offering candid advice. Highly recommened for new and veteran entrepreneurs.
Open Coffee Club is a brilliantly simple idea.
I meet at least one very interesting person each time I go.
The companies looking for funding or making contacts are generally at a very early stage but I do think that they learn very quickly what is required to get tier-one VC funding.
In early stage investing one has to filter rather quickly and OCC gives me the opportunity to see many more entrepreneurs in any given week than I would ever be able to see without it.
Its clearly working for the entrepreneurs because the attendance seems to have held up at 60+ week in, week out.
I also see more VCs attending so again it must work for them too.
Great idea but surely if this group wants to call themselves CoffeClub they should not be meeting at Starbucks! I know Americans don't really understand good coffee and there isn't really much choice in the States for good coffee (from experience) but surely there is something better than Starbucks...?
The biggest obstacle we are finding in trying to bootstrap a sustainable start-up culture in Cork is simply that people do not know that each other exists. We see OCC as one way of overcoming that.
Rather than take a "set it up and they will come", we've taken a very proactive approach to getting attendees. We set no expectation other than "you will find like minded people there".
We actively want the investment community there, not for their money but for their knowledge and advice. It looks like today's may be our busiest yet due to national radio coverage. Heck we even have someone from the US who changed his travel dates to attend!
Saul has done us all a great service with OCC.
I agree with #22. Sorry, but starbucks makes terrible coffee
Maybe money is what drives you guys but frankly I'd rather eat a terd than drink starbux coffee.
That's why we go to the superb Luigi Malone's in Cork!
Or Stumptown in Portland. :)