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Phase: Evaluation

Coffee shop open evenings

Starting up is hard. no money. no time. no resources. Just collaboration and networking. coffee shops that close in the evening open their doors and host start up evenings. The one time those with a full time job have time to meet and work.

Photo of Dan Moran
12 22

Written by

How does it work?

A web registration system for the coffee shops and startup members, regular nights for working and networking events that start ups could subscribe to.  A place where developers and designers could tout their wares to prospective entrepreneurs, and VC could come and investigate, with special evenings for different activities like workshopping, networking and talks.

A small subscription fee would be charged to participants for the upkeep of the online system (white label for integration into coffee shop website - they also may wish to fund).  Other resources like pens, paper post-it-notes etc could be all chipped in for.

Coffe shops would provide their usual fare of coffee and food  (everyone needs to eat and drink, especially to fuel actions!).   This helps the start up, puts the coffee shops in good light, and is an additional source of revenue for them.  Some coffee shops in business areas often shut on the weekend -  these could open their doors for day long sessions.

Doors will be closed to the normal public -  entry by ID and event ticket on you mobile. 


How will your concept support web entrepreneurship?

At a grass routes startup idea level - to help meet prospective investors and team members and gain insight into the world of start up without having to quit the day job above all give them space to collaborate.

What kinds of resources will be needed to get this concept off the ground and scale it?

- Buy-in from coffee shops - Web login system - Marketing campaign to get it going

How could we get started?

Approach coffee shop chains, more research on opening hours, start scoping web service

Evaluation results

10 evaluations so far

1. How well does this concept address a significant pain point felt by European web start-ups?

This is a major pain point for European start-ups - 0%

This is a "nice to have" but not a serious pain point - 100%

I really don't know - 0%

2. How novel do you think the concept is?

Never seen it before - very novel! - 10%

This is common in some places but not in many parts of Europe - 0%

This is not novel but a good iteration - 40%

There are already other solutions out there that address this problem - 50%

3. How easy is this concept to implement and maintain?

It could be implemented quickly and easily maintained - 30%

It could be implemented quickly but will require regular updates to ensure it is accurate and relevant - 60%

It is a big undertaking and would need a lot of support and cooperation from people and organisations to make it happen and to maintain it - 10%

4. What type of organisation is best placed to take this forward?

The European Commission should own this one - 0%

This belongs with member state governments (e.g., the UK, Belgium, etc) - 0%

This is best being owned by a private company - 20%

This feels like a non-profit - 40%

This is a start-up itself! - 40%

5. Overall, how do you feel about this concept?

It rocked my world! - 10%

I liked it but preferred others - 20%

It didn’t get me overly excited - 70%

12 comments

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DeletedUser

Good challenge to read. I think this could be a strategy to generate more employments in the market. Anyway, I really like the concept of using coffee shops' evening hours for work.

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DeletedUser

Hello I'm a student at Wells College. For my innovations class my group and I decided to prototype your idea and perform a short skit illustrating the concept of the cafe evening hours. Here are some changes we made to the foundation of your idea: Instead of incorporating spaces from chains like starbucks, dunkin' donuts, or Tim Horton's, we propose that we invite local businesses to open up there space in the evening. This is keeping with the idea that we want to promote young businesses. Thus, in opening a space for aspiring web entrepreneurs to collaborate and make connections, we give patronage to local "underdog" businesses as well. Furthermore, we want to invite guest speakers who can interact with the evening cafe users and give them advice and support. For example, business owners who share stories of success and failure. Perhaps, local lawyers who can provide some basic advice on navigating through the legal boundaries of starting an online business. We intend for these speakers to give their advice and offer their knowledge for free. By providing these services, these speakers spread knowledge of their own business and have the opportunity to administer business cards in the cafe. We do not want to simply limit this opportunity to local coffee shops. Any small/local business in the participating area can apply for the program and become a part of this self sustaining system of web entrepreneur networking and collaboration. We preformed our skit in class and it was very well received. Viewers liked the idea of using local businesses and the minimal costs of the idea.

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Photo of Amy Bonsall

Great builds Logan! Love the idea of promoting local businesses instead of chains - very fitting.

The speakers and services are also very much in need. I'd say to start with on this concept, keep it really simple - promote connections first. Then add on as appropriate. Maybe the question to ask is what is the most basic event that will get start-ups flocking to the cafes? Then once we have the crowds we can go from there!

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Photo of Dan Moran

Nice work Logan, the spaces could suit different startup business types as well

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Photo of Pearl Sequeira

Another venue to consider is ING DIRECT (ING) cafe. ING has challenged the notion of banking, and thinks that learning about finance should be as easy as having a coffee with friends.

I live in Toronto, Canada, and the space has been a great way for loyal ING clients (like myself) to withdraw cash, check-out local events and meet some amazing people. The physical layout makes the space inviting, and more importantly open to collaboration and discussion. ING is committed to investing in local communities and this could easily be a win-win for all interested partners. They have a few products re: renting space and are reasonable. Check out: www.ingdirect.ca/en/networkorange/

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Photo of Dan Moran

Hi all,

Thanks for putting this idea forward!

I've tweeted all the coffee shops in the visual to get them involved, please retweet my tweets and hopefully they will jump in. on twitter i'm @danthemanmoran , alternatively tweet them direct @starbucks @costacoffee @Pret_uk @Caffenero

lets make some noise and see what happens!

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DeletedUser

Fab idea. Everyone's a winner with this idea!

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DeletedUser

In general I like the idea. In Berlin and London are many start-up get together in coffee shops and restaurants. Usually the scene already has its hip and cool places. chains like starbucks or costa are surely not between them!.
The thing is, the scene chooses the place, not the place the scene!

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DeletedUser

I definitely see startups and creative companies using cafes in Londons for meetings. Some, like The Book Club in Shoreditch, are open until late but then it's about drinks, not working.

Some independents with whom it might be interesting to follow up: Prufrock on Leather Lane (currently only open late for private events, Caravan on Exmouth Market (closed Sunday evenings), Ozone Coffee on Leonard Street by City Road, J&A Cafe off Clerkenwell Road (esp the upstairs, closed evenings and Sundays).

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Photo of Amy Bonsall

Great ideas - Dan, it might be fun to pop into one of those recommendations from Charlene, or local coffee shops near you, and just ask them what it would take for them to be up for something like this... would be great to hear their take on it.

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Photo of Amy Bonsall

Just sent out a tweet - will be interesting to see if we hear anything (Independent coffee shops... what do you make of this idea? bit.ly/K0nTh1 #oi_startup @PrufrockCoffee @DeptOfCoffee @caravanexmouth)

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Photo of Amy Bonsall

Here's the response from one of our local faves: Department of Coffee ÔÇÅ

@amy_bonsall It's about size of groups. Turning over a shop for 40 people is tricky during trading & expensive after hours.

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