OpenCoffee in London, queue was too long
I attended the OpenCoffee meeting on Regent Street this morning. Well done to Saul Klein for kicking this off.
I expected to hook up with most of the usual suspects that I meet at other events around London. I envisaged 15 to 20 people huddled in a corner, exchanging stories about their investor related (or lack of) war wounds in between writing blog posts and email.
How wrong I was. Starbucks had been transformed into a business centre by approximately 100 entrepreneurs, investors and bloggers. If I’m honest, I hope it doesn’t continue to be that busy. I don’t want to bounce around the room like I do at other events. I just want to sit down to fireside chats that are more informal and relaxed. I get the impression the next one will be just as busy though as it’s likely to be attended by the people who couldn’t make it today.
It was cool to meet a new people I recognised from the MyBlogLog photos on this blog.
It’s a shame there wasn’t free WiFi though, perhaps investors should take it in turn to sponsor it each week. I’m sure they can afford it!
Thanks to Mike from Vecosys for the photos. Mike has also written a good post about the morning on Vecosys.
Eoghan has started something in Dublin too. I hope it went well.
9 Responses to “OpenCoffee in London, queue was too long”
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Paul, enjoyed meeting you today. As I’ve just posted on my blog, I don’t think we need wifi at the event – this is about “talent” introducing themselves to “money”. This means a brief 5 mins explanation of what you do and what you are looking for. If the investor is interested and you fit their investment profile (sector, size etc) then you can do a follow up meeting.
If people do think their site is the best communicator, then after doing an intro simply invite the investor to look at your site after the event and get agreement you can follow up.
Remember, the investor is there to meet lots of people as well.
Good to meet you too John
I take your point, but I personally don’t see this particular meeting as a form of speed dating as your comment suggests – but hey, we’ll all want to get something different out of it…
Isn’t it more about meeting like-minded people in an informal environment where business owners and investors ‘also’ have the opportunity to meet and have a friendly chat?
I’m interested to learn more about what others think. I enjoyed it and will go again next week. But I’d like to hear if people are getting what they expect for their ‘buck’. I’m likely to stop going if it’s the same environment every week though as I get enough of that type of meeting during the evenings. That said, not everyone can get out in the evening so…
John – it’s taking a long time for your blog to load and scrolling is painful. You might wish to consider cutting down on the amount of content on the page by reducing the number of posts on view. Just a thought.
Congrats on your coverage in the Guardian. The Sunday Tribune dedicated an entire page to me and 4 other Irish folk in London recently. http://segala.com/blog/irish-whove-made-it-into-londons-marketing-elite/
I had a good discussion with a VC about the concept of a VC “speed dating” type event. He reckoned it would be a more efficient way to separate wheat from the chaff. Human beings usually make judgement on someones character within first two minutes, so I think there is something to this method …
Paul – I agree with the method (full stop)
I’m not sure I expected this event to be that… otherwise I wouldn’t have attended. *Personally*, I’d rather hand pick investors. When I introduced myself to (the lovely) Nicola from Benchmark, she already knew who I was… that’s the position I’d rather be in. I can see how other companies that I may start will be different though. Just not this event for me if it’s about speed dating. I want an OpenCoffee morning where I can sit down, drink coffee and conjure new ideas with people like you and then turn to an investor to see if they like the idea.
I met people like Paul Birch there – he’s hardly in need of a speed dating service either.
Paul – thanks for coming along. Agree opencoffee is not about talent meeting money, it’s just about people who are passionate about startups hanging out informally and meeting other people (developers, entrepreneurs, investors etc) in an informal space. Look forward to seeing you there again.
Saul – that’s great news, see you Thursday!
Paul – the good news is that Open Coffee seems to be able to support both requirements at present. I am meeting many entrepreneurs that want to talk to investors (and I know other investors are getting the same experience) so they are happy with the arrangement. At the same time it’s evident that there is a set of people who are simply there to hang out.
BTW – you made a comment to Phil Wilkinson on his blog about turning on email/rss for comments. Even easier – try coComment which is a personal comment aggregator that will track any comments you specify for review at your own convenience.
I agree John – both is great.
I’ve got coComment switched on but I don’t bother to check up on it for some reason.