What’s The “Venture Cafe?”

By Yosef Solomon on Mar 29, 2010

When I first heard the story about “Venture Cafe” I was intrigued immediately. Imagine a cafe dedicated to connecting entrepreneurs to VC’s and vice versa. Founded by the Cambridge Innovation Center, Venture Cafe is located just off the MIT campus in a temporary space. The New England Venture Capital Association have already sponsored “office hour” sessions that allow firms to hold 25-minute pitch sessions for eager entrepreneurs.

In true startup fashion, Venture Cafe has even taken to their Facebook fan page to come up with an official name. It would be cool to see more Venture Cafe’s pop up around the country. I mean, what better way to ignite the unemployed then give them a chance to spark some VC interest with their ideas. Yes, the risk is a lot bigger, but so is the reward.

One of my favorite aspects of the entrepreneurial perspective is the idea of accountability. it allows potential entrepreneurs the mindset to take their future into their own hands and be accountable for their success. When working for a company, the accountability lies in hands of the employer and those employees are in return dependent on their job. There is really no problem with this scenario (the majority of the world, including myself are employees). But, I think if we all begin to start taking accountability for our future and really do what we are passionate about, we’ll begin to see a shift in the way we work, live and think.

Baby steps. We’ve all heard this term before, but when we actually think about making small efforts to achieve a larger goal it, we find it really works. And what better place to foster our growth than the Venture Cafe. This place not only allows us to talk and discuss ideas with budding entrepreneurs, but it also provides us with an environment to cultivate our projects.

Unfortunately the Venture Cafe is only available in Cambridge, Mass. But that doesn’t mean we can’t find similar environments around our area. A few weeks back I made a list of sites to visit if you’re interested in attending workshops, meetups and other events in your area. It’s easier than ever to get our side projects rolling and into the right hands. Collaboration, investment and networking are all potential outcomes when meeting the right people.

As i said before, we’ll likely see more Venture Cafes created around the country, giving coffee shops even more innovation. Why not be the person to start one in your community? All it takes is passion, investment funding and commitment. It might be a good idea to start small with meetups at coffee shops and then go from there. Just a thought