We've been running bi-weekly RI Nexus Open Coffee events for tech entrepreneurs for a few months now, as an alternative to the large scale evening festivities of Providence Geeks. It's been a great place for founders of tech/web startups to float their new ideas, find developers & new customer leads, and even share cautionary tales of deals gone bad. Since it's a casual thing, sometimes we only fill a table, and other times a dozen or so people show up.

Well, this week, we hit critical mass. 729 Hope Cafe was buzzing as techpreneurs flowed in throughout the morning, pushing the count over 20 at one point. Open Coffee took over the main room of the cafe, as table discussions formed around web marketing, hiring summer interns and new grads, online health startups, and the emerging smart energy grid. We celebrated Andera's recent funding with Charlie Kroll and Slater Fund's Thorne Sparkman, and toasted the acquisition of Shazamm Interactive by Atrion with Dana Paul. First-timers showed from Precision Web Marketing , MoFuse , Thinking Phone Networks , Providence Health Solutions , Alektrona , VentureFuel , and J&W .

There's been a lot of discussion recently among our civic and business leaders on how to create an "entrepreneurial ecosystem". At RI Nexus Open Coffee, it's happening - organically and enjoyably. The next one is in two weeks, Wednesday June 11th. Welcome to the (genuine) social.

Update: Michelle Girasole of Precision Web Marketing and The Sassy Ladies wrote up an excellent, detailed recap of her "newbie" experience at the event.