Yes John, I think a drop-in for coffee would be great. How did the one this week in Boston work out ?

There were about 8 people, many first/second time visitors. There was no format and very loose. The leader/organizer (VC guy) was not there. I only spoke with half the people, but most were startups. Some were just out of college, others were professionals with an idea all the way to up&running with small client base. 

Overall it was interesting to have a very open format to talk, listed, get//give feedback. I did find a good potential developer groups and 2 leads for potential business partnerships (reseller type).

The value seems to come from the ebb/flow of new faces and ideas. Being able to make new connections and have a easy point of entry.

Given the events that already exist in Prov and the relatively small/close community, I'm not sure of the value add and longterm viabilaty for a opencoffee in Prov.

On the flip side - why not. Give it a try and see how it goes. Everything is what we make of it and we seem to be making cool things lately :)

Yeah, I'm wondering whether a techpreneurs coffee might be good just for solidarity and a place to bounce ideas. Geeks has become so popular, it is tough to get the time and the volume level to have more than a catchup conversation. I love it, but it has really become an "event".

It does sound interesting.  I agree that it is hard to find the time to organize and/or attend such an event, but I do think that it would be interested to have such an event in Prov. I haven't been to the Prov Geeks events yet but would like to go to their Nov event, being a geek at heart - that and startups interrest me.

Sounds great and you might be able to attract others who for one reason or another may not attend Geeks.  WHat's the worst that happens, you have an excuse for a cup of coffee in a different place.  Count me in, where and when?

I'm in.

Following up on the coffee idea, here's a couple of quick polls (via Doodle) to determine when and where. Shooting for WED - FRI of next week.

Please weigh in on both. I'll cut them off on MON and post/email to let you know whether it will work, or whether we have to look to the new year ! 

Where

When 

Well I didn't get enough responses in time to make a techpreneur open coffee happen before the end of the year. However, the buzz from last night's PG event is that people would show. So I'm just going to go ahead and set an open coffee for the first week of Jan, either TH JAN 3 or FR JAN 4, likely at 729 Cafe on Hope. The polls (above) are still up if you want to weigh in on location or date choice. Look for a date announcement on the events section of RI Nexus !

I've set the first Open Coffee for next WED 1/9 8AM at 729 Hope Cafe. This was based off the few people that responded to the poll. Hope you can make it for some hanging out !

Cool - see you there and then.

Maybe a little off topic but it does involve meeting over coffee and I'm sure conversation could flow into things like neighborhood wireless or neighborhood robot leagues or what not --- there's a coffee meetup on Jan 12th at Liberty Elm Cafe with the topic "Creating Neighborhood Communities". 10am, hosted by Jim 941-2874 & Phil 461-3683

http://www.arts.ri.gov/blogs/i...

This morning's inaugural Open Coffee was a fine time. I have a good feeling about the event's future.
Kudos to Mr. Zib for suggesting it, and Mr. Tear for making it happen.
I look forward to future ones.