The next RI Nexus Open Coffee is Wednesday, September 17th 8am-10am. Check out the calendar for details.

Even entrepreneurs need a vacation, but folks, August is over and its time to get back to starting up. And Open Coffee is the place to be if you are starting up a technology-driven business, thinking about it, investing in it, or just like hanging around geeky entrepreneurs.

Over the spring Open Coffee grew from a few folks around a cafe table at 729 Hope Cafe to a vibrant (and loud) caffeine-buzzed gathering of 12-20 people.  The intimate format and startup focus makes for good story sharing, resource swapping, and idea floating.

The vibe is casual drop-in, drop-out, buy your own coffee. We have fluid discussion topics focused around tech startups, a few will be suggested by the hosts, but its up to those who show to decide what they want to talk about. Open Coffee is a place where you can "dig in" on an idea or question, with a few compatriots or the whole group.

I'm sure a big topic of fall discussion will be how the economic downturn is affecting our markets, fundraising, revenue and hiring. Though its been unsettling, I've continued to see the energy in tech and internet startups stay strong, both locally and globally. Good ideas have no "season".

So come share your tales of woe and glory, and lets figure it out together.

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.

For those of you who are garage inventors of non-virtual things, the PBS show "Everyday Edisons" is doing an open call in Providence for the next cool gizmo.

Staples, Home Depot, and other big retailers are sponsoring this as a form of crowdsourcing.

Brian Lash, a young Pittsburgh techpreneur, has an interesting POV on the unintended consequences of state-funded seed funds and incubators.

The most efficient way for a risk-averse investing public to perform due diligence on investing opportunities is to let others do it for them. No one's more willing to do that than the incubators who can finance it with other people's money (remember, they're state-funded). So it becomes a sort of right-of-passage for technology startups that they should pass through these incubators before they see an opportunity for venture capital, and more and more, for angel money. And you can't blame the investors... it's an economically-sound decision on their parts.

I went to college in Pittsburgh, looked at moving a company there, and think it has a lot of similarities to Providence. However, I think the interplay between our state-funded resources and our entrepreneurs works differently, and I said so here.

State seed funds and incubators adjust their form and shape to the vacuum that is unique to their locale. The number of existing tech angels, volume of startups, dominance of universities, proximity to major startup markets and the local cultural attitude to high-risk investment form the boundary conditions to which the state entity will (unconsciously) conform.

What are your thoughts on how funding, diligence, and gatekeeping works in RI for tech startups? What elements are we missing ? Who should be providing them ?

Eight techpreneurs. Two companies in growth mode, three in launch mode, and a few more getting off the ground. Three solid tech tips, two leads on developers, and one customer introduction. Oh, and about 20 cups of liquid caffeine.

Last Wednesday saw the first Techpreneurs Open Coffee , held at 729 Hope Cafe. I heard conversations about coworking, Wordpress customization, seed investment, and finding interns. There were more topics, but the group continuously shifted around discussions throughout the 2+ hours.

I walked away energized, and committed to making the Open Coffee a regular event. So what's next for the Techpreneurs Open Coffee?

• Regular frequency - twice a month, on alternate weeks with Prov Geeks . Still a casual - drop in, drop out format, so if you miss one or can only stay for a few, you know there is another one in a couple weeks.
• More tech entrepreneurs, designers, and geeks - but not too many. Seems like the optimal size of this confab is 16-24 (2-4 tables), after which we'd probably overwhelm any coffee shop or start battling the regular patrons for tables.
• An open invite to investors - without planning the coffee around them. Folks at the Coffee felt like having some investors in the conversations would be good for everyone, without biasing the honest cross-talk. I'm confident that where techpreneurs gather, investors will follow!
• A change in venue - possibly. We chatted about finding a place closer to the universities than 729 Hope Cafe, but were at a loss for a coffee shop that satisfied the constraints of: seating, wireless, parking, and student walkable. Also wondering whether our entrepreneurial students and profs would show at 8AM? Opinions?

We'll keep the core the same, casual drop-in, drop-out, buy your own coffee. Fluid discussion topics focused around tech startups, a few will be suggested in the schedule reminder, but its up to those who show to decide what they want to talk about. Seems like "digging in" on an idea or question is what the Open Coffee can provide, along with a conducive setting to trade resources and connections.

So roll out of bed, break away from your email, and stop by, Jan 23 8-10 at 729 Hope Cafe!