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Entrepreneur Cafe – Will work or not?

By Soumya Jain on 42 Comments / 6965 views

This is actually a very quick scribble. I just received this press release on the launch of a new ‘Entrepreneur Cafe’ and would love to know your view points on it. The release does not mention the exact location of the cafes, or how exactly they are going to “build up a perfect ambience for businessmen”, but worth a discussion on whether this concept is needed, will it work, and what points should be taken care of while implementing such a cafe?

Image source: mashable.com

Press Release:

Franchise India to bring India’s first Entrepreneur Café ever

To enable Investors, Aspiring and established Entrepreneurs as well as Students to reach out to Right Business Opportunities in the Domestic and International Markets   

 New Delhi, 15th April, 2013 – Several business opportunities emerge out of stimulating talks with industry experts. This phenomenon is especially true to the Indian economy. As one of the fastest flourishing business economies of the world, finding gainful opportunities are sometimes just a meeting away. The moment you meet up with the right business partner, investor, franchisee owner, stake holder, landowner or prospective buyer of the business, your business deal stands a strong chance of achieving success. Entrepreneur Café to be introduced by Franchise India has also been conceived on the same lines.

Entrepreneur Café is set to create a well defined and intellectual environment for these sets of target audiences who seek the right party to meet their required business needs.

According to Mr. Gaurav Marya, Director, Franchise India, “Out of the total number of management school pass outs, every year nearly 60 percent of them are willing to start-up their own ventures despite the remaining 40 percent who are interested in seeking good jobs. Entrepreneur Café is an opportunity platform for aspiring entrepreneurs who are aiming to meet with industry experts or prospective businesses for investment etc in order to tap the right business opportunity at the right time.”  He further elaborated, “We are glad to be a part of such a fresh concept. It is going to be a hit in the industry for all emerging entrepreneurs who always wished for a platform like this. The first outlet is going to be set up in Gurgaon and we are further planning to launch 50 such cafes across India, primarily across Tier – 1& 2 cities.”

Entrepreneur Cafe will help entrepreneurs operate on a larger business platform by accessing scaled economies, acquiring areas of expertise without hiring it, and growing with limited resources and investment. Adds Mr. Marya, Entrepreneur Café aims at building up a perfect ambience for businessmen who come in and gain great consultancy and implementation plans from industry experts to further strengthen their businesses or to access the right opportunity.”

Entrepreneur Café is not just limited to the newly established businesses. In fact, it is a business prospect for already established businesses that are looking for potential investors, business partners for expansion, real estate to further penetrate its footprints, licensing rights to enter into the International arena or to grow penetration in the domestic markets etc.

The Café will help individuals turn their business dreams and ideas into viable, small business realities. It will also promote a new lifestyle of entrepreneurship helping individuals achieve More Money, More Time, More Control and More Happiness.

With all the business related ideas floating around, there will be a lot of exciting things to learn, research, and expand on your idea and overall business development.  No matter what field or industry you need to expose yourself to, the Café will give plenty of scope to understand how your business can add a unique touch to get and keep you on the map.

Entrepreneur Café is a must for those who seek guidance, and do not get to connect with Industry experts for strengthening their concepts. The Café will provide them support to stay strong in spirit, continue to be motivated, and provide them mentors when they face  a lack of vision with valuable insight to further their business prospects. 

………….

Looking forward to a healthy discussion!

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42 Comments

  1. A co-working space with some good coffee and food items?

  2. What an amazing topic to discuss Soumya!

    This definately looks really interesting but it leaves me feeling very ambiguous on whether this is an actual cafe or an accelerator which is embibing the values of a cafe – casual discussions, people helping people? If it is an actual cafe I wonder how they will ensure that entrepreneurs/mentors actually keep coming to it? Places like Bombay Connect and other shared office spaces are already doing this to a certain degree but this definately takes it one step further.  

  3. Hey Soumya,

    The concept is pretty interesting but am not sure if it will be ‘definite hit’ as Mr Marya mentions above. It will be interesting to see how they integrate it with existing establishments.

    I had thought about starting something similar in Gurgaon but a standalone business model didnt make sense at that time.

    Which is why when I setup my office, I took on some extra space to offer something similar to entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs. Right now, its more for folks who want an alternative to working out of a coffee shop or their homes.

    Take a look here: https://experiamedia.com/9-jcm-co-working-space-in-gurgaon/

    cheers
    Abhik

  4. Is that enough? We can more or less find that at CCD or Barista too…

  5. Thanks Perzen! 🙂

    Actually, my problem – or doubt – with this is, that how can they say that entrepreneurs will find these cafes as a good networking place – specially those who are not able to interact with people from their industry… Are they going to invite certain people to keep frequenting the cafe? Are they going to have meets/programmes to connect people from the same industry? They are promising a lot of things, but how will they be delivered? It’s very vague…

  6. Exactly, you can’t really have conversations with other people at coffee shops nor meet other entrepreneurs, with whom you might end up collaborating with on a project in the future.

  7. Hi Abhik

    Agree with you. But look at my reply at Perzen’s comment above. My questions/doubts still stand. Also, shouldn’t there be a distinction between co-working space and an entrepreneur cafe?

  8. yep. I agree, which is why i think it will be interesting to see how it pans out.

    The ideal place would be a community co working space which also has a good cafe.

    However, the dynamics in India are pretty different…e.g. the breed of full time free lancers is still very small.

  9. That’s true. I think Franchise India needs to strengthen its concept before they roll it out. But will be interesting to track definitely…

  10. Completely agree with you – for the cafe to be of any value there would need to be say x amount of mentors or experts there that entrepreneurs could liaise with. Also, how would these mentors get paid for the services they offer or how will they ensure that entrepreneurs actually come there and interact. Normally when I go to a cafe, I don’t start talking with the people in the cafe randomly – I just go there to meet someone in particular. 

    To me, if the entrepreneur cafe forms an extension of an existing co-working space then that probably makes more sense to me because atleast that office space has x amt of a captive audience who would most likely stroll down to the cafe if there was a great expert or mentor there. 

    My other question would be around how they plan on overcoming the location problem. Having a cafe gives you a very limited zone of influence in my opinion.

  11. I believe in Gaurav Marya’s entrepreneurial capability, appreciate the concept’s beauty and sense that it holds some promise. Essentially, he seems to be attempting to make a chain of 365-day mini TiE Summits where entrepreneurship related networking can take place more comfortably vis-a-vis a CCD.

    Would be nice to know if something like this has been ever attempted in Silicon Valley. Just have my doubts over whether this can be scaled up beyond a certain niche (both in terms of number of outlets as well as size of outlets). Would be more interesting if they provide co-working space as well alongside.

  12. Yes, This model will work out. I see a lot of meet-ups happen in offices. At times, people do struggle to find place for these meet-ups. So, instead of that, these cafe’s can be used for weekend  meet ups. But, am sure, they’ll start driving in traffic, if they could include a small space with a couple of chairs for presentation and not just a cafe/co-working space for individuals. Well lets hope this come’s up to solve some problem.

      

  13. I meant, how can it be different than a co-working space with good coffee and food items? A co-working space offers space to work, meeting rooms, conference rooms and networking opportunities. So they can call it an Entrepreneur Cafe to help with the branding bit. What they might be coming up with is a chain of well-designed co-working spaces, hopefully. Everything else is grey and ambiguous.

  14. Hi Somya,

    Good topic for Discussion, thanks for bringing this up.

    >>>>The Café will help individuals turn their business dreams and ideas into viable, small business realities. It will also promote a new lifestyle of entrepreneurship helping individuals achieve More Money, More Time, More Control and More Happiness.>>>>>>>

    I am not sure how much above statement holds good turning dreams and ideas into reality, as per my way of looking is, ideas are more of intuition, spontaneous, like newton got the ideas below the Mango Tree, Archimedes in Bath tub….

    Nowadays i noticed that this is the place for hanging around, spend more valuable time with known person.

    “Murty and his six colleagues started Infosys in 1981,with enormous interest and hard work. They bought a small house on loan which also became the Infosys office”

    Most of the previous innovations and entrepreneurship happened with humble beginning, Infosys chief Narayana murthy and his friends started their entrepreneurship at their home, Hewlett-Packard at Garage,, like there many initiatives having humble beginning….

    But other drawback is most of the students are spending more time (Wasting…) more time and Money in these kind of cafes..

    Overall i am not negative about these Cafes, but its not the only place where ideas can be generated and helps achieve more money and happiness 🙂

  15. Few points to share/suggest regarding the concept after going through the comments till now:

    An entrepreneur cafe can ensure the required TG by asking people to mail a presentation of their venture idea to a person-in-charge – who will in turn give a membership card (chargeable or not) with a certain validity to it. A database of members with their venture idea mentioned, and their contact details  can be updated on website. The member can mention a time when he would be coming to the cafe which others can check and see if that’s the person they want to meet. Time of meet can ofcourse be changed after discussion. 

    If not for the above format, it could be like – whenever a person is visiting the cafe, he can actually see on a screen the database of people present there at that point of time (managed through entry). If any connection works and the chords strike between two entrepreneurs, they can put it as a testimonial or update it on site as inspiration to others.

    The key thing ofcourse remains the following apart from networking (as focusing just on networking may kill the whole idea):

    – The freedom to check in check out whenever – just as in other general cafes

    – Choice of food and snacks 🙂

    – Best Tea/Coffee 🙂 🙂

    – Wifi – ofcourse

    One last point: You can have once in every month event where all members of the cafe would be invited – leading to cross connections igniting sparks (I mean people interacting and taking the association forward with an idea). Fun competitions just to add life to the whole purpose.

    Signing off. I hope this is of some use. Let me close my ‘Gyaan ki Potli’ now 🙂

  16. Agree.

  17. Agree with all the points Perzen. It’s just very confusing. They probably need to strengthen their concept. Calling it a ‘cafe’ makes it a wider term. But there needs to be some more initiative by the company instead of just putting table-chairs and putting food and coffee there…

  18. I think there have been similar concepts abroad – but I haven’t researched on what exactly they were and whether they were successful or not. Franchise India needs to make a lot of effort to make it valuable enough…

  19. Agree. Let’s see how they roll it out…

  20. Thanks Shashidhara 🙂

    I am sure the cafe can probably help in generating ideas. But how good are they to enable turning those ideas into proper setups? That needs to be seen…

  21. These are wonderful ideas Anamika! Hope the Franchise India people read them. You can charge them consultancy fee then 😉

    But on a serious note, this is a very good feedback. Let’s see what Franchise India does. Hope they don’t make it just another coffee shop!

  22. You know what Soumya.. After writing the feedback, I think I would have started such a cafe if I had the cash for it. 🙂

    Hope they do best with this. :))

  23. Hi Rahul

    The points mentioned by you almost echoes the suggestions 🙂 What I am happy about is that I could actually guess it right !!

  24. In every city of the world, there are investors looking for potentially profitable ideas and fire-in-the-belly entrepreneurs with fabulous ideas looking for money.

    If the Entrepreneur Cafe (quite difficult for most Indians to pronounce correctly!) just called itself The Cafe or Business Cafe and made sure its focus was on 1) Identifying serious VCs and business leaders and 2) Ensuring there was sufficient buzz created on social media 3) Its website had a well-planned itinerary to tell aspiring businessmen which cafe would be visited by who in the coming weeks (and offered online meeting scheduling) it might actually work to offer value to both parties. Business leaders could offer their opinions on a presented idea, a VC could speak from his experience and the entrepreneur would have an immediate feedback on whether he needs to plan better, make changes or jump with joy.
    Whether the actual place is designed as a meeting room with presentation aids or a cafe is irrelevant. The main focus should be on getting the right people together in a value-added manner. Whether all that effort is worth the cost of a coffee and sandwich remains debatable..maybe the cafe could charge a small percentage of the financed amount as fee?

  25. Hey Neerja,  what you are suggesting is more on the lines of a TiE Business Builder Breakfast which is anyways organized by TiE complimentary for its members (with the flexibility of location). I mean in today’s high-tech age of social networking-on-the-move, the thought of restricting agenda-based business meetings to just 1 physical location sounds retrograde. Also charging a % of financed amount is preposterously impractical!

  26. This is a great concept important people will drop in from time to time and those who want to meet them can come accordingly so a notice board in the cafe will read like “Alok Kejriwal will be here for tea at 5PM tomorrow you are invited to crash in and bug him “

  27. Hi Nikunj,
    Completely agree on limited locations being retrograde – in a way. But I have also personally witnessed how, with time and repeated congregation of a certain quality of people at a certain place, the physical space becomes somehow charged with energy that can inspire all the minds present. Sounds hippie, but it’s true..Also I have not lived in India for 20 years, so TiE is not known to me – but sounds good if that’s what they do!

  28. How about adding a few screens that show motivational videos and live or recorded streaming of talks by mentors?
    How about adding a few entrepreneurial books that one can pick up and read?
    How about having  a form sorta thing where entrepreneurs can write in their questions or doubts that mentors answer later. All of them stored in one space where anyone can read?
    How about adding a few forms for filling in business and funding pitches that can reviewed by mentors later?
    How about adding having a self-service option where people not only pick their beverages and foods but also interact with the business owner too or even help in preparing the stuff if they feel like?

    PS: Phew! A lot of “How About’s” I know

    🙂

  29. Hi Rahul, absolutely agree with your comments. They really have to make it a strong concept on paper and in reality too. What do they do apart from just providing food is the deal clincher I guess.

    Thanks for the wishes for LuxuryFacts! 🙂

  30. Hi Neerja, thanks for the feedback. Your suggestions are more or less on the same lines as what Anamika gave above. And I completely agree with your point of view. But yes, charging a percentage won’t really click with most entrepreneurs. Defeats the whole purpose… On the whole, yes, I do agree with your suggestions.

  31. Thanks Swapnil for the feedback. Yes, Franchise India has to ensure that the relevant people come in from time to time and make sure people know about it. It’s more than just providing food items and furniture to sit on…

  32. Hi Kunal, I love your suggestions! Though this will mean enlarged investments from Franchise India. But if they do implement these suggestions, the cafe will be quite a super hit I should say! 🙂

  33. Hi Neerja,

    TiE does this & a lot more…I suggest you should google & check out TiE (don’t know which city you are based in, but it has chapters worldwide across almost every major city).

    I also like some of Kunal Shah’s suggestions

  34. Wow….Kunal do you have money to put it?  …. then let’s start this 🙂 😉

    you have some really polished ideas to add to this concept!!!!

  35. Hey Soumya, 
    Investments acc to me wont be THAT big. 
    Videos can be streamed from YouTube. 
    Stationery costs are not much for the forms. 
    Self-Service will save costs. 

    However, lets see how it all plays out….

  36. Anamika,

    The stuff here is what I have lacked over the 5 something years that I am on my own. 🙂 🙂

    I am working on something similar but not a cafe per se. Lets connect. You can add me on kunal.shah@brinkpointcreative.com or call on +919892195915 🙂 🙂

    Oops. My cell’s down. You cann add my email id on gtalk or here.

  37. its a modern name given to a facility whereby entrepreneurs can learn from each other, also share resources and save cost. The basic need is to create an eco system where entrepreneurs can motivate, work, share, learn, earn and express themselves. So I would say this a good idea!!

  38. Wow !!!    What an nice  topic to discuss Soumya!

    It will defiantly work but would i to suggest one think that you can open store where B.School students traffic will be there. I think location will matter a lot.

  39. The idea is fabulous. I will like to contribute to this development. Will contact them within this half of the month 🙂

    You guys are amazing. THERODINHOODS.com I have found to be one such CAFE as well. I can come here anytime, I learn a lot everytime I come here.

  40. Looks really interesting to me. It will be like any other coffee shop if they don’t have events hosted at the cafe. Free Wi-fi is something I would look forward to. Not many cafes have that facility. 🙁

  41. A cup of coffee and Flow of Entrepreneurial  ideas Some thing New in the Market 🙂 Looking forward to it !

  42. It seems to me that this post is quite old, almost 3 years. I would like to get updates on this Idea. 

    A coworking space with all the facilities likes high-speed internet and conference room can be a great idea for cities with high rent.

    Enlighten me.

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