Venture Café

Venture Café is a nonprofit organization that hosts community events and programs that support early-stage entrepreneurs.

Venture Café
TypeNonprofit
IndustryTechnology, Startups
Founded2009 (2009)
FoundersTim Rowe, Carrie Stalder
HeadquartersBoston,
Massachusetts
,
U.S.
Areas served
11 cities
Key people
Tim Rowe
Products
Brands
  • Venture Café
  • Venture Café Global
  • Innovation Hall
  • District Hall
ServicesShared workspaces and related services for entrepreneurs

As of May 2020, there are 11 independently managed Venture Cafés, located in Boston, St. Louis, Missouri; Miami; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Providence, Rhode Island; Tokyo, Japan; Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Warsaw, Poland; Bilbao, Spain; and Sydney, Australia.[1] As of 2019, there were plans to open Venture Cafés in some 40 more cities.[2]

The flagship event of Venture Café is the Thursday Gathering, a weekly meeting for new and experienced entrepreneurs to exchange ideas and support. The event usually includes several free educational sessions to teach entrepreneurs to how to start and run a business. Participants can also hold informal discussions of creative and speculative ideas and look for collaborators, co-founders, mentors, or investors.[3] They also hold Café Nights, monthly or quarterly versions of the Thursday Gathering.

History

The Venture Café was conceived as a restaurant in the Cambridge Innovation Center in Boston, Massachusetts.[4] The idea failed to attract investment, so the founders changed it to a gathering space for the entrepreneurial community, based on the book Venture Café by Teresa Esser.[3] Venture Café Kendall launched in 2009.

In 2014, the City of Boston and Venture Café Kendall opened District Hall, a free drop-in workspace for entrepreneurs, including an event venue, restaurant and coffee shop.

In 2014, Venture Café expanded to the Cortex Innovation Community in St. Louis, Missouri, to bring together the emerging startup community.[5] The success of the St. Louis location prompted the launch of Venture Cafés in other cities and ultimately the creation of Venture Café Global Institute, a public benefit corporation based in St. Louis and Boston.[6] The Venture Cafés in St. Louis and Philadelphia offer free drop-in workspace for entrepreneurs to work and collaborate, plus paid event and meeting rooms and restaurants and coffeeshops.

In 2018, as part of St. Louis Cortex District's new 4220 Duncan building anchored by Microsoft, Venture Cafe launched Innovation Hall in St. Louis based upon Boston's District Hall.[7]

In 2018, St. Louis launched EdHub[8] to support and bring together innovators to increase youth access to education.[9] EdHub STL is inspired by the Forward Through Ferguson report, which calls for an innovation education hub to address the region's most entrenched educational issues.[10]

Venture Café Foundation in Boston runs the Roxbury Innovation Center.[8] Like EdHub, it brings together innovators in education including students, parents, administration, and teachers to help solve inequities in education and introduce youth to entrepreneurship and STEAM activities.

See also

References
  1. "Global Network". venturecafeglobal.org. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  2. "Our netowrk is growing". Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  3. "Venture Café's mission is connecting innovators to make things happen". Venture Cafe Official Website. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  4. Kirsner, Scott (21 June 2018). "How a failed restaurant became Cambridge's hottest Thursday spot". Boston Globe. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  5. Bryant, Tim (Sep 29, 2014). "Cambridge Innovation Center opens at Cortex". St. Louis Post Dispatch. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  6. McGuigan, Christine (2 March 2018). "T-REX and Venture Cafe STL are changing St. Louis' startup landscape". Silicon Prairie News. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  7. Deem, Jason (10 May 2018). "Cortex Unveils New 4220 Duncan Building". NextSTL. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  8. Kukuljan, Steph (11 April 2018). "'Innovation center,' restaurant to open at Cortex". St. Louis Business Journal. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  9. "Venture Cafe St. Louis To Open Innovation Hall At Cortex". 12 April 2018.
  10. "Create an Innovative Education Hub". Forward Through Ferguson. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
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