Beta Coffee meets today. Why ask if you have ever met?

Beta Cafe: Why Should We Have to Know Each Other Even We Already Met?

When IT's thinking collides with coffee, what kind of spark will burn? it is full of imagination.

What kind of spark will come out when the culture of coffee meet IT world?

/ photos by Zhang Yue, a reporter from this magazine

Welcome to the Internet Coffee Age!

It is really fashionable for IT people to open a coffee shop. Everyone knows that there is no money here, but they rush in one after another.

On the fifteenth day of the first month of 2009, the Ravens and their "colleagues" made a contribution to the IT after several plots-they opened a coffee shop across the border to serve as a public living room and kitchen for the IT. At first, people wanted to call it "Oba Niu Cafe", but it was rejected for some well-known reasons, so it was named Beta Cafe (Beta Coffee).

Beta Coffee was put into trial operation in Hangzhou in April 2009 and officially opened in June, becoming the first coffee shop with IT as its theme. After only two months of operation, Beta Coffee has been rated as the "best gathering place for online merchants" at the C2C Summit Forum in China. As a senior IT designer and a forerunner of domestic UED (user experience design), the white crow never imagined that an idea from several buddies created the hottest gathering place in Hangzhou IT circle.

In August 2010, at a wine bureau in the capital Beijing, "A group of guys said that they envied the guys in Hangzhou because they had a Beta nest." So we began to plot to build another Beta in Beijing. " At the end of 2010, this group of "uneasy people" found a suitable place and paid the rent in the original third pole building under reconstruction in Zhongguancun (6.92, 0.02, 0.29%). On February 26, 2011, Beijing Beta Coffee officially opened!

Beta coffee in the heart of Zhongguancun appearance, so that more IT people can not stand, garage coffee, 3W coffee and other "Internet coffee" have come out. The "Internet Coffee Age" officially kicked off.

The public living room of Internet people

In November 2008, the white crow walked out the door of Baidu (Weibo) and went straight to Hangzhou Alibaba (Weibo). At that time, White Raven was already very famous in the circle. Although he was chief user experience planner of Alipay (Weibo), he simply printed "Designer" on his business card, and he was also a super linker because of his incredible "link realization rate". "90% of my real-life good friends are met online." This is unbelievable. The Internet and parties are intertwined with the resources of white crows, and gradually some companies turn to him for help, and there are always friends in the circle who ask him to introduce the company. White crows have become a resource platform for linking upstream and downstream.

After coming to Hangzhou, the white crow made more friends. Every week, everyone would go to the living room of the white crow family to have a party. After a long time, the living room of the white crow family became the "first meeting point" of IT.

In 2009, after working as a "cleaner" for a year, the white crow finally couldn't stand it. On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, "a group of guys conspired to open a coffee shop in Hangzhou as everyone's public living room."

When IT's thinking collides with coffee, what kind of spark will burn? it is full of imagination.

It may be from the inherent decisiveness and efficiency of the IT people that the coffee shop, which was later named "Beta", came out in less than three months from planning, fund-raising, site selection, decoration to opening to the public.

Hangzhou Beta Coffee has a total investment of 1 million yuan per share, divided into 100 shares. When Bai Raven and other founders posted the IPO notice, they quickly received a response from all sides, and eventually there were 20 shareholders, several of whom had never known them before. "the most valuable thing about IT people is openness and trust." The white crow said, "although we didn't know how to run a coffee shop and knew we were going to lose money, we did it anyway." Because we really need a public living room that belongs to the Internet. All our shareholders, who are heroes in the Internet circle, insist on buying shares even though they know they are losing money. "

After the fund-raising was finished, the white crow began to subscribe for cafe furnishings on its blog, but unexpectedly, many people sent things for free. Some people bring wine, some bring sofas, some bring coffee machines, coffee cups, some bring SONY LCD TVs, others bring notebooks, game consoles, even plug boards and napkins are ready, you can print Logo and post web addresses. There are also chargers for all mobile phones and Apple computers that have climbed over the wall for free, which is said to be the fastest in China. In addition, Sina, Sohu and other websites have also sent dolls, including World of Warcraft limited edition toys can also be seen in Beta Coffee, and even the naming rights of the two conference rooms upstairs have been sold.

This "IT people's public living room" in Hangzhou is really the envy and envy of IT people out of town! As a result, on February 26, 2011, Bai Raven and others successfully copied Hangzhou Beta Coffee in Beijing, when the number of shareholders has increased to more than 30. White Raven said: "Beijing Beta has a professional team operation, taste, service is not amateur." We will build here into the warmest nest for Internet people in Beijing, and a public living room for Internet people. "

IT jianghu

They are both "IT people" at Tianya. Why should we ask if we have ever known each other when we meet today?

On Feb. 26, 2011, representatives of the most namable IT companies gathered at Beijing Beta Cafe, Banbi Ali Jiangshan and IT jianghu, and the powerful aura almost overturned the whole venue. In addition to the bosses with "O", there are photographers, technical maintenance engineers, and businessmen who come to share their experience.

After two years of operation, Beta Coffee has become a veritable entity of "IT people" that brings together information and interaction, and has gradually become a very good place for marketing and brand promotion. Online, Beta Coffee has its own website, Flickr photo album, Twitter ID; offline, Beta Coffee organizes numerous formal and informal meetings, job advertisements from major companies are on the recruitment wall, and even bathrooms have become a sea of information.

Many people have formed a habit of coming to Beta. On Weibo, Beta Coffee has become one of the most signed-in places for netizens. People often post that they have met a business boss in Beta Coffee for everyone to watch. In the words of Zhao Keen, manager of Beta Coffee in Beijing, the sponsor of Beta Coffee is "very jianghu", and Beta Coffee has become "very jianghu".

Since it is known as "jianghu", of course it is necessary to lay down the rules of "jianghu". Under the advice and advice of netizens, Beta Coffee launched three discount cards, namely, iron card, beauty card and VIP card. Interestingly, the card is valid for 103 years.

There is a 15% discount on both the beauty card and the VIP card, only the iron card is special-the iron card is made of pure metal and only iron buddies can get it. But the discount of the iron card is uncertain. When the business is good, the coffee shop will give you food and drink (30% discount), but when the business is bad, you have to charge more.

In addition, Beta Coffee stipulates that Internet users can enjoy a 10% discount as long as they show their business cards. In Bai Raven's ideal, 80% of the customers of the coffee shop should be the Internet and related people. As long as you buy a cup of coffee, you can sit all day. As a result, Beta Coffee has become a gathering place for IT youth in Zhongguancun, where small groups of twos and threes are often waiting for "angels".

The reporter heard that such a story happened in Beta Coffee. Shortly after the opening of Beta Coffee in Beijing, a young man ran here before the coffee shop opened and sat at the door with a sign that read "Angel" in his hand. Although he did not meet the investor, his persistence moved the Beta, who eventually introduced the young man to a senior entrepreneur who often came to the cafe.

The reporter does not know what the final result will be. To get a high-profile answer from such a low-key Beta coffee is really a test of the reporter's ability. Beta doesn't want to be a hero, and even the list of more than 30 shareholders in Beta Coffee has not been publicly announced, let alone how many entrepreneurs have set sail from here.

Three years later, Beta Coffee has consistently adhered to its belief that the beauty of coffee lies not in its mellow taste, but in its sharing with others; the beauty of friends lies not in talking and laughing, but in inserting knives on both sides; and the beauty of the Internet is not that the Internet is the fastest, but that it is possible to connect. Although Beta Coffee has made any money so far, it still welcomes new and old friends to come here to chat, talk about the Internet, and talk about starting a business. The most important thing is to be with friends!

(responsible Editor: Leo)