Start-up coffee shop public welfare or business?

Li Na

One day in the spring of 2012, an invitation conference was being held in a coffee shop called Beta at the foot of the iconic TV Tower in Guangzhou. Unlike a petty bourgeois cafe, this store introduces itself as a place to "talk about the Internet, talk about starting a business".

The cafe is owned by Zhu Ning, former designer of Alipay (Weibo). His original vision was to "want to be an Internet, e-commerce, technology and fashion circle, as well as a conference room and lounge". But after the model was copied to Beijing and Guangzhou, it was labeled as more industries-something Zhu Ning did not think of, such as entrepreneurship, angels and capital. after the store opened, it was labeled "the first cafe with Internet genes" by people in the circle.

Now, more and more entrepreneurial coffee shops are beginning to emerge, and some executives of listed companies, VC partners, entrepreneurs and senior media people have become regular patrons of these cafes.

IT gene?

The establishment of the cafe is funded by fund-raising, joint-stock system, 10,000 yuan per share, a total of 100 shares. Zhu Ning and several founders quickly received responses from all parties after sending out the message. "Beta Coffee has more than 30 shareholders and is engaged in 15 occupations, mostly executives from major Internet and telecommunications companies, from 9 different cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou." Guangzhou Beta staff told reporters that in addition to these people, there are college students who have not yet graduated, as long as they respond early, they can get shares.

In June 2009, Beta officially opened in Hangzhou. Due to its proximity to Alibaba (Weibo) and Taobao, meetings and events have also become a support for Beta's profits. In the headquarters of Beta Coffee in Hangzhou, there is a saying: "Internet employees in Hangzhou, if you don't come to Beta, you will feel lost." Hangzhou gave Beta great encouragement, and the idea of opening stores in Beijing and even other places began to emerge in Beta's headquarters.

Beta's Beijing store is in a good place-upstairs is the Innovation Factory, halfway south is Microsoft, then turn right is Tencent, turn north one street corner to Sina and Patriot (Weibo). In the store, you can often see acquaintances, and the one sitting on the comfortable U-shaped sofa may be the "friend" you just met yesterday. A media person who often goes to Beta in Beijing told reporters that talking about things in Beta is so efficient that you can see the project leaders of several well-known Internet companies in a few hours. There is no doubt that this Beta Cafe has inadvertently become an important part of the growth ecology of entrepreneurs.

Ken, the store manager, once met a young man who was sitting at the door with an "angel" sign before the store opened. Although he had no obligation to provide docking services for entrepreneurs and investors, Ken introduced the young man to a veteran entrepreneur who often came to the store. Maybe he could help. But in his view, Beta Coffee does not want to position itself as a "venture coffee shop", because that will only make the business narrower and narrower. Although the service is very popular, it is not Beta's direction in the future.

Selling coffee? Selling services?

In Zhongguancun, rent, water and electricity, property, catering, manpower and coffee, the start-up capital of a coffee shop is at least 1 million. In terms of the unit price of coffee, the price is similar to that of Starbucks. If 50 cups of coffee are cooked from 1pm to 5pm, the income in four hours is about 1500 yuan. Obviously, this is not high. In fact, Ken is in a mixed mood right now, and it's a good thing to provide a platform for entrepreneurs, but how to make cafes profitable is also a thorny issue.

In Zhongguancun, Beijing, there are many Internet entrepreneurs, some with technology and ideas, but some with no capital, and some can not even afford to rent an office. The emergence of cafes makes them feel "hopeful". In their view, this place can not only bring down start-up costs, but also have a chance to meet their own "angel investors".

But Ken admits that it's hard for Beta to make money on entrepreneurs. "if you buy a cup of coffee, you can stay for a day, and you can work here even without buying coffee. Over a long period of time, the costs of water, electricity, rent, and labor will be difficult to digest."

Now, Beta Coffee holds regular forums, salons, investment meetings and photography sharing sessions-activities that not only increase income, but also expand influence and enhance the atmosphere of the industry, but this income does not help Beta Coffee turn a profit. In the year since its opening, they have only two months to make ends meet.

Another nearby garage coffee prefers to position itself as an "open incubator"-entrepreneurs can rent desks that can hold six people at the bar at a garage coffee shop for 20 yuan per person per day. enjoy start-up packages-Wi-Fi and printers. Last year, the Zhongguancun management committee just issued a plaque to the garage coffee shop and provided a green channel for start-ups to register, thus bringing the garage coffee into the incubation system. The head of the garage coffee shop said that in a few months, the garage coffee shop will announce some start-up service products.

Different from the model of the garage coffee shop, 3W, which is also a "start-up cafe", hopes to establish a high-quality venture capital exchange platform, as well as a platform for in-depth knowledge sharing and resource docking in the industry. in addition to coffee shop income, 3W will also do headhunting work and recommend some outstanding talents to Internet companies.

Ken, the manager of Beta Coffee, is also aware of the needs of these young people. He sees the latest job postings every week in front of the Beta Cafe. There is also a network that can "climb over the wall" (meaning to break through the firewall) and a prepared whiteboard. Obviously, he also hopes that business in his store will be better.

(responsible Editor: Leo)