Grass-roots entrepreneurs in garage coffee

In an ordinary-looking building near Haidian Bridge in Zhongguancun, Beijing, there is a coffee shop called Garage Coffee. This small shop, which was converted from an Internet bar only a few months ago, has now become one of the busiest coffee shops in Beijing.

When the reporter walked up the stairs, the first thing he saw was a beautifully designed layout of "garage coffee": a coffee shop with a main body of hundreds of square meters, with a conference room of more than ten square meters and a book-reading room of dozens of square meters.

Like all coffee shops, it offers coffee, tea, food, etc., with an elegant environment and light music, and unlike other coffee shops, you can also share desktop computers, iPhone, tablet testers, projectors, desktop touch screens and other devices, because the people who come here are basically entrepreneurs and investors.

As soon as I entered the door, more than 20 tables full of people came into view, each with a pot of flowers. Some people sit around, whispering and discussing something enthusiastically; others are concentrating on programming in front of the computer.

The reporter ordered a cup of coffee and took a seat. The team of four who had a heated discussion attracted the attention of reporters. Walking over, one of the older people took the initiative to talk to the reporter.

He told reporters that the four of them formed a studio to engage in the research and development of the mobile Internet industry. Because it was an early small and micro team, before the company was set up, we borrowed "garage coffee" as office space.

The reporter noticed that everyone in the startup team was equipped with an Apple laptop. They are all fans of Jobs and hope that the technology they developed will one day be used in iPhone products.

"there are not many people in 'garage coffee' now, and there will be more people at two or three o'clock in the afternoon." When he heard the reporter lamented that there were many people with "garage coffee", he said, "when holding exchange activities, entrepreneurs will fill the coffee shop."

"We are not even a resident team, that person is a regular customer and is here almost every day." He said, pointing to a young man with glasses in the distance.

The reporter went over and after a brief greeting, the young man also opened the conversation box. He said his startup team, which consists of six people, came here for the first time in May and was the third resident team of Garage Coffee. Today, Garage Coffee has gathered more than a dozen resident teams like them.

Because he has an urgent task to catch up, he has been here almost every day for nearly a month. Coming after 9: 00 in the morning and leaving after 9: 00 in the evening, "garage coffee" has become his regular office.

"the environment here is good and the price is cheap, which is very suitable for people like me." Busy working on animation design, he said that "Garage Coffee" has similarities with the early 798 art factory, which attracted a large number of pure artists, while "Garage Coffee" also gathered a group of dreamy entrepreneurs.

In his spare time, he will talk to the people in the Garage Coffee. Several like-minded people communicate with each other and often collide with sparks of thought. Investors often come here, and he has witnessed a start-up team reach a financing agreement with investors here.

He said that after graduating from university, he came to Beijing from Xi'an. He likes Zhongguancun and Beijing. Here, he can find many people who think like him. Here, he can also feel a strong entrepreneurial atmosphere.

This can be seen from the fact that the Internet cafe opposite is sparsely populated, while "Garage Coffee", a public service platform for entrepreneurs, is so popular.

"for me, starting a business is a habit and way of life." The young man said that he and his startup team have been working hard to realize their dreams and believe that they will succeed.

The reporter noticed that "Garage Coffee" has a bulletin board covered with notes with the words "looking for tech heroes and UI designers to join us in our journey of innovation and realization." The theme of "Garage Coffee" is also posted here. In October alone, Garage Coffee held seven exchanges, large and small.

When preparing to leave, someone told reporters that the word "garage" has a deep meaning. Google was originally founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in the landlord's garage, and the birth of Amazon, Apple and Disney all have something to do with the garage. Today, Hewlett-Packard's garage in Palo Alto is recognized as the birthplace of Silicon Valley.

Maybe one day, from these ordinary and lovely entrepreneurs, there will be the next Jack Ma or Robin Li. Maybe one day, one of the products we use will come from their creativity.