A small place with garage coffee achieves a big dream.

When it comes to entrepreneurial coffee, the "garage coffee" located in Zhongguancun, Beijing, has become famous in recent years. To investigate the reason, in addition to the open and shared "entrepreneurial gene" in the entrepreneurial coffee shop, the characteristics of business philosophy and model are also important factors that attract wide attention.

Entrepreneurs interviewed generally mentioned that the name of "Garage Coffee" itself has a strong appeal and motivation. Looking at many world-famous large companies, they are often closely related to the garage at the start-up stage-Jobs founded Apple in the garage, Hewlett and Packard founded Hewlett-Packard in a narrow garage. The garage is closely related to entrepreneurship, which is the origin of the name "garage coffee".

The garage is not only a space for entrepreneurs to burst out inspiration and innovative ideas, but also a place for "dream-reality" to take the first step. The garage has become a symbol of entrepreneurial spirit and culture, implying that "small places achieve big dreams". When entrepreneurs enter here, they can feel the atmosphere of the start-up of world-famous enterprises, the courage and motivation of entrepreneurship are naturally boosted, everyone inspires and supports each other, and the confusion and difficulties on the way to entrepreneurship are gradually clarified in communication and practice.

Revelation one

Government support is very important in the start-up period of start-up coffee.

"Garage Coffee", registered as "Beijing Entrepreneurship Road Coffee Co., Ltd.", started business as early as April 7, 2011, and can be said to be a forerunner in the field of entrepreneurial coffee. What is noteworthy is that nowadays, on the Venture Street in Zhongguancun, Beijing, "Garage Coffee" is only one of many start-up coffees, where a "entrepreneurial ecosystem" with coffee shops as the carrier has been formed. a series of activities such as finding partners, docking investors and project roadshows are very active here.

In the hundreds of square meters of space on the second floor of "Garage Coffee", a large number of entrepreneurs gather here, some are busy using laptops to revise project planning books, and some are communicating and docking entrepreneurial plans. They only need to order a cup of coffee to enjoy the open office environment here, which provides low-cost office space for entrepreneurs and a platform for communication and cooperation for early entrepreneurial teams.

Some entrepreneurs interviewed said that it takes courage and perseverance to take the step of starting a business, especially in the early stage of starting a business, when capital, contacts, and market resources are extremely scarce, and it is very important for entrepreneurs to keep warm together. "Garage Coffee" makes everyone feel warm and powerful through the integration of all kinds of entrepreneurial resources. there are not only open resources and open workstations, but also an open entrepreneurial stage.

"since its establishment in 2011, our development has not been plain sailing. The idea when it was first established was simply to make it easier for investors to find the project. There was no concept of building a platform at that time. " Shi Yu, partner of "Garage Coffee", told reporters that it is very difficult for start-up coffee to make money from coffee itself, and all aspects of income are relatively limited. It can be said that "garage coffee" was in a state of loss in the early stage of its development. "with the passage of time, some excellent entrepreneurial projects have emerged from here, which have attracted the attention of the government and society, and the government has given us real support." He admitted that without this support, "Garage Coffee" would be very difficult to survive today.

Revelation two

Integrating resources to attract investors is the key to the survival of Chuangka.

"in running start-up coffee, you don't have to care too much about the size and form of expression of the storefront. The most important thing is to integrate resources, realize the accumulation of entrepreneurial resources, and attract the attention of investors." Shi Yu said that entrepreneurial coffee should be located in the "mass innovation space", and operators should pay attention to whether it can form the convergence of resources.

In fact, Shi Yu's view is also the key to the growth of Garage Coffee. For investors, such an entrepreneurial environment can be described as a rich "project library".

The reporter noticed that from 01:30 to 2 p.m. every Monday to Friday, an activity called "half an hour at noon" will be staged on time. This is a stage that has attracted much attention. The entrepreneurs in "Garage Coffee" will temporarily stop their work and listen carefully to the needs of the projects or releases recommended by the speakers on the stage. The copy of business planning displayed on the big screen has also become a vivid textbook for everyone to communicate, discuss, and learn. Today, "Garage Coffee" also carries out audio and video live streaming with the help of popular live broadcast software, and no matter where the audience is, they can easily watch it through mobile phones and other terminals, not only that, through the playback function, we can also repeatedly understand the relevant details of project planning, which is conducive to better docking.

If "half an hour at noon" is a small-scale project roadshow platform, then "Garage Coffee" also holds a variety of docking activities participated by entrepreneurs and investors to build an omni-directional, three-dimensional comprehensive roadshow and docking platform.

Take the "recruitment wall" as an example, there are all kinds of docking information posted by entrepreneurs and investors, some looking for partners, some showing entrepreneurial ideas, and a lot of recruitment information posted for the project. This is like an information depression, where many potential opportunities for communication and cooperation come together. Here, investors can easily find suitable good projects, and "Garage Coffee" provides a reference basis for its resource output, which helps to promote the collaborative development of multi-level investment groups.

"Garage Coffee" also has a centralized office area, where incubation teams and enterprises struggle to make their dreams come true. For enterprises in the start-up stage, there is an urgent need for low-cost financial, legal, information, guidance and other services. By integrating market resources, expert resources and capital resources needed for entrepreneurship, these services become more and more ready and rich in content. and give full play to the entrepreneurial coffee opening, sharing and other characteristics, so that all kinds of resources cross-border integration, and then the "chemical effect" occurs here. Promote more entrepreneurial innovation.

Revelation three

Finding the right development model is conducive to the continuous realization of business demands.

In an interview with entrepreneurial coffee in many places across the country, the reporter found that with the gradual stability of management and the expansion of influence, entrepreneurial coffee operators often argue about the future development model, and some think that joint office space should be built. make use of rent, venue rent, etc., while others hope to build a complete incubation industry chain and rely on investment to make a profit.

In this regard, the partners of Garage Coffee believe that no matter which model is adopted, we should not forget that as a component of the modern service industry, the important service object of entrepreneurial coffee is entrepreneurs who lack funds and weak anti-risk ability, so, don't be in a hurry to combine commercial management with their entrepreneurship.

"there is a lot of entrepreneurial coffee on Zhongguancun Entrepreneurship Street. As the first team to invest in this field, the reason why we can have a high degree of recognition among entrepreneurs and investors is that de-commercialization and zero threshold in the early stage of development is very important." Shi Yu told reporters that no matter who it is, it is not necessary to generate consumption after entering the door to be able to integrate into this entrepreneurial environment, without any additional conditions, such an atmosphere makes people feel very relaxed and lively, creating a strong entrepreneurial atmosphere, which is more in line with the direction of "mass entrepreneurship and mass innovation."

Of course, as an enterprise, the realization of business demand is the goal of development. In recent years, Garage Coffee is also on the way of commercial return. Partners are clearly aware that whether it is an incubator or a mass creation space, they must reflect their value by providing entrepreneurial services. Although the structure of supply and demand is simple, it is not easy to make a profit.

"it is very important to find a development model that suits us. We mainly realize the continuous realization of business demands through two aspects." Shi Yu said that on the one hand, they strive to bundle service value with investment ability, such as setting up "garage coffee" (incubator, mass creation space) in various places, at the same time, they will be equipped with a venture capital fund to help the entrepreneurial team develop in the early stage. This fund is jointly launched with the local government. "Garage Coffee", as the manager of this fund, plays the role of organically combining "venture" and "investment". The platform and carrier is entrepreneurial coffee, which relies on investment ability to realize its own service value. At present, "garage coffee" has a layout in more than a dozen cities across the country.

On the other hand, in the process of providing entrepreneurial services, "Garage Coffee" uses the form of risk-sharing and income-sharing in exchange for part of the equity of the entrepreneurial team. The most direct benefit of doing so is that the early cash investment of the entrepreneurial team will be greatly reduced. Not only that, "garage coffee" will translate the support given by the government to entrepreneurs, so that everyone can share the benefits, making it easier for the startup team to take the "first step". "this is a step we have taken after long-term research and careful consideration to achieve business aspirations. We can price services into a small proportion of equity and tie them up with the enterprise. When the enterprise grows up, we will also have profits. In the same way, we will also take some risks, and this binding will benefit both us and the entrepreneurial team."

Suggestion

The Development of Creator in Xi'an should pay close attention to the characteristics of Entrepreneurial Resources

Zhongguancun Entrepreneurship Street is not long, but there are a large number of entrepreneurial service institutions, and the development of "garage coffee" also benefits from the convergence of entrepreneurial elements. So far, hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs have been involved in the "garage coffee" service, thousands of investors have been docked, and more than 1500 start-ups have turned their dreams into reality through garage coffee. Successful incubation projects involve 3D printing, robots and many other fields. According to the partners of Garage Coffee, they are currently stepping up docking with Xi'an, hoping to participate in the "mass entrepreneurship and innovation" work in the ancient city.

"Xi'an is a promising city in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation." After an in-depth understanding of the entrepreneurial environment in Xi'an, Shi Yu gave his views on the development of entrepreneurial coffee in Xi'an. "I think it is very important and necessary for Xi'an to create entrepreneurial coffee neighborhoods. From the development of garage coffee, it is not difficult to see that a gathering environment of entrepreneurial coffee helps to promote the convergence of entrepreneurial resources in all aspects." He said that with the social and economic development of the city, Xi'an needs more entrepreneurial coffee to carry the needs of entrepreneurs and investors, and the "entrepreneurial coffee characteristic neighborhood" is conducive to building a comprehensive entrepreneurial ecosystem.

"Xi'an is a city with very characteristic entrepreneurial resources, which is mainly reflected in the intensive concentration of universities and scientific research institutes, with many young people and high enthusiasm for entrepreneurship, which provides very favorable conditions for the development of entrepreneurial coffee." Shi Yu said that the operation and development of Xi'an Entrepreneurship Coffee should be closely linked to the characteristics of this resource, such as working with universities to create entrepreneurial courses to help more aspiring entrepreneurial talents take a key "first step" and make the entrepreneurial atmosphere of the ancient city stronger.

Reporter Yang Yaoqing