“Communities are built on a million cups of coffee.”
It’s the simple idea that grew into a national startup phenomenon. 1 Million Cups is a weekly open forum event designed to engage local startup communities across the US in the all-important dialogue that develops successful entrepreneurs and companies.
An innovative and pleasantly unorthodox concept, the 1 Million Cups program is best explained by this quote from the founding organization’s web site,
“Each week, the 1MC program offers two local entrepreneurs an opportunity to present their startups to a diverse audience of mentors, advisors, and entrepreneurs. Presenters prepare a 6 minute educational presentation and engage in 20 minutes of feedback and questioning after they present…The program takes place every Wednesday morning from 9:00-10:00am in locations all around the country.” (Source: 2013 1MillionCups.com)
Co-founder of 1 Million Cups (1MC), Cameron Cushman, described the program’s goals to me in very simple terms, “We want more successful startups.”
“We believe that one of the ways to get to that goal is to have a regular and on-going education of entrepreneurs through outlets like this program. 1 Million Cups is designed to aid in building great companies, a stronger community, and more well-informed entrepreneurs.“
He went on to explain that, “In many cities, there is no single “entry point” into the local startup community. Individuals often feel like they have to “know” someone or, at minimum, have a successful business to engage in the startup community. 1 Million Cups should serve as an entry point for anyone in the community hoping to engage with entrepreneurs.“
Cameron co-founded 1MC with Nate Olson, as a part of efforts funded by The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and chronicled at Entrepreneurship.org.
The Kauffman Foundation is a private, non-partisan organization, focused on education and entrepreneurship, created and endowed by Ewing Marion Kauffman (1916-1993). The foundation’s namesake, Mr. Kauffman, was a successful pharmaceutical entrepreneur, baseball team owner and celebrated philanthropist. His legacy, The Kauffman Foundation, has invested $280 million into Kansas City and employs over 200 individuals who manage dozens of educational and entrepreneurial programs like 1 Million Cups.
With a clearly defined purpose and the support of one of the largest private foundations in the country (valued at nearly $2 billion), 1 Million Cups has experienced a very startup-esque period of development over it’s first year. The weekly event originally debuted in The Kauffman Foundation’s hometown, Kansas City, and quickly spread to cities all over the US.
Cameron explained, “1 Million Cups is now in 21 cities around the country…It’s in big cities like Houston and San Diego and in small cities like Reno, Nev. And Georgetown, Del. I am very excited that Dallas and Fort Worth will be #22 and #23.“
When I asked Cameron to describe the response from startup communities, he replied,
“The response from these communities has been overwhelming…We have a long list of cities that have expressed interest in bringing 1MC to their city and we simply can’t keep up with demand. We hope to be in 100 cities by this time next year and hope to have launched a few international cities as well.”
Exciting and remarkable, certainly; but what about the founders who presented, their fellow entrepreneurs and the other members of the startup community in attendance? I asked Cameron to explain what they could expect to gain from the experience.
He admitted that, “Initially startups don’t really understand why they should come and present at their local 1MC. And, it’s very hard to quantify for them what kind of return they will get for their preparation time and the hour it will take to attend the weekly meeting.”
But the value became obvious as he continued, “We know that every startup is looking for exposure and 1MC can sometimes be the easiest and cheapest way for them to get the word out about their company. And sometimes receiving honest feedback from those in their community is what a startup company needs the most.”
1 Million Cups is a weekly social event designed to foster dialogue in local startup communities; an open forum, that can be attended by and presented to by anyone seeking feedback and support from their peers. Attending or participating each Wednesday offers networking opportunities, engagement with potential partners or customers and free exposure for startups. The program has experienced phenomenal success and rapid growth; and Dallas / Fort Worth represent the next links in the chain of interconnected entrepreneurial communities spreading throughout the US.
In a recent article written for Forbes, Nate & Cameron discussed six important lessons they’d learned while developing 1MC over the last year. Among the first few, and the one that left the greatest impression, was Item #2,
“If THEY build it, they will come” (Source 2013 Forbes.com)
The article explains how 1MC is operated in each hosting city by a team of local organizers. Familiar faces in each community organize and execute the weekly event, with the support of 1MC and The Kauffman Foundation.
Dallas’ local organizers are indeed familiar faces among the the DFW startup scene; The DEC’s own Jennifer Conley, GlobeStart program creator Michaela Lassig and local TEDster Sarah Boswell. Building a community requires dialogue, but it also requires good old fashioned word-of-mouth promotion. Between these three, you can be sure that anyone who’s anyone, or at least wants to be, will soon be having their Wednesday morning coffee at The Dallas Entrepreneur Center for the new weekly 1 Million Cups program, starting November 20th (launching as part of The Kauffman Foundation’s Global Entrepreneur Week, which you can learn more about in our previous post).
All of this is supported by Lesson #1, from the same Forbes article, “Start small to get big results. Don’t underestimate the power of a small weekly activity. Even little changes make a big difference.”
Well said. And what’s more natural than sharing ideas over a cup of coffee?
Nathan Binford, the author of this post, has spent the last 16 years working closely with startups and small businesses; as a writer, developer and marketer. Nathan contributes to a variety of blogs, including this one. His views are his own, but resources for this post were provided by The DEC and Speakeasy (a partner of the Dallas Morning News).
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