IT'S TIME to reboot Irish Open Coffee sessions with creatives, this time with the halo effect of Grow Remote Ireland. Along with a team of animators, some working remotely with major studios, the helping hand of Grow Remote, and the support of the Questum Acceleration Centre, we will restart local Open Coffee sessions on the first Thursday of every month.
I remember the strong and enthusiastic cohort of start-ups that headed into Limerick city centre for Open Coffee months before the iPhone was launched.
Open Coffee is an open concept that we brought to Limerick one month after its origin in 2007 in London by Saul Klein, one of the founders of Skype. He wanted to encourage entrepreneurs, developers and investors to become acquainted with each other in informal gatherings so that the investment industry become more transparent. It worked. Meetings are still held worldwide every week at over 100 locations. The timing and content varies by city.
I learned a lot from young entrepreneurs during Limerick Open Coffee sessions--16 years ago. And I would travel to Cork for the same energy. When my academic commitments kept me chained to the classroom I watched the spirit of Open Coffee percolate into Fireside Chats arranged by Pat Carroll. The same sorts of activities now show up in my newsfeed as part of the StartUp Grind Events Listing.
I'm leaning into this version of a reboot of Open Coffee and I'm going to hashtag it as #GROC (Grow Remote Open Coffee). Done right, these first Thursday sessions will bring freshly brewed ideas along with locally baked pastries to a casual group that comes together to share ideas and learn how to leverage a tremendous array of resources for remote working employees and forward-thinking employers.
[Bernie Goldbach teaches digital transformation for the Technological University of the Shannon. Victoria McCormack is guiding Grow Remote's energy towards this Clonmel Grow Remote Open Coffee.]
