IDEA Cafe Startup Workshops are intended to give a boost to people who are headed in a new direction with their work, starting a new career, a new project or campaign, or a new business.

Links to the Denver and South Denver meetings are to the right on this page, we hope to see other meetings starting soon in cooperation with local chambers of commerce across Colorado.

Since 1994, IDEA Cafes have helped people people who are starting a new career, a new project or campaign, or a new business. How do we help? Those who attend (including you, we've all started something) share startup experience, we brainstorm, and we share information.

“ What a great concept, and it created a lovely opportunity to meet with other people in the community. Starting a business can be a lonely venture; I'd definitely recommend this to anyone looking to break that cycle. ” Megan Tackett on May 7, 2011.

“ This was a good experience for me. I enjoyed the people and the brainstorming. Since we all face challenges of some type, I would heartily recommend it to anyone involved in a startup activitiy. Jack Rouff on Apr 30, 2011.

“ Great format, small group works best for this. I encourage everyone to try this group if you want some help getting started. ” Anthony Sanchez, Marketing Club on Sep 25, 2010.

Meetings are free and open to everyone, we just ask that you bring your brain for the brainstorming!

Join us at an IDEA Cafe any time you are headed in a new direction with your work and need a boost.

Next Friday (Oct 28), 2 p.m., at Panera Bread, 13th & Grant here in Denver consultant and entrepreneur John Leavy will share his startup experience with us and then join us in the brainstorming. For more about John, see his very impressive website http://www.johnleavy.com/

RSVPs are never required, but if you RSVP "no" here I stop bugging you about the meeting. :) And to make sure you get a reserved seat at the brainstorming table so you get a chance to have John apply his brain to your brainstorming question, RSVP at http://meetup.com/Denver-IDEA-Cafe.

Then at 4 p.m. at the same place we'll have the 1st meeting of the Socrates Cafe Beginners Group, join us for it if you enjoy good conversation. More info, including the group format under "More/Files" at http://meetup.com/Socrates-Cafe-Beginners

Our speaker at the Denver IDEA Cafe Startup Workshop this Friday, October 21: Chris Daniels http://www.ChrisDaniels.com  on "How I started my career in music." Chris is substituting for Chuck Morris, who is rescheduling.

No RSVP is ever required, walkins are welcome. We meet at Panera Bread, 13th & Grant here in Denver, just a block from the Capitol. But the first 12 to RSVP on our Denver IDEA Cafe Meetup site http://meetup.com/Denver-IDEA-Cafe are guaranteed a seat at the brainstorming table with the speaker until the meeting starts at 2 p.m.  Questions? Call John Wren (303)861-1447

Hunter Lovins, co-author of Natural Capitalism.

PLEASE "SHARE" WITH YOUR FACEBOOK FRIENDS AND OTHERS WHO MIGHT APPRECIATE A BOOST AT THE END OF THE WEEK AS THEY GET STARTED IN A NEW DIRECTION WITH THEIR WORK. THANKS!

Our speaker this week is the well-known Hunter Lovins. http://NatCapSolutions.org/ This meeting was announced in the current issue of the Denver Business Journal, so we expect a good turn out. RSVP now to make sure you have a seat.

No RSVP is ever required, walkins are welcome.

But the first 12 to RSVP on our Denver IDEA Cafe Meetup site http://meetup.com/Denver-IDEA-Cafe are guaranteed a seat at the brainstorming table with the speaker until the meeting starts at 2 p.m. So to make sure you have a good seat and the ability to get the speakers ideas for your brainstorming topic, RSVP now at http://meetup.com/Denver-IDEA-Cafe. Everyone else sits in the "peanut gallery" and observes the brainstorming.

What is the IDEA Cafe?

Since 1994, we help people people who are starting a new career, a new project or campaign, or a new business. How do we help? Those who attend (including you, we've all started something) share startup experience, we brainstorm, and we share information.

“ What a great concept, and it created a lovely opportunity to meet with other people in the community. Starting a business can be a lonely venture; I'd definitely recommend this to anyone looking to break that cycle. ” Megan Tackett on May 7, 2011.

“ This was a good experience for me. I enjoyed the people and the brainstorming. Since we all face challenges of some type, I would heartily recommend it to anyone involved in a startup activitiy. Jack Rouff on Apr 30, 2011.

“ Great format, small group works best for this. I encourage everyone to try this group if you want some help getting started. ” Anthony Sanchez, Marketing Club on Sep 25, 2010.

Meetings are free and open to everyone, we just ask that you bring your brain for the brainstorming!

Who should attend?

What we now call the Denver IDEA Cafe has been meeting since 1994. Anyone who is starting a new direction, starting a new career, new project or campaign, or starting a new business is invited to join us for a boost at the end of the week, and we especially encourage members of local chambers who are interested in helping their local chamber to provide more help to startups.

Join us any Friday when you are headed in a new direction with your work and need a boost at the end of a long week, or when you are willing to share your startup experience.

The first 12 to RSVP on http://meetup.com/Denver-IDEA-Cafe each week are guaranteed a seat at the brainstorming table until the start of the meeting at 2 p.m., others are welcome to attend and either take the seat of a no-show or to sit in the peanut gallery to listen to the speakers and observe the brainstorming.

If you have any questions, contact John Wren at (303)861-1447 or John@JohnWren.com
 

Since 1994, the purpose of the Denver IDEA Café Startup Workshop has been to help turn inspiration into effective action, to help us each get started our self as we help others who are starting new careers, projects, campaigns, or new businesses. We do this by sharing startup experience and brainstorming. We say that if the meetings are successful, you’ll very quickly be too busy to attend, but we do hope you’ll rejoin us from time to time at our monthly “alumni” meetings we hold on the First Friday of each month.

We take our name from a four-step creativity model, IDEA. I in IDEA stands for Inspiration, the Aha! moment or the I stands for Identify the Problem. D in IDEA stands for Develop Alternatives, that’s what we do today by sharing startup experience and brainstorming. It’s up to you to E- Evaluate and A- Take Action! To create means “to bring something new into being.” You aren’t being creative unless you Take Action.

We are now part of the Small Business Chamber of Commerce, which cooperates with local chambers of commerce across Colorado and beyond to provide IDEA Café Startup Workshops and Franklin Circles to their members. If you’d like to be part of the leadership group and take a turn leading this meeting, or if you’d like help starting a new meeting like this, see the chairperson right after any meeting, on contact John Wren at (303)861-1447 or John@JohnWren.com. For more, see our meetup site at http://meetup.com/SBCC-Startup-Workshops or the link to the local Facebook groups (right now Denver and South Denver) listed in the right column of this page.