Coffee, Starbucks, and independent cafes are important to start-up business.
This week’s interview with innovation reporter, Scott Kirsner, of newspaper the Boston Globe got me thinking. Check out the interview on Boston and the Innovation Cities Index.
Scott was a real pro, and great to chat with, and as always he brought a fresh perspective to what I have been talking about for weeks now with our junior analysts and others — the importance of start-up culture to cities.
Coffee, Cafes, Tea, Starbucks & Start-ups
Specifically, Scott probing questions reminded me of the coffee and start-up link. We’d always taken it for granted that it was self-evident that coffee, cafes and Starbucks are important to cities. Scott got me thinking about where that came from.
It’s the third place, third space or extra place. The coffee shop, cafe and wireless internet they provide — and also the tea house — provide that space, and the productivity of caffeinated beverages. They’re meeting room. Quiet working zone. And more.
Office or Starbucks for start-up business connections?
Starbucks in the U.S. is so popular — some creatives even list it on their business cards as their office!
Fact of the matter is cafes become start-up business hubs. More than that coffee houses provide a collegial environment of connections. And connections matter to start-ups.
Another business discussion today with AAP got me thinking about this again. Yes. It was in a coffee shop. With 2 entrepreneurial fellows in the media space, both AAP.
For awhile we have been ranking cities, in the Innovation Cities Index. A part of that since the 2007 been the cafe, coffee and Starbucks. We rank this under our ‘Cafe & Tea Houses’ indicator that is one of the 162 indicators we score.
Keep innovating,
Christopher Hire