Every Thursday afternoon from 3 to 8 p.m., the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) on One Broadway in Cambridge hosts The Venture Café.
What is it?
Venture Café is a one-of-a-kind organization that brings together bright and determined people for the sole purpose of sharing ideas and igniting a fire in each other’s heart for entrepreneurship and innovation. These ideas range from a wide variety: from community outreach to popular public interest; from social media to multimedia; from one’s latest hobby to the delicious beer they’re sipping on. Anything and everything is talked about when Venture Café is in session.
Early in the afternoon, informative sessions are held with certain topics to be talked about in the smaller side rooms, as the main room is reserved for mingling, open conversations and free beer, wine, food and creativity.
Where is it?
Cambridge Innovation Center is a place where startups and up-and-coming organizations can get a place to start and kick off their brand. “Our residents are mostly growing technology and life sciences companies, professional service firms, and venture capitalists”. CIC does a lot for those it guests. The cup of finely crafted beer you’ll probably be sipping on while in attendance (or wine if that’s your kind of thing) is not provided by Venture Café, but by Cambridge Innovation Center. Venture Café is an initiative of CIC.
Who will be there?
Venture Café brings in a lot of special people from different facets of all types of everything. Is that broad enough? Quite honestly, any type of person could and probably will be there. That’s the beauty of it: you never know whom you’ll meet. I spent my time there speaking to Brian Wang, Chris Myles, and Courtney Scott-Howard. All had so much to share and teach me. Courtney and I shared a love of volunteering and mutual use of about.me and Brian and I spoke of Venture’s history and how it came to be.
The overall feel of the Café is one that puts a kind of nervous college student walking into a room full of established women and men doing what she one day aspires to do- at ease. I look forward to the next time I have a chance to attend Venture Café.
Why should you go?
This was probably one of the greatest events I’ve been to. One quote Venture Café uses on their website to explain what it’s like to attend is from Jackie Noblett from the Boston Business Journal: “Great things happen when smart people bump into each other.” There is no other way to explain what happens every Thursday evening in Cambridge but to experience it for yourself. To hear it from me is a travesty. One must attend to truly feel the energy in the air on the 4th floor of One Broadway. Or it could just be the chocolate-smelling beer they were serving.
More information:
- Organizer(s): Brian Wang
- Executive Director: Chris Myles
- Host: The Venture Café
- Social: Twitter handle @VentureCafe
- Frequency: Every Thursday from 3-8
- Venue: Cambridge Innovation Center on One Broadway in Cambridge, MA
Registration: No registration needed
