After a bit of discussion the inaugural Cork OpenCoffee Club will be held at 10am this Friday 16th in Luigi Malone’s on Emmet Place in Cork City Centre. UseAMap.

The aim of the club is to bring together a good mix of entrepreneurs, investors, developers and marketers, plus anyone else who is interested in growing the start-up community in Cork. Organisations like it@cork and the CorkBIC are incredibly important in fostering professional networking in Cork and I hope we can make OpenCoffee complementary in many ways to them.

The aim is to make it a welcoming, well-known venue which achieves practical results rather than just being a social outlet. On the one hand we want anyone in a start-up or thinking about doing one or thinking about working for one to turn up and build links to their peers. But more importantly, we need to get the investment community and the support organisations involved too so that they can identify the upcoming opportunities and provide advice where appropriate. The idea is that it is mutually beneficial for all who attend.

If we can also get involvement from third level institutions then we could have something very special indeed.

I’m sure we’ll just be finding our feet at the first few meetings. I think once every two weeks is sufficient for the moment and I welcome any suggestions for how to make it stronger and more useful. Please do spread the word about this. Better to have too many people next Friday than a damp squib. There are no requirements other than to turn up, engage and drink beverages.

To find out more, read Saul Klein’s posts on it here.