Entrepreneurs and startup founders know that when they attend South by Southwest in Austin or Startup Week in Phoenix, important deals or connections aren't made sitting in the audience listening to a speech. It's those chance encounters at a bar or coffee shop nearby that often lead to a startup getting some funding, or a founder meeting just the right person to help take the business to the next level.
Venture Café, a global company that sets up weekly meetups in leading-edge cities to bring startup founders, researchers, investors and other creatives together to brainstorm ideas and make those key connections, is looking to be a conduit for the Valley's innovation economy when it opens its doors in downtown Phoenix on Thursday.
The first Venture Café Phoenix session is set for Thursday afternoon in multiple locations inside the newly opened 850 PBC building at 850 N 5th St., part of the fast-growing Phoenix Bioscience Core innovation district just south of Roosevelt Row. Baltimore, Maryland-based Wexford Science & Technology LLC and Arizona State University partnered on that building, and are set to construct an even larger building next door.
Venture Café Phoenix is partnering with one of the tenants of that building, the Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation business incubator, to present the weekly programs.
Operating in five countries
Venture Café has nine similar locations already operating in five countries, including five other locations in the U.S. prior to the opening in Phoenix this week. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it's been more than two years since the most recent Venture Café opened in late 2019 in Providence, Rhode Island.
Kristen Plymale, Venture Café's global expansion lead since 2019, was in town from Austin, Texas, this week for the Arizona opening. She said downtown Phoenix has the right stuff to host the newest location because of its growing reputation as a bioscience and innovation hub.
"The city [and university] have been working for a while to establish this innovation district here. And its proximity to Roosevelt Row is important because we bring the arts and creatives into our programming as well," Plymale said. "A lot of factors went into this being a great fit for us. It's also our first expansion toward the West Coast."
After this week's initial session, the next Venture Café Phoenix meetup will be held on April 21, but then the events will be held weekly starting on May 5, always on Thursdays.
Plymale said conversations have begun with potential partners and sponsors for the Venture Café Phoenix location, with that funding used to keep all of the events free to the public. Just as important, she said, is that they are looking for mentors to help nurture startup founders and local guest speakers.
Next up for Plymale will be the planned opening of the 11th Venture Café location, and its first in Latin America, in an innovation district in Monterrey, Mexico, in late May.
Cross-pollinate ideas
Thomas Schumann, CEO of the Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation, is Venture Café's man on the ground in Phoenix who will be working with a pair of Venture Café employees to get the word out and set up the programming each week.
Schumann envisions more than 400 people eventually attending the weekly sessions. Though many of the attendees will be involved in tech startups, he expects all different types of startup founders to be able to make connections and cross-pollinate ideas at Venture Café.
"We're so spread out in Phoenix there is no center of gravity. It can take you an hour to drive from east to west here," Schumann said. "We aren't looking to replace other programs in Phoenix but just want to help magnify our efforts to build an innovation economy."
He said Venture Café will also work hard to ensure that it supports all genders and races, in order to bring together diverse ideas "that are the most fruitful."
Schumann said it's up to the attendees to create the kind of meetup vibe they want to experience — be it one-on-one mentoring, checking out TED Talk-style presentations or just sipping on a beer and networking.
"We don't have a lot of common space in Phoenix to capture all the energy that comes from serendipitous meetings," he said. "Having those impromptu collisions and letting the sparks fly can be a beautiful thing."
