“It’s been said that communities are built on a million cups of coffee – and the conversations they create,” said Nate Olson, an analyst at the Kauffman Foundation and co-founder of 1 Million Cups.
Reno agrees and is enthusiastic about the opportunity to build the start-up community and create jobs from the grass roots perspective. Doug Erwin, VP of Entrepreneurship at EDAWN, has joined forces with Entreprenuerial Minds in organizing a community effort to further the development of the entrepreneurial ecosytem in Greater-Reno-Sparks-Tahoe.
On March 13th, 1 Million Cups will launch in Reno. EDAWN and Eminds will serve as the program organizers, helping Reno entrepreneurs connect with coffee and collaboration each Wednesday morning at Swill Coffee & Wine located at 3366 Lakeside Ct, Reno, NV 89509.
The program was established in Kansas City in April 2012 and has served to facilitate hundreds of connections and entrepreneurial activity in each of the four cities where it exists.
“EDAWN and Eminds are excited to be partnering with the Kauffman Foundation to bring 1 Million Cups to Reno. We have seen the phenomenal growth of the program in Kansas City and how it’s energizing the entire KC startup community, we needed this to Reno-vate ourselves into a startup community” said Jigar Patel, Co-Organizer of 1MC Reno.
For one hour each Wednesday morning, 1 Million Cups gives two early-stage startups the opportunity to present their companies to a diverse audience that includes mentors, advisers, researchers, builders, makers, aspiring and existing entrepreneurs. In the education-based forum, each startup founder presents for six minutes and then fields audience questions for 20 minutes more.
For more information on the local community please visit http://1mc.emindsreno.org. The social pages are found at https://www.facebook.com/eMindsReno or follow on Twitter at #1MCReno. Visit the national website at www.1millioncups.org.