Outside of the office, Cafe coffee Days outlets are the one-stop-solution for discussing business modules and shelling new ideas! Is this really the best option?
So, just picture an archetypal gig worker, freelancer, contractor — or anyone who works remotely on a computer — and you are bound to imagine someone sitting in a crowded coffee shop with a laptop and taking calls through their earbuds; asking others to watch their stuff while they’re in the bathroom (speed-washing their hands while praying that the stranger is trustworthy). “Let’s meet over coffee” that’s exactly how any prosperous meeting loops in and it has been noticed that such informal and casual meets over the discussion of ideas ends at multi-million dollar funding. Cafés are casual, unbiased settings that help break the ice. You can likewise spend unlimited hours sipping one single cup without any external pressure of ordering more.
Well, scenario today is such that workers are preferring a commotionless space to work but not the monotonous office spaces! Yes, it’s indeed the new trend. As they say, a lot can happen over coffee; well even business ideas too are being sprouted on a cup of coffee. Believe it or not, our very own coffee house of VG Siddhartha, Cafe Coffee Day (CCD), is being beamed up with workers from all walks of life. Inventiva’s team has observed that from students to journalists to professionals, steadily CCD is becoming a one sop solution for all of them. The love affair with coffee is growing, alongside balancing it with laptop, pen and a notepad. The CCD outlets are increasingly being used for business meetings, driven by the rise in flexibility of working from remote areas and home working, coupling it with the access to the availability of free Wi-Fi.
Nationwide, ‘coffee pe charcha’ (discussion over a cup of coffee) over CCD outlets has become a serious business activity for emerging entrepreneurs as well. It’s been advised by many start-up functionalities to even conduct interviews in coffee houses, as a lot many things are observed in such informal styles of interviewing the candidates. To the amazement of many, it has also affected the footfall in the CCD outlets as well. The crowd not only consists of youngsters juggling up on a coffee treat or couples meeting over coffee date; the crowd also consists of varied professionals who tend to enjoy this mixed commotion. This way, you meet, throw ideas at each other and the journeys of those compatible dreamers begin with a ‘hush-hush.’ Deals get hatched; even the projection drafts get drawn on napkins- and all this in midst of noisy, buzzing coffee grinders. Inventiva team came across this fascinating anecdote in a leading publication, which stated that, “I sat with my co-founder Harkirat Singh at Chokola in Vasant Kunj in 2011 and our business plan was made there. Had my first investor meeting at CCD, Green Park, and so on!,” remembers Deepak Wadhwa, cofounder CEO WeAreHolidays, now funded with over $3 million from Matrix Partners, GSF Angels and Blume Ventures.
Office gatherings are extraordinary for utilitarian stuff yet for directional issues – an outside area is constantly favored. In office you are in a “zone,” excessively focussed on due dates and expectations. In any case, the minute you are out, you “start thinking big” feels most matured visionaries.
