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So, to summarize your Cafe 2.0 business model, if I may... Prospective customers submit resumes to you for the privilege of being allowed to rent table space a

by sutro 18y ago

So, to summarize your Cafe 2.0 business model, if I may... Prospective customers submit resumes to you for the privilege of being allowed to rent table space at your cafe. Those who clear that hurdle remain under constant threat of eviction unless they talk to everyone around them every ten minutes. Customers can only read hard-copy material that you prescribe, and must read it out-loud to the entire room. And they must relinquish all web-surfing mobile and laptop devices, to be replaced by a single "room librarian" who will personally attend to any web search requests. OK. Take this concept to Sand Hill Road. Untold riches await you.

derefr 18y ago
I admit, it's only for a certain kind of person--the kind that would be talking to the people around them more often than every ten minutes anyway, and would rather have a conversation about a topic than look it up themselves. Extroverts. The resume thing, and eviction thing, are just what they sound like: being in a club. Haven't you ever been in a club? They have membership requirements and you have to maintain the membership by doing all sorts of crazy annoying/boring things. But people do them, because it's better than not being in the club. I'd even say that there would have to be a Fight-Club-esque rule about the place to prevent it becoming some sort of super-prestigious gathering place where everyone there was only there to say that they went, and no one is actually enjoying themselves. But I digress. I was a bit off in describing the reading material concept: whatever people wrote on the whiteboard above the book-pile, and remained up there for longer than a day without being erased, would be purchased at the cafe's expense and added to said pile the next day. Same with food and drink suggestions. It's not supposed to be about the cafe; it's supposed to be about the other people in the cafe. The cafe itself is unimportant. You're paying to be put in spitting distance of people who love thinking, and are willing to help you out on creative, technical, or even philosophical projects if you reciprocate. It's sort of like the physical manifestation of a compatibility-matching dating site, but without the actual "dating" part (but I mean, if relationships start there, hey...)
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
- sutro 18y ago
  Haven't you ever been in a club? Heeding the wisdom of Woody Allen and Groucho Marx, I would never join a club that would have someone like me as a member.

by sutro 18y ago

derefr 18y ago

I admit, it's only for a certain kind of person--the kind that would be talking to the people around them more often than every ten minutes anyway, and would rather have a conversation about a topic than look it up themselves. Extroverts. The resume thing, and eviction thing, are just what they sound like: being in a club. Haven't you ever been in a club? They have membership requirements and you have to maintain the membership by doing all sorts of crazy annoying/boring things. But people do them, because it's better than not being in the club. I'd even say that there would have to be a Fight-Club-esque rule about the place to prevent it becoming some sort of super-prestigious gathering place where everyone there was only there to say that they went, and no one is actually enjoying themselves. But I digress. I was a bit off in describing the reading material concept: whatever people wrote on the whiteboard above the book-pile, and remained up there for longer than a day without being erased, would be purchased at the cafe's expense and added to said pile the next day. Same with food and drink suggestions. It's not supposed to be about the cafe; it's supposed to be about the other people in the cafe. The cafe itself is unimportant. You're paying to be put in spitting distance of people who love thinking, and are willing to help you out on creative, technical, or even philosophical projects if you reciprocate. It's sort of like the physical manifestation of a compatibility-matching dating site, but without the actual "dating" part (but I mean, if relationships start there, hey...)

deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
sutro 18y ago
Haven't you ever been in a club? Heeding the wisdom of Woody Allen and Groucho Marx, I would never join a club that would have someone like me as a member.