New stimulus for forum
Million Cups gathering seeks more participation
1 Million Cups, Albuquerque’s caffeinelaced networking forum for aspiring and veteran entrepreneurs, is looking for a bit more kick in its weekly brew.
The Wednesday morning event, which launched in 2014 to bring novice and experienced businesspeople together to share ideas and support one another, has become a cornerstone in grass-roots efforts to build a bustling local environment for entrepreneurship and innovation. To date, some 200 startup companies have presented their business ideas to the weekly gathering, with about 70 participants offering advice and feedback at nearly every event. The group meets at FatPipe ABQ, a Downtown co-working space.
Now, to keep that energy flowing, forum organizers are exploring ways to draw in more people to sustain the initiative well into the future.
“We’re looking at how we as a community organization that’s based on volunteers can make 1 Million Cups even better for everybody,” Eric Renz-Whitmore, the forum’s lead organizer since 2014, told this week’s gathering. “How can we make Albuquerque’s 1 Million Cups the one that other groups around the country look to as a model?”
The weekly event was created by the Kansas City-based Kauffman Foundation, which promotes education and entrepreneurship to improve individual economic independence and self-sufficiency. Kauffman’s model has spread to about 100 cities in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Albuquerque’s robust community participation at the weekly Downtown event inspired the South Valley Economic Development Center to launch its own forum in Spanish.
“You come to 1 Million Cups to learn about the community and get connected,” said Charles White, a local entrepreneur now replacing Renz Whitmore as lead organizer. “It’s become an epicenter for
critical news about what’s going on in the city.”
The Albuquerque forum received its initial impetus from city officials after Mayor Richard Berry visited Kansas City and urged local business leaders to launch 1 Million Cups here. But it’s a grass-roots initiative that depends on volunteers and community participation to keep it going.
“It’s a movement by and for entrepreneurs,” Renz Whitmore said. “We need to emphasize that going forward for sustainability.”
Some fresh volunteers are now assuming administrative roles. And the group is creating a new team of volunteer “ambassadors” to generate more community interest.
“The ambassadors will be advocates for the organization in the community,” said entrepreneur Sonja Dewing, a new volunteer organizer. “We want them to share 1 Million Cups with more people to get them in the door.”
The organizers could also enrich the weekly format, which features short presentations by one or two entrepreneurs followed by open discussion and feedback from forum participants. In the future, smaller breakout groups could meet after the open discussion to review topics of specific interest.