Afternoon Tech: Cafes for Entrepreneurs

Do you know what a "startup-themed cafe" is? If you do, you'll be interested to know that there are several in Beijing, and TechNode has compiled a handy list to help you locate them.
If you don't know (I certainly didn't), read on and you'll find out.

Firstly, TechNode explains that startup-themed cafes "serve as a platform where entrepreneurs exchange and sparkle their ideas." So you go to a startup-themed cafe because you're an entrepreneur, want to be one or would like to hang around with entrepreneurial people. Just the same way as you'd go to the Friends-themed cafe because you like the sitcom, the Hello Kitty restaurant (RIP) because you're a child or the parent of one, or the "House of Poo Poo" toilet-themed restaurant because you work for an overseas media company who need a piece on how totally weird China is (OK, we confess we've also featured it).

Most of these cafes are funded or backed by tech industry high-fliers, and apart from performing the usual food-and-drink functions of a regular cafe, they offer regular talks, industry-based meetups and other events aimed at engaging a tech-savvy, entrepreneurially-minded crowd.

Since TechNode did the hard work, I'll encourage you simply to click through and read their roundup here, but if you're really lazy, the five cafes they list are: 3wcoffee, Big Bang Cafe, QianXun Cafe, Betacafe and Garage Cafe. Most of the venues are nearby high-tech hub Zhongguancun, while Big Bang is the odd one out in Jianwai Soho.

Photo: Mag Mire