By Shelbi LeMeilleur
It’s early in the morning on a Wednesday. Local businessmen and women have gathered before 8 a.m. at Startup Aggieland in College Station. Most everyone is mingling, sipping on their coffee, and making local connections with other community entrepreneurs. At 8 a.m., the group moves to the meeting space for the day and a speaker takes their place up front. After a 10-15 minute speech, the audience begins to give feedback, ask questions, and constructively critique a business plan or problem the speaker presented. It’s another typical meeting at 1 Million Cups College Station.
“1 million cups is the number one way for entrepreneurs to come together early in the morning before they have to get to work, enjoy some delicious coffee provided by some of the wonderful companies out here, and make some connections in the community that otherwise they wouldn’t make,” says Benjamin Schrader, founding member and marketing director of 1 Million Cups College Station.
The national organization, started by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in 2012, aims to educate, engage, and inspire entrepreneurs all across the country. The local branch of 1 Million Cups kicked off in February 2018 and meets once a week at Startup Aggieland.
“I would say the aim really is three things,” explains Schrader. “One, it is … to create connections. Two, it is to practice the honing of your idea. … The third is that we have someone from the community who has a business come every week and pitch us that idea, and then the other business owners work together to tear it apart in a very polite and caring way.”
Typically, the Kauffman Foundation has general themes each month to help guide the individual branches when scheduling speakers for each week. The speaker usually talks 15 minutes before opening up for audience critiques, suggestions, and questions.
“You want people who are good and you want people who are going to engage your high-quality audience,” says Schrader. “We’ve really worked to have that. I would say that overall we have had success with having coherence, brevity … it’s highly engaged.”
Even though part of the meetings is to critique other businesses, it’s out of respect and a mutual understanding that local businesses need to help each other in order to be successful.
“The main goal really is to critique in a polite and friendly way,” says Schrader. “That allows both sides to learn because the audience is commonly dealing with similar problems.”
No matter if the speaker is a local entrepreneur or from outside the Bryan College Station market, at the end of the day, 1 Million Cups serves to build a community of like-minded entrepreneurs and provide opportunity for growth. Everyone who attends the meeting must have an established business, but some businesses are just starting, while others have been a part of the community for several years. Schrader says his involvement with 1 Million Cups has allowed his business, Schrader Promotions, LLC, to grow and has fostered great relationships with other entrepreneurs in the community.
“When I first started running my own business in this town I never realized how powerful a good reputation and network can be, and that’s something that 1 Million Cups is invaluable in helping a new business build,” Schrader explains. “There’s a lot of trust between people and I would say that 1 Million Cups is something that’s built on that. It’s built on trust; it’s built on a handshake means a good word, and as long as all parties respect that, this is something that really is changing peoples lives, and I think that’s the best part of it.”
For more information about 1 Million Cups College Station, visit www.1millioncups.com/collegestation.
