Coffee is as much a concept as a consumable. The late 20th century into the 21st century has certainly seen coffee as a business concept turn into a multi-billion dollar venture, with those billions of cups resulting in business deals for yet further billions of dollars.

Jason Feldman founded Open Coffee Omaha when he saw an opportunity more than two years ago through talking with some of the area’s brightest community leaders. He sought to bring like-minded people together and remove barriers among people who generally work alone or in small groups but need outside expertise to help their businesses grow.

This casual get-together, held at No More Empty Cups on south 10th Street, starts at 8 a.m. each Tuesday with about 20 minutes of time to meet with these like-minded individuals and chat, followed by a presentation by an influential leader, who provides stories, insights, and connections with fellow entrepreneurs, developers, designers, investors, and folks interested in building a better startup community.

“Originally, the intent was to connect high-growth entrepreneurs, largely millennials, in an open coffee to bring together people with different backgrounds, discuss ideas, and network,” Feldman says.

Dell Gines, a past presenter at Open Coffee Omaha, sees great value in the connection that happens among people with common interests and passions.

“This is important for entrepreneurs because network building is an essential element of building a successful business,” says Gines, a community development adviser for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. “In the ecosystem world they call it ‘collisions,’ but more importantly, I think these sessions are beneficial to the city as a whole. They provide unique perspectives on a wide variety of economic and social issues that can help Omaha move from good to great.”

The original concept was to bring people together to network, but it has become more than a place to glad-hand.

“That has since expanded for us to think about who is an entrepreneur and who do they serve? That can be someone from a tech company or someone who has started a nonprofit or a community initiative. Ultimately, we want these innovators to value the social impact they are making just as much as the economic benefit in the communities where they live.”

Fellow entrepreneur Kent McNeil, who joined Feldman as a co-organizer and producer of Open Omaha Coffee after its inception, says he views Omaha as having all the right components for these types of meetings to be successful and contribute to the greater good—noting a large presence of people wanting to solve problems as well as a strong philanthropic and investment community. 

“Entrepreneurs tend to be independent thinkers, so gathering them together is a great way to share ideas and build momentum to launch new innovations,” says McNeil, who left a career path in medicine to follow his entrepreneurial calling. “It’s an incredible thing to see when people align their passions with ways to create a living.”

“There isn’t a lot of public education for people who think and want to start social enterprises.  We’re often directed toward career paths. But we give these people an opportunity to learn from other like-minded people and succeed to not only identify what their passion is for their communities but also how they can turn that into a business to solve for that challenge.”

Feldman and McNeil say they are working on opening meetings to streaming talks for those who aren’t able to attend, and they’re contemplating occasionally changing the meeting time to an early evening gathering so those entrepreneurs who may not be morning people, or are more available in the evenings, have the opportunity to benefit from Open Omaha Coffee.

Right now, they are focused on creating opportunities for inspiring people to interact with other inspiring people and being a catalyst for thoughts outside of the box.

“Our next step is continuing to build our already robust programming to offer what the entrepreneurs who come to our coffees need and want,” Feldman says. “That includes social impact investing, business incubation programming, business pitch competitions, etc.

“Entrepreneurs come from all different backgrounds with varying levels and areas of expertise. We see it as our mission to connect them with each other and other resources so they can fulfill their calling in business and positively impact the communities where they live and work.”

This article was printed in the April/May 2018 edition of B2B.