Garage Cafe looks like an ordinary coffee house but functions as an incubator for fledgling companies in Beijing's Zhongguancun. Entrepreneurs here build businesses with laptops at dining tables rather than with desktops in cubicles.
"Rent" for "office space" is paid by purchasing a 20 yuan cup of coffee a day. Wu Jun is an entrepreneur who rents office space here. He enjoys this environment.
"Our company is just starting up. If I rent rooms in an office building, it can be very expensive. Here, I only need to pay the money for a cup of coffee to rent an office space for my company. People here are all grassroots entrepreneurs. We encourage each other, inspire each other and share our ideas."
The brainchild of former investment company employee Su Di not only reduces startups' expenses but also increases communication among ambitious e-biz hopefuls and venture capitalists.
Su says his financiers were enticed less by beverage sales than by Garage Cafe's potential as a business incubator.
"There two types of entrepreneurs who come here. One is people who resigned from big companies, another group is new graduates. The western district of Zhongguangcun has the best atmosphere for such entrepreneurs to start their own business. My original idea was to provide them office conditions to suit their needs and build a bridge between startups and investors. That's how Garbage Café started up."
When Su began using his microblog to publicize Garage Cafe, the 800-square-meter establishment started filling up.
Now, over a dozen teams regularly occupy Garage Cafe, most of them are from the IT industry.
Steven Bell, manager of an investment company says this Su's Garage Cafe is a good idea which brings entrepreneurs and investors closer.
"This is a Mecca for startups in Beijing. We are in the center of Zhongguancun. We are surrounded by the best universities in China, Beida and Tsinghua. And the place is full of young entrepreneurs"
Su's idea is shared by other young people, and the model has been replicated in other cities. Zhen Wenbo is the founder of Garage Cafe in Nanjing. His Garage Cafe has started to make a profit and he plans to provide young entrepreneur with more value service.
"We will provide some free training for the entrepreneurs, and we are also planning to provide training to target their needs."
Zhen Wenbo believes the model of Garage Cafe may attract more high-grade talent. And the atmosphere of creativity may bring more profit to his cafe.
For CRI, I am Li Dong.
