This story is ripped off an article from the SF Gate, March 11, 2007: <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/03/11/MNGKKOCBA645.DTL" rel="nofollow">http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/03/...</a><p>Original article:<p>"I'm looking around and there's gotta be 50 people with laptops," said Brett Levine, 31, a co-founder and the company's lead programmer. "I got on a chair and yelled, 'Hey, are there any ActionScript programmers in the room?' People at the counter looked at me glaringly, but a couple of people looked around and raised their hand."<p>New article:<p>So Mr. Levine stood on a chair, and shouted out, “Is anyone here an ActionScript programmer? We’d like to hire you!”<p>“I got some nasty looks from the baristas,” Mr. Levine recalled, “but that didn’t stop three or four people from coming up to our table and inquiring.”
I made my local IHOP into an ad-hoc startup office space the other day. It may not have a plug for my laptop, but at least I didn't feel an exaggerated sense of importance about it.
I love Ritual -- and the fine folks that work there (behind the counter) -- but the preponderance of nerds-with-macs has definitely changed the vibe of the place over the years for the worse.<p>My coworking space costs a little over $200/mo for 24/7 access, and it's less than 2 blocks from Ritual. Anyone spending $3/day on a latte can surely upgrade to a real workspace, and leave the cafes for meetings and -- just maybe -- people who just want to relax and have a cup of coffee without having to fight for elbow space with Rails hackers.
Cafe Cubano is one. I was once coding there (for a project for my company), and one girl started to talking to me (she thought I was a web dev). Three girls, would go there and talk about a shoe startup. Selling speciality shoes on the web. I trying to give as much advice as I could, (technically wise).
I am not sure how it has gone thou.
I've never understood how people can concentrate and get real work done in a coffee shop. Sure, it's fun to take your laptop to a cafe and get some hacking done occasionally or catch up on mail, but as a substitute for an office or an apartment? No thanks.