I want to share with the CIC community a project that I’m working on with a few others.  That project is code-named Venture Cafe.

In brief, the idea is to build a large-format hangout cafe in the heart of Kendall Square, open early until very late, where members of the innovation and entrepreneur communities can meet to share ideas, find capital, etc.

Jackie Noblett at the Boston Business Journal wrote a front-page article last week that does a very nice job capturing the essence of it.

The Boston Globe’s Scott Kirsner also wrote a nice piece on it on his Innovation Economy blog.

The image at the left is courtesy of author Teressa Esser, who wrote a book about 10 years ago on the MIT entrepeneurial community and how it connects.  Her work inspired our code-name and informs this effort.

If you are interested in this project, and want to follow along as it progresses, fan us on our facebook page, which can be reached via http://www.venturecafe.net.

A number of CIC clients are actively helping out with the project, including Tim Weller (former CFO of Akamai), angel investor Bill Warner, Rich Kivel (CEO of the MIT Enterprise Forum), Will Li (President of the Angiogenesis Foundation), and Steve Marcus and Scott Johnson (New Atlantic Ventures).  A couple of past CIC clients are also involved, including Rich Miner (who now heads Google Ventures on the East Coast),  Steve Vinter (who heads Google’s Cambridge office), and Avi Goldberg (co-founder and CFO, Great Point Energy).  Several prominent non-CIC folk are helping out, including Sara Spalding, who runs Microsoft’s office in town, Frank Moss who runs the MIT Media Lab, innovator and philanthropist Desh Deshpande, investors Noubar Afeyan, Brad Feld and John Landry, and entrepreneurs Andy Palmer, Christopher Ahlberg, and Vanu Bose.  I am certain I have missed some people in this quick list (sorry!).

Our project manager is social networking expert Aubree Lawrence, who is currently based at the Cambridge Coworking Center.  Amongst her other roles, Aubree serves on the Board of Cambridge Community Television (CCTV).

A lot of people are asking me how long it will take to put this project together.  The best I can say is that I am optimistic it will be up and running this time next year.  If you want to get involved in some way, please feel free to contact Aubree Lawrence at aubree (at) venturecafe.net.