This is the 2nd meetup of 2010 in what is turning out to be an exciting year to be a part of The Bellevue Entrepreneur Alliance. For those of you who haven't been, this is our coffee talk event series, a place to share your war stories of starting a new business, listen to other tell their stories, and of course network. It can get noisy in a coffee shop, but in a lot of ways this will simulate the marketplace - noisy and crowded!

Bring a few business cards to pass around and think about what you want to get out of this meetup (contacts, knowledge, resources) and you'll be surprised what happens. Prototypes and visual aids area also a lot of fun and will help you to get better feedback. And also, they can be free marketing for you!

We'll meet at Top Pot Doughnuts in Bellevue. I'll have a sign on the table, and a group this size will be hard to miss. This is a relatively informal setting, so relax and get ready to be amazed!

The basic agenda is:

1. Roundtable introductions - tell us who you are, what your business is, and what you are looking for out of this group.

2. Issues that matter - this is a general discussion of issues that we, as a group, decide are important and want to talk more about. All group members and attendees are invited to participate. This usually grows out of the roundtable introductions and in fact are concurrent.

3. General networking - after you've listened to everyone speak you're bound to find people you want to talk to more and this is your opportunity.

The meeting should last around 2 hours, but networking usually goes after hours for those people who are really excited about what they learned at the meetup. Event fee is $5, which covers the organizers cost (time, supplies, etc.) and will go towards our main goal - better events (high quality speakers, better venues, and more valuable resources.)

Sean McClinton
Organizer
The Bellevue Entrepreneur Alliance