June 19, 2006

Howto: Ten Tips for Meeting at Starbucks

PICK THE RIGHT ONE. Make sure you tell the person you’re meeting with the exact location and give specific landmarks. Check out locations here on the Starbucks website. Email a google map (maps.google.com) to be sure.

DIFFERENT LOCATIONS HAVE DIFFERENT VIBES. For business meetings, some locations are better because they have more tables or more quiet corners. Some are better to “see and be seen” with open floor plans and outside seating facing a major street corner. If you’re traveling, ask your hotel staff or the person you’re meeting with for the best location.

PICK THE RIGHT TIME. Before or after the general business rush hours are best. 7:00 am is good, but 8:30am is not. 3:30pm is good, but 5:30pm is not. Try to avoid the 10:30am coffee break and 1:00pm crowd if possible. This ensures shorter lines, and a quieter atmosphere. 2:30pm to 3:00pm is my “sweet spot”.

GET THERE EARLY TO STAKE OUT A TABLE. Place your bag or briefcase down on the table so you can keep an eye on it while you order. The best are the “four-top” tables that let you spread out a bit. Watch where the sun is shining so you’re not baking later in the meeting. Your back to a wall is the best position since you have command of the room, and you minimize the casual eavesdropper.

NO COMFY CHAIRS. This is a bit counterintuitive since you want your guest to be comfortable, but the overstuffed chairs make it hard to meet someone else. The space between you is far greater, which means you have to lean forward. This is actually uncomfortable, which negates the point in the first place.

NO MORE THAN FOUR PARTICIPANTS. Finding tables and room noise becomes a factor at five people. Every location I’ve been in is set up for no more than four to a table in any case. If you have to meet with five or more, try to get two tables outside and push them together.

FIND A POWER OUTLET. This is the one premium item that I wouldn’t mind paying for since they are in such short supply. My laptop battery doesn’t hold it’s charge anymore so power is essential. If you’re giving a software demo or Powerpoint, for obvious reasons a plug will eliminate any power embarassments.

ORDER BEFORE YOU SIT DOWN. Stand in line when you first walk in the door so that you can get your order in and not break the momentum of the meeting. If the person you’re meeting is already there, acknowledge them and ask if they’d like anything while you’re up.

MEETING SETTER PAYS. This is the same rule in business lunch. Whoever called the meeting should offer to pay. Sure it’s a nominal amount, but it respects the other person’s time and effort.

SPACE OUT MEETINGS. Give yourself a ten to fifteen minute buffer between meetings to stretch, use the restroom, and make a phone call before your next meeting. This is especially important if you think that the first meeting might go long or the second meeting might be a competitor with the first. It allows you to say goodbye and welcome your next meeting with a fresh perspective without having to make your second meeting wait around for your first to wrap up.

Update: Great Post about saving money over multiple meetings at Starbucks: http://www.scottburkett.com/index.php/entrepreneurship/2006-10-22/bootstrapping-the-starbucks-way.html#comments

Posted by marcnathan @ 12:17 pm :: business, culture :: No comments

Starbucks is my Second Office

I want to give you a bit of armchair analysis on everyone’s favorite (either love it or love to hate it) coffee shop. It’s important that I start by unequivocally stating that I love Starbucks. Not in the Mac fanatic way, where I’d consider getting their (vaguely naughty) logo tattooed somewhere, but just in the fact that it is a complete American success.
When Starbucks first got started, they really were just a coffee shop. You walked up to the counter and paid an exorbitant amount for some foam or a shot of flavor and left. A few years ago, they starting putting soft comfortable chairs in and called it a “third place”. I think that this strategy is brilliant. It works like this: You have a home, you have a workplace, but Starbucks is doing everything that they can to be the “third place” where you want to spend the rest of your time. Starbucks now has over 8,000 locations in the US alone, not to mention 36 other countries according to their own Fact Sheet.  Much like McDonald’s who pioneered the “consistent experience” you know exactly what to expect from each of these locations, give or take. Same layout, same menu, same servers (Barista’s in Starbucks-speak). Adding wifi was the single most important business decision they could have made, because it keeps their target customer (business people and students) there even longer, which amounts to more refill’s and possibly additional food sales.
The real genius of the Starbucks story is that their product really isn’t coffee (or frappachino’s or CD’s), it’s their branded real estate. Starbucks is in fact an enormous executive suite/study hall. The unwritten rental policy is you can stay as long as you are a customer, but your take-away (literally) is that you are participating in the Starbucks society. They charge you roughly $3.00 an hour (or how ever long it takes you to drink your “rent”) for your seat. The best part of it for them is that you are happily buying an addictive substance – one that is not only legal – but is ingrained in our very culture. Yes, some people stay longer on one cup, but think of all the people that don’t stay at all - just carrying the environment-friendly cup with their logo on it makes you part of the club.
Starbucks has replaced the bar and become the default meeting place for new business. I’ve have had meetings in several different Starbucks with various people two to four times a week for the last few months. With their aggressive expansion it’s not hard to imagine that one day there will be a Starbucks inside of a Starbucks. Within walking distance from my office, there are three separate locations. Jay Leno has joked about the two Starbucks across the street from one another on a major street here in Houston. The following ten tips were written with those things in mind.

Posted by marcnathan @ 10:57 am :: business, culture :: No comments

June 15, 2006

Setting Expectations

One of the main reasons I haven’t kept up with the blog is that I wasn’t sure exactly where to set the bar. This won’t be a personal diary, although it may end up getting pretty personal. It won’t be a dry list of links or references, but I’ll have those too. It won’t be a snide or snarky commentary of deals I’ve seen, - although that’s sure to come out at some point. It won’t be about salacious gossip and rumors about the people or companies I deal with, that’s bad for business and invites negative karma. I’m not the smartest guy out there and I won’t fall in love with my own words. I may “blog angry” and regert it later. I will not shy away from controversy and, I will take sides, but I will allow my mind to be changed. I will write something that I would want to read today, and not worry about how I will be perceived or judged tomorrow. I will try to make this blog as open and honest of an account of the way I see things, for better or worse.  Above all, I will try to be interesting.

Posted by marcnathan @ 11:34 am :: Uncategorized :: No comments

Third Time’s the Charm

This is my third serious restart of this blog. I’ve tried to blog regularly for the last three years or so, but I always seem to fall short. In the past I have made excuses: I don’t have the time, I deal with sensitive data, I don’t want to offend anyone etc. These are all legitimate reasons NOT to blog - but they’re not good enough for me any more. I want to start the conversation over, and wiping the slate clean is the best way I know how to do that.

Posted by marcnathan @ 11:32 am :: Uncategorized :: No comments