Fintech agency Mercury lately dropped some knowledge that made me smile. It ranked the top five coffee shops powering founders in San Francisco primarily based on precise transaction knowledge: Sightglass, CoffeeShop, Equator, Saint Frank, Ritual. I’ve constructed Octolane with my cofounder, Rafi, from each single one among them.
However right here’s what the info doesn’t present: the $500,000 funding time period sheet I negotiated over a cortado at Cafe Réveille. The $800,000 deal I closed whereas sitting subsequent to a grad pupil cramming for finals. The three clients who turned associates, then advocates, then our largest champions, all as a result of we met first over espresso, not Zoom.
Once I was in highschool, I cleaned workplaces at evening, empty workplaces with ergonomic chairs and standing desks and people motivational posters about “innovation.” In the meantime, I’m constructing an AI firm price hundreds of thousands from a wobbly desk at a espresso store, and one way or the other this feels extra actual, extra trustworthy than any nook workplace ever might.
The distributed workplace isn’t useless, it simply moved to cafés.
I get up at 5 a.m. right here in San Francisco, as a result of these three hours earlier than the town stirs are mine. I evaluate what our AI fashions discovered in a single day. I write. I believe. Then I head to whichever espresso store matches my vitality that day.
Saint Frank after I have to focus, because it’s quieter, extra intimate. Sightglass after I need that productive hum of vitality round me. Equator after I’m assembly somebody for the primary time and need them to really feel snug, not intimidated.
Rafi, my cofounder and CTO, moved internationally to construct this with me. Considered one of our engineers handles the entrance finish from one continent, one other tackles the again finish from one other. So why would I pay $8,000 a month for an workplace in SoMa (the neighborhood South of Market Road) after I can spend $200 a month on lattes and have your entire metropolis of San Francisco as my workspace?
What I’ve Discovered Constructing in Public (Actually)
The serendipity issue is actual. Final month, I used to be debugging a very nasty immediate engineering challenge, attempting to get our AI to detect offers in Gmail with out false positives. I used to be muttering to myself (sure, I’m that man) when somebody on the subsequent desk leaned over: “Are you engaged on LLM classification?” Seems he’s an AI researcher at Anthropic. Twenty minutes later, I had a totally new method that lower our error charge in half.
You may’t engineer that in a convention room.
Sensible knowledge. Maintain your display seen sufficient that fascinating work attracts curious folks, however angle it so that you’re not broadcasting delicate buyer knowledge. The candy spot is displaying code or product UIs, technical sufficient to spark conversations with the proper folks, normal sufficient to guard privateness.
Buyers are people too. The $500,000 funding I discussed? It occurred as a result of I used to be at Réveille at 3 p.m., and so was he. We had been the one two folks there. We chatted and he discovered extra about what I used to be engaged on. I confirmed him our product—not a deck, not a demo, simply the precise factor, working, fixing an actual drawback. He noticed me working, grinding, constructing. The following day, the time period sheet got here via.
Later he instructed me: “I invested since you’re keen to be completely different and daring to face out.” What he didn’t say, however I do know mattered: Different founders had already instructed him concerning the man who’s at all times at Réveille, laptop computer open, constructing. And when he left that day, I used to be nonetheless there.
Midnight founder cafés are a factor now: late-night espresso store takeovers the place founders and engineers collect to construct, community, and gasoline up on free caffeine, and large AI firms are leaning into it. Cursor’s been working “Café Cursor” pop-ups throughout San Francisco, New York, Stanford, even Guadalajara, taking on espresso retailers for a day, giving out free espresso and people coveted keychains, merch that’s formed just like the tab keyboard key (a nod to the keystroke that accepts Cursor’s AI options).
Anthropic did a weeklong “Claude Café” pop-up in New York Metropolis’s West Village that drew greater than 5,000 folks, with their “considering” hats changing into so viral that individuals claimed they flew throughout the nation simply to get one.
These aren’t everlasting cafés, they’re pop-up experiences. However that’s precisely the purpose. They’re recognizing what we already know: The most effective AI work occurs in liminal areas. Not fairly work, not fairly social. Someplace in between. That’s the place the guard comes down: You’re not pitching, you’re simply speaking. And the individual debugging subsequent to you may casually point out the repair you’ve been caught on for per week.
And it goes deeper than company activations. There’s a founder within the Mission District of San Francisco who actually opened his home as a café after midnight. Only for founders. No vacationers, no conferences, simply folks constructing. I’ve been there twice. Each occasions, I left with concepts I couldn’t have discovered anyplace else.
The one AI firm that’s really opened a everlasting café? Perplexity, in Seoul. However even they get it! They put a podcast studio and a single pc working their search engine within the basement. The espresso store isn’t the product. The group is.
The Sensible Actuality (As a result of Romance Solely Will get You So Far)
Right here’s what they don’t let you know concerning the espresso store life:
You want three spots minimal. One for deep work (quiet, constant Wi-Fi, you realize the outlet scenario). One for conferences (good acoustics, professional-ish vibe, not too loud). One for when the primary two are full otherwise you simply want a change.
Noise-canceling headphones are nonnegotiable. However right here’s the factor: I don’t at all times use them. Generally I wish to hear the ambient noise, the conversations, the espresso machine. It jogs my memory that I’m constructing one thing for actual folks, not only for the AI fashions or the pitch deck.
Your burn charge issues. Each greenback issues. An workplace in San Francisco prices $5,000 to $10,000 minimal. That’s a month of runway. That’s an engineer. That’s 100-plus buyer acquisition makes an attempt. So yeah, I’ll take the $5 latte.
Time-of-day technique is all the things. I’ve mapped it out.
- Early morning: Saint Frank or dwelling (deep work, mannequin evaluate, writing)
- 8 a.m. to midday: Sightglass or Equator (buyer calls, workforce syncs)
- Midday to three p.m.: Keep away from peak lunch chaos, take conferences strolling or discover a quieter spot
- 3 to six p.m.: Ritual or CoffeeShop (vitality picks again up, good for inventive work)
- After 6 p.m.: Often dwelling, however the midnight café if I would like the founder vitality
What Constructing from Espresso Retailers Taught Me About AI
There’s a parallel right here that retains hitting me: AI works finest when it has context. Each engineer right here is constructing on the concept AI ought to perceive the complete context of your communication, not simply remoted knowledge factors.
Espresso retailers give me context. I see how folks really work. I hear what founders are scuffling with. I really feel the vitality when somebody closes a deal or the deflation when funding falls via. You may’t get that from a dashboard or a consumer interview. It’s a must to be there, in it, dwelling it.
Once I’m immediate engineering at 9 a.m. at Saint Frank, watching the barista dial within the espresso, I’m eager about patterns. About how people and machines each be taught via repetition, via suggestions, via context. The most effective prompts I’ve written got here from espresso retailers. The most effective options we’ve constructed got here from issues I overheard somebody complaining about two tables over.
The deeper perception is that constructing in isolation makes you optimize for the incorrect issues. You optimize for class, for technical magnificence, for what impresses different engineers. Constructing in public, actually surrounded by your customers, retains you grounded in what really issues: Does this resolve an actual drawback for an actual individual?
Constructing from espresso retailers retains me trustworthy. I can’t cover behind the efficiency of “founder working in workplace.” I can’t fake to be productive after I’m not. If I’m caught, I’m caught in public. If I’m constructing, I’m constructing the place folks can see the mess, the errors, the fact.
We’re attempting to interchange Salesforce with Octolane. That’s aggressive, possibly delusional. However I’ll let you know this: I’d fairly chase it from a espresso store within the Mission, surrounded by different founders equally delusional and equally dedicated, than from a sterile workplace the place everybody pretends to have it discovered.
Truly Make This Work
For those who’re eager about ditching the workplace, right here’s what I want somebody had instructed me:
Map your vitality to your areas. Don’t simply decide a espresso store as a result of it’s shut. Determine what work you do finest the place. I write finest at quieter spots. I promote finest in energetic areas. I code finest with average ambient noise.
Grow to be a daily someplace. Not all over the place, someplace. One spot the place they know your order, the place you have got your desk, the place you’re a part of the ecosystem. For me, it’s Réveille. That consistency issues when all the things else is chaos.
Respect the area. Purchase one thing each two to 3 hours. Tip nicely. Don’t monopolize tables throughout peak occasions. The espresso store isn’t your free workplace, it’s a enterprise that’s subsidizing your dream. Honor that.
Construct relationships, not simply networks. That Anthropic engineer? We’re associates now. The investor? We get espresso each few weeks. The opposite founders? We textual content one another after we’re heading to a spot. This solely works in case you’re really current, really human, really constructing relationships.
Know when to go dwelling. Generally you want silence. Generally you want privateness. Generally you’ll want to take a name that may’t occur in public. Don’t pressure it. The espresso store is a instrument, not a faith.
The Launch Is Coming
I’ll most likely launch our product from a espresso store. Perhaps Saint Frank, possibly Réveille, possibly that midnight café within the Mission. My workforce shall be distributed throughout the nation, asleep in a while zones, working in others. And one way or the other, we’ll pull it off.
As a result of the perfect work doesn’t occur in workplaces. It occurs the place life occurs. The place the espresso is powerful, the Wi-Fi is dependable sufficient, and the individual subsequent to you may simply have the perception that modifications all the things.
Mercury’s knowledge confirmed the highest 5 espresso retailers powering SF founders. What it didn’t present is why. It’s not the espresso. It’s not even the Wi-Fi.
It’s the reminder that you simply don’t want permission to construct one thing nice. You simply want conviction, a laptop computer, and a desk.
See you on the café.
