Merge Meetup: Volume 2

The first Merge Meetup in early November was a blast, so let's try it again! Like last time, this Meetup will be a small-group discussion of design and entrepreneurship held over the lunch hour in the LynLake neighborhood of Minneapolis; no Powerpoint decks; no agenda; no action items. Just open discussion, idea sharing, and probably more questions than answers.

The conversation will revolve around the themes of the blog: business planning, funding, networking, and education, with healthy doses of social media and service design.

The first Meetup filled up right away and a number of people were on the waiting list. So if you attended that one, please let others get in on this one first. After a few days, if there is still room, feel free to sign up!
Here's the set up I used for the first Meetup and it still seems to apply:
The intersection of entrepreneurship and design—especially communication design—is a particularly lonely place. With a few remarkable exceptions, designers have steered clear of this risky, volatile, and potentially rewarding territory, preferring instead to stick to the well-worn path of the traditional models of design studio, in-house graphics department, or freelance practice.

In an industry filled with an abundance of extraordinarily creative minds, why have so few chosen to challenge this convention and venture into entrepreneurship?

This question will be the starting point for an open discussion at the first installment of Merge Meetup.

There's no charge. Just be sure to grab lunch (or at least a coffee) at the counter on your way to the meeting room at Common Roots.