Welcome, Vancouver Small Business Owners!

We have this idea.

There are all these amazing businesses in Vancouver, and they're run by smart, interesting people who we'd like to see more of -- or meet for the first time. Boutique retailers selling handcrafted local stuff, and smarty-pants consultants, and designers making the world more beautiful, and cool restaurateurs and wicked crafters and so on.

People with vision, people with values, people who are passionate about what they do and how they do it, and the impact they're making on their community and the world at large. We love those people.

We've been looking for a long time for a venue where we might be able to spend time with these amazing people and talk shop, support each other, share resources, and cultivate opportunities. We haven't found it yet. So we're doing the entrepreneurial thing: We're doing it ourselves.

We're calling it the Vancouver Grassroots Business Association. There's a sister organization in Seattle that's run by some friends of ours. We like their model, so we're starting a Vancouver chapter. Here's the deal:

* We meet once a month, on the third Monday of the month.
* We have a speaker who talks for about an hour. (Maybe a little more if there are lots of questions.)
* The rest of the time is devoted to giving us all time to talk to each other.
* It's free. No charge. (We're covering the cost of renting space ourselves, and we're getting some help from a sponsor.)

Pretty simple. We like simple. (And frankly, who has time for anything more complicated?)

So, you may be asking: Who's invited?

Entrepreneurs -- and aspiring entrepreneurs -- of all stripes. We don't want to throw too many labels at you. We like indie & local, but we don't want to box you in if you've got a killer world domination plan. Come on down and find out for yourself if we're a fit.

One thing we can promise is that although we appreciate tailoring as much as the next fashion hound, you probably won't be swimming in a sea of suits.