What we're about
Friday Coffee Meetup (FCM) brings together Pasadena’s innovation and startup community on the first Friday of every month in the comfortable environment of FoundrSpace in Old Town Pasadena.
Here you will learn from leaders in the tech, entrepreneurship and venture capital community; experience presentations from dynamic speakers; and engage with other innovators.
For almost ten years now, Friday Coffee Meetup has been where Pasadena’s innovation community gathered weekly, and then most recently during the pandemic monthly. Today, with a revived partnership with Innovate Pasadena, Friday Coffee Meetup continues the legacy of connecting and invigorating our community with programs of authentic, inspiring and informative presentations and valuable welcoming and personal networking.
Friday Coffee Meetup is open to Pasadena’s entire innovation community, including (but certainly not limited to) entrepreneurs, programmers, chief technology officers (CTOs), venture capitalists (VCs), angel investors, thought leaders, and more.
Each meeting includes a monthly presentation from a leader in the innovation community, followed by Q&A, and then time for meet-the-speaker in person and informal networking. Please note our Speaker Criteria below, especially if you are interested in presenting.
Friday Coffee Meetup is supported by a team of dedicated volunteers, including John Chou, Doreen Chen Allen, Evan Tsang, Jan Young, Wayne Little, Tobey Dodge, and Christy Conner.
Founded in 2013 by Andy Wilson, and Mike Schaffer, with sponsorship provided by Echo Factory the last few years, Friday Coffee Meetup is now sustained through a partnership with Innovate Pasadena that began in 2022. We invite you to learn more about upcoming meetups by visiting innovatepasadena.org and following Innovate Pasadena on social media.
Recordings of many previous events are available on our YouTube channels:
https://www.youtube.com/user/innovatepasadena
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqEpMLu3srTmz_hbS0ucCBQ
OUR SPEAKER INFORMATION & CRITERIA
Notes:
• FCM cannot be used to primarily promote an individual’s service or business.
• Our speakers are traditionally Innovators, CEOs, Founders, Angel/Venture Investors.
• If you are a service provider, this is not the right forum for you. But if you have CEOs and leaders of industry that you work with and would like to highlight, please recommend them.
What our audience likes to hear about:
• Entrepreneurship…successes and/or failures
• Lessons learned - what went wrong and how you fixed it…we love a good turn around or pivot
• Investors, VCs, etc. - what type of investments are you looking for: industry, fund size, previous background/experience, successful exits, stories of failures, etc.
• Innovators - how you took your idea to fruition.
To Nominate a Speaker, please provide your information: name, email, phone (optional), and tell us how long you have been coming to Friday Coffee Meetup.
For Speaker Information (you can nominate yourself as a speaker), please provide: speaker name, email, phone (optional), topic, and a brief description of background and what you (or the speaker) would like to share with the audience.
Submit this information to Christy Conner christy@innovatepasadena.org
Thank you!
Upcoming events (3)
IN-PERSON, Doors open at 8 AM for informal networking.
8:30 AM Presentation and Q&A moderated by Christy Conner, followed by meet-the-speaker and informal networking until 10 AM.
Location: FoundrSpace, https://www.foundrspace.com
Note: Street parking generally free until 11 AM, check street signs.
FRIDAY COFFEE MEETUP (FCM) is presented by Echo-Factory and Innovate Pasadena. FoundrSpace is our generous event host.
Jim McCarthy - Agents of Prosperity: The Life and Death Stakes of Leadership
Summary
Leaders at every level change the world, not always for the better. Using stories from his experience, Goldstar co-founder and former CEO Jim McCarthy suggests a radical new way for leaders (especially entrepreneurs) to think about their role and their goals.
Bio
Jim McCarthy is the Co-Founder and CEO of Stellar, the only full-service livestream partner for professional live entertainment organizers and creators, committed to delivering premium interactive online shows to paying audiences around the world.
For nearly 20 years, Jim was the CEO/Co-Founder of Goldstar helping 10 million people go to Goldstar to discover live events nationwide for 5,000 live entertainment organizers.
When the COVID-19 crisis shut down the live entertainment industry in March 2020, Jim led the charge to develop Stellar, to help producers create and sell high quality-live streaming events. In August 2020, Stellar started welcoming creators and audiences in beta. Since then, millions of people have livestreamed a variety of shows available on the platform. Released in July 2022, his book, Beyond the Back Row: The Breakthrough Potential of Digital Live Entertainment and Arts, helps break down the why, how, and what of online, streaming, and hybrid live events.
An e-commerce veteran, Jim has spent his entire career in high-growth businesses, freely sharing his knowledge and insight with others. He is the organizer of the Pasadena Entrepreneurs' MasterMind Meetup, which Pasadena Business Now noted, "Jim McCarthy discussed his personal philosophy of business and leadership. His stories of humanity and giving brought tears to many eyes and motivated all to do more for more. It was clear to all why Jim's MasterMind groups have a many-month waiting list to learn from him and his vision and insight."
Jim is also the curator and co-founder of TEDxBroadway, the sold-out annual event dedicated to the question: What's the Best Broadway Can Be? He has spoken at conferences all over the world, including TED, SXSW, INTIX and more. His articles have been in Forbes, Fast Company and Business Insider. About Jim, Bob Lefsetz has said, "Jim McCarthy is smart, he'd win in any world, not only via his brain, but his hard work and dedication."
Jim is a very active member on the Board of Directors at the Pasadena Playhouse. He studied English at Harvard University and received an MBA at UCLA Anderson School of Management. He has a black belt in Northern Eagle Claw Kung Fu.
Email/ social media handles
Twitter - @goldstarjim
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcmccarthy/
Please Note: We are sorry we are no longer virtual hosting on Zoom. Please join our lively, fun and friendly in-person event in the comfortable environment of FoundrSpace!
You can also connect with Christy Conner to watch the LinkedIn livestream at https://www.linkedin.com/in/christyconner/
starting at 8:30 AM, and ending after the Q&A ~9:30 AM.
- Sophie M.
- Mike S.
- Nathan H.
- 14 attendees
IN-PERSON, Doors open at 8 AM for informal networking.
8:30 AM Presentation and Q&A moderated by Christy Conner, followed by meet-the-speaker and informal networking until 10 AM.
Location: FoundrSpace, https://www.foundrspace.com
Note: Street parking generally free until 11 AM, check street signs.
FRIDAY COFFEE MEETUP (FCM) is presented by Echo-Factory and Innovate Pasadena. FoundrSpace is our generous event host.
Kyle Adkins - Building an Abundant Future: Commercializing Climate Technology
Summary
Unleashing the industrial potential of climate technology will bring about a new age of abundance. We'll discuss overcoming initial commercialization barriers that far too many fail to overcome when bringing transformational sustainable technology to market.
Bio
Kyle Adkins is a Partner at FullCycle Climate Partners, targeting the commercialization and deployment of climate-critical technologies, companies, and projects driving the rapid industrial transformation of the global economy. He has spent his entire career dedicated to investing in high-growth and high-impact technology and industrial companies that include multiple successful acquisitions and IPOs.
Social Media
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adkinsk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/k_adkins
Please Note: We are sorry we are no longer virtual hosting on Zoom. Please join our lively, fun and friendly in-person event in the comfortable environment of FoundrSpace!
You can also connect with Christy Conner to watch the LinkedIn livestream at https://www.linkedin.com/in/christyconner/
starting at 8:30 AM, and ending after the Q&A ~9:30 AM.
- Mike S.
- Nathan H.
- Ronald W.
- 9 attendees
IN-PERSON, Doors open at 8 AM for informal networking
8:30 AM Presentation and Q&A moderated by Christy Conner, followed by meet-the-speaker and informal networking until 10 AM.
Location: FoundrSpace, https://www.foundrspace.com
Note: Street parking generally free until 11 AM, check street signs.
FRIDAY COFFEE MEETUP (FCM) is presented by Echo-Factory and Innovate Pasadena. FoundrSpace is our generous event host.
Andy Wilson - Reflections on Building Innovation Communities: Lessons Learned
Summary
Andy Wilson is the Alliance for SoCal Innovation’s Executive Director, and one of the founders of Innovate Pasadena. Join us for his reflections on more than a decade of building and strengthening innovation communities. As a community builder, he often says, “Innovation is a team sport composed of a diverse set of stakeholders.” In this presentation, he will highlight lessons learned through being a catalyst for innovation.
Bio
Andy is a leader in the Southern Californian innovation ecosystem and has started, led or invested in more than two dozen tech start-ups. In addition to leading the Alliance as Executive Director, he served on the City Council for the City of Pasadena for almost eight years including two years as vice mayor. He is also a founder of Innovate Pasadena (www.innovatepasadena.org), which is dedicated to advancing the Eastside of Los Angeles as a vibrant innovation center for frontier tech.
Previously, as a founder of Momentum Ventures, an early stage tech accelerator and venture fund, he personally led more than a half dozen SoCal tech start-ups and invested in almost a dozen others. He previously held senior executive roles (President, SVP Product, CIO, COO) at Overture Services/Yahoo!, RiverOne, Bowne & Co and RR Donnelley & Sons. He has extensive board experience in not-for-profit and community organizations such as Pacific Oaks College, Pasadena Heritage and STEAMCODERS. He is a regular speaker at entrepreneurs’ events and business schools and was named one of the 50 Most Innovative Men in the San Gabriel Valley. Andy holds an engineering degree with honors from Dartmouth College and received his MBA with a concentration in operations and technology management from Harvard Business School. More at LinkedIn.
Email/ social media handles
#innovation #tech #community
Please Note: We are sorry we are no longer virtual hosting on Zoom. Please join our lively, fun and friendly in-person event in the comfortable environment of FoundrSpace!
You can also connect with Christy Conner to watch the LinkedIn livestream at https://www.linkedin.com/in/christyconner/
starting at 8:30 AM, and ending after the Q&A ~9:30 AM.
- Frank G.
- John K.
- Mike S.
- 19 attendees
Past events (389)
FoundrSpace Coworking
- Christy C.
- Doreen Chen A.
- Evan T.
- 29 attendees
