19 Countries in 24 Hours

UPDATE May 20, 8am: We now have people from 31 countries for #CoffeeHouseConnect

We asked everyone in our coffee shop what they were working on. We had no idea how much of an impact it would have on us, and how much it would change the experience of working in the presence of other people.

After receiving overwhelming requests to push this further, we just launched #CoffeehouseConnect Week (May 30 to June 5). In less than a day people in over 19 countries have signed up.

Go to http://CoffeeHouseConnect.com to learn how we’re going to change the way we work and interact in coffee shops.

After Andrew and I posted our article: What are people working on in coffee shops? it immediately went viral and has been the #1 post on all of Medium for most of the past week.

The story is being picked up by major news outlets and we’ve received hundreds and hundreds of amazing responses on Medium, Twitter, and by Email, asking us to push this experiment further.

This didn’t go viral because it’s a “cute experiment”.

We hit a chord that extends much beyond two guys doing a little social experiment.

Here are a few insights we’ve learned so far:

1. The most highlighted excerpt references the human connection

2. Most people had asked themselves this same question (what are people working on in Coffee Shops?).

3. People LOVE the energy they get from being around other people (even if they don’t interact)

4. So many people want to know how different this would be in another Coffee Shop/City/Country (us too!)

5. We’ve forgotten why “coffeehouses” were actually created.

Neil deGrasse Tyson mentioned in Cosmos that coffeehouses were a place where “a poor man need not give up his seat for a rich man.”

Many literary moments, scientific breakthroughs, and famous novels wouldn’t have seen the light if it weren’t for interactions in coffeehouses.

We, the younger generation, tend to forget this as a lot of you pointed out in the comments.

6. Hundreds of you want to try this in their coffee shops

It’s become obvious that we’ve stumbled upon something much bigger than we could have expected.

What’s next?

Andrew and I recorded a short conversation for his podcast, The Movement, which you can listen to here or on iTunes. We excitedly talk about some of the next steps and how you can get involved.

Here’s the most up to date information.

Coffeehouse Connect Week

Monday to Sunday, May 30 — June 5, 2016.

We are launching a week-long worldwide event called the #CoffeehouseConnect Week.

Throughout the week, we will all have an amazing excuse to find out what everyone else is working on at our favorite coffee shops.

I guarantee this will be an experience so powerful that you‘ll never feel the same working in a coffee shop.

To be part of #CoffeehouseConnect Week sign up here: join.CoffeehouseConnect.com.

If you can’t participate but want to stay in the loop, just add your email (first step) on join.CoffeehouseConnect.com.

If you’d like to contribute in a different way or have any ideas on how to make an even bigger impact, shoot me an email (tristan at coffeehouseconnect.com).

People working in coffee shops isn’t a fad.

The world is changing and soon enough there will be 1 billion digital nomads.

The perks of becoming location independent are amazing. Your options are almost limitless. You could go to improve class in the middle day and pick your kids up from school while managing your business from home or a coffee shop.

Working in coffee shops can be fantastic. You get the buzz of having humans bustling around you, the smell of coffee, and if you’re very lucky a surprise encounter.

There are pitfalls to working alone (if you haven’t seen this hilarious Oatmeal comic, you should).

More often than not, you are alone in your bubble.

Together, we’d like to see if we can change this.

What if we could transform social norms in coffee shops?

What if we could make them more like Coffeehouses?

What if we had ways to know when to interact with one another without it being an interruption or an annoyance?

Though some people have been working on this, many ideas are yet to be explored.

It seems as though we’ve opened the floodgates of a “want” that needs to be addressed.

This is only the very beginning.

We’d love for you to be a part of it.

What can you do now?

Sign up for Coffeehouse Connect Week.

Originally published at aboutthestart.com on May 17, 2016.