New networking groups emerge in the Chippewa Valley

Two UW-Eau Claire students stood in front of a group of Chippewa Valley business operators on a Wednesday morning and talked about their fledgling coffee enterprise.

When the PowerPoint presentation was over, other local entrepreneurs asked questions, offered advice and shared information about resources that could help the student-run business called Blugold Roast.

This nurturing process — with presenters ranging from Twin Cities entrepreneurs to local residents with potential business ideas — is repeated weekly as part of 1 Million Cups, a national business networking and entrepreneurship group that launched an Eau Claire chapter in April.

Success in business is often about making connections — with customers, the community and other businesses — and the launch of new networking groups gives local business owners more options than ever to forge those connections.

Whether it’s over coffee at 1 Million Cups, over lunch at a Polka Dot Powerhouse social or over a beer at a Musky Tank mixer, entrepreneurs have ample opportunity in the Chippewa Valley to give and receive information that can mean the difference between success and failure.

Following is a rundown of some of these relatively new players in the local business networking scene.

1 Million Cups

With the 1 Million Cups name based on the notion that entrepreneurs discover solutions and network over a million cups of coffee (offered at all meetings), the group’s motto is “caffeinating an entrepreneurial nation.”

The organization, started five years ago in Kansas City, Mo., by the Kauffman Foundation, has spread to 116 communities.

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