Cafe helps startups get started

The high-tech hub provides free Internet. Coffee－needed by some more than others－is extra. [Photo by Feng Yongbin/China Daily]

Pitching their ideas

The cafe opened in 2011. Last year, around 1,500 startup teams came there to pitch their projects to investors, according to the cafe's CEO, Jin Zisen. Some left with money, and a few have become highly successful.

Garage Cafe made headlines in December when it was visited by Lu Wei, minister of the Cyberspace Administration of China. He reportedly later spoke highly of the cafe during a trip to the United States.

Jin says the cafe is called "Garage" because companies like Hewlett-Packard and Apple originated in a simple garage.

Every day at noon, there's a 30-minute session at the cafe in which customers are encouraged to sell their business ideas to the public, and discuss their projects.

Established enterprising executives and investors give speeches at the cafe, mostly about the Internet business, and brainstorming sessions are held every Friday for people to share and evaluate each other's business ideas and models.

The cafe provides free Internet access. The only expenses are for food and drinks. A cup of coffee sells for less than 20 yuan ($3.23). About 30 to 40 percent of the cafe's customers work long hours in the cafe, as if it were their office, says Jin.

Liu Yahui, 25, from Central China's Henan province, comes to the cafe every day. Liu, who graduated from an occupational school in Henan province, began coming to the cafe as early as 2012, when he worked in Beijing as an intern.

"Garage cafe was already famous at the time. I was interested in starting my own business, so I came to Garage Cafe quite often and made lots of friends," Liu says.

In July, Liu quit his job at an online store to run a social media platform for startups with three other young people, who were all born in the 1980s or 1990s.

They try to pair experienced Internet technology engineers, financial, marketing and operational professionals with startups.