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. Cohosted by CALE at Caltech
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, currently including John Chou, Doreen Chen Allen, Evan Tsang, Jan Young, Nathan Hurvitz, Holly Bowyer, Cameron Church, Meredith Jung, John Deyto, Christine de la Fuente, 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.
Thank you!
Upcoming events (2)
See all- Howard Xu -LA BioSpace & BioStart: Regional Incubator & Entrepreneurship ProgramFoundrSpace Coworking, Pasadena, CA
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 is generally free until 11 AM; check street signs.
FRIDAY COFFEE MEETUP (FCM) is co-hosted by CALE at Caltech
Presented by Echo-Factory and Innovate Pasadena. FoundrSpace is our generous event host.Howard Xu - LA BioSpace & BioStart: Regional Incubator & Entrepreneurship Program
Summary
California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) has long been recognized as an engine of economic and social mobility and was recently ranked the #1 university in the U.S. for the upward mobility of its students. Since 2015, Cal State LA has been a critical player in the Los Angeles region’s collective endeavor to elevate its ecosystem of bioscience innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercialization. Specifically, the university built a state-of-the-art wet-lab-focused incubator (LA BioSpace) facility, leveraging funding from local and federal government agencies and philanthropy. With 20,000 square feet of space, LA BioSpace is leading the university’s mission to promote an inclusive and thriving bioscience ecosystem in the heart of Los Angeles. Additionally, Cal State LA has developed a five-week intensive Bioscience Entrepreneurs Boot Camp (LA BioStart) program with funding from the Economic Development Administration. A programming component of LA BioSpace, the LA BioStart boot camp has trained and mentored six cohorts of 130 emerging bioscience entrepreneurs from the Los Angeles region.Bio
Howard Xu has been a Professor of Microbiology at California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) since 2004 after a seven-year career in the biotech industry. He has taught two dozen microbiology and biotechnology courses and developed and led biotech training programs at Cal State LA. Howard has mentored over 100 students in his microbiology/biotechnology research lab for over 19 years, with support from campus, state, and federal funding sources. Because of his achievements in biotech teaching, training, research, and services, Howard was awarded Wang Family Faculty Fellowship (2011-2012) by California State University, Andreoli Faculty Service Award (2011), and Faculty Research Award (2018) by California State University Program for Education and Research in Biotechnology. More recently, Howard has led Cal State LA’s Bioscience Initiative, which is anchored by the Rongxiang Xu Bioscience Innovation Center, home of LA BioSpace. He also developed and has been running the LA BioStart Bioscience Entrepreneurs Boot Camp. He was nominated and awarded Outstanding Professor in 2019 and the President’s Distinguished Professor in 2023 at Cal State LA.https://www.linkedin.com/in/howard-xu-bb064a14/; https://twitter.com/ProfHowardXu; https://www.la-biospace.org/; https://www.linkedin.com/school/california-state-university-los-angeles/mycompany/verification/; #longla; #entrepreneurship; #bootcamp;
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. - Stepan Khzrtian - From Law to Tech: A Journey of Entrepreneurial TransformationFoundrSpace Coworking, Pasadena, CA
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 is generally free until 11 AM; check street signs.
FRIDAY COFFEE MEETUP (FCM) is co-hosted by CALE at Caltech.
Presented by Echo-Factory and Innovate Pasadena. FoundrSpace is our generous event hostStepan Khzrtian - From Law to Tech: A Journey of Entrepreneurial Transformation
What does it take to quit a comfortable career in professional services and plunge headlong into the extreme uncertainty that is "startup"? An idea that has been keeping you up at night, the urge to tackle it, and the confidence that you can solve it. In this talk, Stepan will take participants on a journey spanning years and bridging careers, while also highlighting some of the most common legal mistakes that newly minted entrepreneurs make in the first 100 days of starting – and how to prevent or cure them.
Bio
Stepan Khzrtian is the co-founder and CEO of Corpora.us, which helps equity recipients file, track, and store their 83(b) election online. Prior to Corpora, he practiced corporate law for over a decade, helping hundreds of entrepreneurs navigate their legal journey across all stages of the company's growth, from incorporation to exit. He writes when he finds the time, and he has two cups of espresso a day – no more, no less.https://corpora.us
https://www.linkedin.com/in/khzrtianPlease 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.