I’ve been involved in the startup community in Madison for about six years now, but had a hard time fitting into the networking scene, especially as a college student who was also running a business. Most of the entrepreneurship and networking events in Madison cost too much for what’s provided, are overrun by service providers trying to sell you something, or were at bad times or locations. The signal-to-noise ratio at most of these events was pretty poor. At some of the other events, I’d be the youngest person by 30 years.

There really wasn’t a good, free, entrepreneurship organization that was limited to founders. To fill the gap, I founded Capital Entrepreneurs, an invite-only meet up for founders of startups. We meet once per month at a bar in Madison, grab drinks, and talk about our businesses, ideas, and how we’re moving forward.

Best of all, it’s been something that we all look forward to each month. It’s lonely starting a startup. In the early stages, you might only see one other person (your cofounder) each day for months at a time. Founders groups like CE help create a scene and allow you to commiserate with others in your situation. You also get “coworkers,” and if you’re lucky like we are in Madison, most of the startups will be located close together to facilitate lunches and happy hours.

The awesome thing is that it’s been really easy to get Capital Entrepreneurs started, and it’s been incredibly successful, more so than I ever envisioned back in May 2009. We've grown from 10 companies to more than 65. Our startups have raised more than $7.5 million in funding. And we've started an incubator with a class of six early-stage companies.

If your city doesn’t have a good founders group, I’m here to give you the steps to take to replicate the success that we’ve had with Capital Entrepreneurs. Your startup group should have the following characteristics:

• Exclusive to Founders—No attorneys, accountants, people searching for jobs, consultants, etc. These are all nice people, but do not belong in an entrepreneurship group.
• Private Email List—People like to keep their emails private. Use BCC to send out invites.
• Open to New Members—You’ll never grow if you exclude startups.
• Free—Do not charge admission.
• Website—Create a website and post updates.
• One or Two People Should Control It—If there’s more, it gets too complex.
• Sponsors—After you’ve been going for awhile, you’ll find that attorneys, accountants, and others will want to be invited. We started offering sponsorships where service providers can attend one meeting per year as long as they do not try to sell their services.

Now that you've got the big picture, here's how to really get your founders' groups going:

1. Survey the existing startup groups in your city and try them all out. There are six or seven entrepreneur and young professional groups here in Madison. All are valuable, but none provided exactly what we wanted to do with Capital Entrepreneurs
2. Reach out to your network. I emailed all of the founders that I had gotten to know, about 15 of them, and asked if they were interested in a meetup specifically for founders. I got a good response and moved forward.
3. Set up a WordPress site. I bought the Capital Entrepreneurs domain name and installed WordPress. I created a members page that includes everyone’s logos and a two-sentence description of their business. The homepage is a feed of press that our member companies get, and we have a contact form so that new businesses, press, and other can get in touch with us. We later added a resources page that lists some service-provider sponsors to advertise to our members, along with a list of helpful articles and resources that came from Entrepreneur 101.
4. Find a location. We’ve been fortunate that we’ve had a regular meeting location. The great guys at Brocach let us have a private room upstairs, give us free appetizers, and run us a tab for drinks. I called five or six bars in town to find the one with the best deal. Try to find a place that will not charge you fees.
5. Pick dates and time that people will be able to come to. We’ve picked Wednesday or Thursday evenings from 7 to 9, as we are a somewhat younger crowd, and most of the people walk to the events. Pick a time that works for your members and your city.
6. Send invitations. Shoot emails to all of the people who’ve expressed interest and tell them that they should forward the email on to any other startup founders. Make sure that everyone understands that it is for founders, not service providers like attorneys, accountants, or people searching for jobs.
7. At the first meeting, make sure to introduce everyone so they're comfortable. Explain that this will be a monthly event and that it is for founders. Keep it casual, and then schedule the next monthly meeting at the end of the event.

If you follow these steps, you’ll likely be able to replicate what we’ve done in Madison. I think cities of just about any size can benefit from founders groups. Even if the groups are small, they can be fun, easy ways to connect with your fellow entrepreneurs. If you’d like help starting a founders group in your city, please feel free to contact me.

Are there good startup groups in your city? Have you started one? Would you go if there was one in your city?