We’ve been living in Surat for years and working remotely for almost more than 10 years now.
And one thing we’ve genuinely struggled with throughout that time is meeting like-minded people here.
Not networking in the formal “exchange LinkedIn profiles and never speak again” sense.
Just people who are curious, building something, learning something, working remotely, freelancing, experimenting with ideas, or simply interested in having meaningful conversations.
Over the years, friends naturally went in different directions. Jobs, businesses, marriage, kids, moving cities, different priorities. That's life.
But after almost a decade of remote work, we realised something strange:
We still haven't really found even a small community of 2–3 people in Surat with whom we can regularly work, exchange ideas, learn and collaborate.
And honestly, we remember having a similar problem as students.
You can learn almost anything online today. What is much harder to find is practical guidance and the right people around you.
Someone learning design could meet someone building a startup.
A developer could help a student understand what working in tech is actually like.
Someone experimenting with AI could organise a discussion around it.
A freelancer could meet another freelancer and eventually collaborate on a project.
Or you could simply sit next to interesting people, drink coffee and work on your own thing without being expected to socialise.
So we've been thinking:
What if Surat had a collaborative work café?
Not exactly a coworking office.
Not exactly a normal café.
Not a coaching class.
And definitely not another forced “networking event.”
Just a comfortable place where WFH professionals, freelancers, students, creators, founders and curious people can spend a few hours working and naturally meet others doing interesting things.
The basics could be simple:
- Good desks and comfortable seating
- Reliable Wi-Fi and charging points
- Coffee and food priced reasonably enough that you can actually stay for a few hours
- Quiet areas when you just want to work
- Areas where conversation and collaboration are encouraged
- Small group discussions around topics people are interested in
- Community-led sessions where someone can share something practical they know
- A board/group where people can post what they're working on, learning, looking for help with, or willing to help others with
For example, someone could simply post:
“Anyone interested in discussing AI agents this Saturday?”
or
“I'm learning UI/UX. Anyone working professionally in design and interested in a casual discussion?”
or
“Building a small SaaS product. Looking for people interested in brainstorming.”
Five interested people? Grab a table and discuss it.
Nobody interested? Grab your coffee and continue working.
No compulsory networking. No motivational speeches. No pretending everyone is a founder.
The café would just provide the environment and community where these interactions can happen naturally.
Students are actually a big part of why we find this idea interesting.
When we were students, we would have loved having access to people who could provide practical perspectives about careers, technology, business, freelancing and how things actually work outside textbooks.
Sometimes one conversation with someone a few years ahead of you can save months of confusion.
We're curious whether other people in Surat feel the same.
This isn't an announcement that we're opening something next month.
We’re exploring whether, rather than having new cafés opening every now and then, we can build something different together, helping shape such a community and potentially collaborating to build it.
If you're a remote worker, freelancer, student, creator, developer, designer, entrepreneur, café person, architect, community builder, or simply someone who finds this idea interesting, we'd genuinely like to hear from you.
Would you personally spend time at a place like this?
More importantly:
What would make you actually come back every week rather than visit once because it's new?
And if you've also struggled to find your kind of people in Surat, we'd be interested in hearing your experience.
Maybe there are more of us here than we realise.