So far, so good.  We’re averaging 8 entrepreneurs / VCs so I guess I’ll keep this party going and see where it ends up.  This month, we will be meeting March 19th, 9am-11am, at the Pacific Whey in Ladera Ranch at 25672 Crown Valley Parkway (in the Mercantile West Shopping Center).  Hope to see you there.  As always, any last minute changes will be communicated via http://twitter.com/ocvc.

Well, January has come and gone and the year is off to a “shaky” start in case you haven’t been paying attention to what is going on in the global economy.  Some are faring better…some worse.  In the end, we will eventually pull out of it as life goes on.

Enough luke-warm pep talk.  We had a whoppin’ 6 folks show up for January’s OC VC Office Hours, but since I didn’t know 3 of them I’ll keep this going for the time being and see what (if anything) comes of it.  We had an excellent discussion about what is going on in the local, national, and global VC markets and I suspect this dialogue will continue for most of this year as funding continues to be elusive for start-ups.

The next OC VC Office Hours will be February 12th, 9am-11am, at the common area between Pacific Whey and Starbucks in Crystal Cove (between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach on PCH).  Please join us as we continue to discuss the VC markets and local innovation.

That’s right, Mixergy’s Lunch 2.0 is back in The OC, baby!  Please join Andrew and I at Earth Media Group for lunch tomorrow.  Details and registration can be found here: http://blog.mixergy.com/wp-content/invite/EMG.html

After an overwhelmingly positive response, I’ve decided to give the “office hours” idea a go for the first six months this year and then will make a decision as to whether to continue them.  My hope is that this becomes something that continues without my presence or involvement — a free, no-hassle, relaxed atmosphere for folks in the start-up ecosystem to network over coffee.  I’ve decided the third Thursday of every month is good (at least for me for now), but will rotate between south and north county venues.  So, the first OC VC Office Hours will be Thursday, January 15th from 9am-11am PST Pacific Whey in Ladera Ranch.  If this begins to build a crowd, I’ll use a widget to list the upcoming dates, times, venues, etc. on this blog and will send out updates.

I will send out real-time updates via Twitter if things change.  You can sign up for them at Twitter and rest assured that I’m not a prolific Twitterer.  I look forward to meeting you on the 15th.  I’ll wear be wearing a black hat with the Okapi Venture Capital logo on it to make it easier to find me the first few sessions.

Lunch 2.0 is coming to The OC on October 24th.  To view the logistical details and register to attend, pleas click here.  For the uninitiated, Lunch 2.0 is a casual network gathering of Web 2.0 type folks that include entrepreneurs, investors, and others involved in consumer internet.  While Orange County is not necessarily known for consumer internet companies, we do have a few here and I’m sure there are many more waiting to be launched out of the dorm rooms of UC Irvine, Chapman University, and Cal State Fullerton in the years to come.