Lunch 2.0

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Oota 2.0 in news

BANGALORE Nov 24, 2007

Liaison over lunch
Friday September 21 2007 09:30 IST
VASUMITA S

Window2India: Sports News

Techies from the City got together over free lunch called Oota 2.0, a concept imported from Silicon Valley.

AS the techie community in Bangalore grows bigger and bigger, new ideas keep emerging to integrate the community further and get them talking. One such concept imported right from Silicon Valley is the Oota 2.0 launched recently by Opson Inc, a global career network site for techies.

The concept was evolved to get techies from different tech companies to come together and share their views at an informal gathering — over free lunch of course.

‘‘The concept first evolved in Silicon Valley, which has a large base of IT companies. It began there as an informal get-together for techies to eat and chat about the latest in the market,’’ says Rana Singh, CEO Opson Inc. He adds that it started as a prank in Silicon Valley with ‘geeks’ getting into a friend’s company to chow down other people’s food, but soon, the idea caught on and a loose-knit community started looking for free lunch and social interaction.

‘‘The concept in Silicon Valley is called Lunch 2.0 and is so popular that we have 9 chapters in the USA and chapters in Germany and Israel, so the concept has become extremely popular,’’ says Rana.

The first free lunch, sponsored by Opson Inc to celebrate its launch in Bangalore, was hosted recently, where a large group of techies gathered to interact, feast and make contacts. ‘‘It is a winwin situation from all sides,’’ says Rana.

‘‘The host company usually times the lunch in such a manner that they can showcase some new product, they are about to launch. This way, they get instant feedback from the industry. For the employees, it is an easy way to know the latest technology entering the industry, to make contacts, and to look out for job opportunities. Other employers, who gather at such meetings, get to scout for prospective employees, and share ideas.’’

The response so far has been encouraging, according to Rana and he is hoping that the concept will catch on. ‘‘We have taken the initiative by sponsoring the first lunch. Hopefully, other companies will take it forward so that it can become a regular affair,’’ he says.

‘‘Since the advantages are immense and many parent companies are already hosting these lunches in Silicon Valley as part of lunch 2.0, we expect good response for the concept in Bangalore,’’ he says.