After 15 Years, I Need Help to Keep the RookieOven Meetup Going

I'm going to be honest with you. The RookieOven Meetup is in trouble and I need some help.

I've been running RookieOven since 2011. Fifteen years of first Mondays, fifteen years of Glasgow tech folk pulling up a stool at the pub to talk shop, share war stories and figure things out together. In all that time I don't think I've asked overly much from the community. I've happily put the hours in - the events, the hackathons, the coworking space, the mentoring, the blog posts, the introductions - because I believed in it and I still do.

I hope, in some small way, I've contributed something positive to the Scottish tech scene over those years.

But I've reached a point where I can't keep doing it on my own.

What's changed

Life. In 2011 I was a student at the University of Strathclyde. 2026 is a bit different. Two kids. Sadly illness in the family. The kind of stuff that quietly rearranges what you can and can't commit to each month.

I've always thought the meetup doesnt take a lot to organise I just show up at the pub at 6:30 first Monday of each month. But now even the monthly cadence of the meetup has become something I genuinely struggle to guarantee. April had to be cancelled. May is looking the same way. And if nothing changes, I think the meetup will quietly die through cancellations.

The ask

So here's what I'm asking for - and it's genuinely small.

I'm looking for a pool of at least five people who can commit to trying to be at The Raven in Glasgow at 6:30pm on most first Mondays of the month. Not all of them. Just most of them.

Five people, because I'm hoping that on any given first Monday at least two of you can actually make it. That's all the meetup really needs - a couple of regulars who'll be there to welcome people, hold the table, get the conversation going. The Raven has been a brilliant home for the meetup (although the recent Monday pub quiz is a bit annoying), the format is dead simple and the community largely runs itself once people are in the room.

You don't need to organise anything. You don't need to do social media. You don't need to find speakers (we don't really do speakers). You just need to be willing to turn up, be friendly, and keep the candle lit.

If you've ever come along and got something out of it - a contact, a customer, an idea, a friend, a moment of "oh thank god other people deal with this too" - this is your chance to give a little of that back.

Why I don't want it to die

Selfishly? Because I get so much out of it.

The first Monday of the month is when I get to be in a room with people who care. People who actually give a damn about what they're building. People who'll happily listen to me wrestle with a hiring decision, or a pricing problem, or whatever weird scaling issue I've got that week - and who'll then push back, ask the tough questions, and either pull me back to earth or build me up when I need it.

That's rare. That kind of community is genuinely rare. You don't get it on LinkedIn. You don't get it in a Slack channel. You get it from sitting across a table from someone who's been there, with a pint between you, and the time to actually talk.

I've helped a lot of people launch and scale products through conversations that started at RookieOven. Plenty of people have done the same for me. I can think of decisions I'd have got badly wrong without that monthly check-in with people whose opinions I trust.

The Scottish tech scene has plenty of conferences, plenty of polished events, plenty of LinkedIn theatre. What it has very little of is small, regular, low-stakes spaces where founders, developers and tech people, the makers and actual doers can just be together. That's what RookieOven has been for fifteen years. That's the bit I'm not willing to let slip away without at least asking.

What happens if no one resonates

I'm being straight with you. If this post doesn't land - if the inbox stays quiet - I'll cancel May. And then probably June. And at some point I'll have to admit that's that, and shut the meetup down properly rather than let it limp on.

I really hope it doesn't come to that. But I've also reached a stage in life where I have to be honest about my capacity and stop pretending I can do everything on my own.

How to help

If you've read this far and you're thinking "yeah, I could be one of those five" - please get in touch. Email me on michael@rookieoven.com or grab me on LinkedIn. We can have a quick chat, you can ask any questions, and we can work out the rest from there.

It's not a big commitment. Show up at The Raven most first Mondays at 6:30pm. Be friendly. That's it.

Fifteen years of this community has been one of the best things I've ever been part of. I'd really love your help keeping it going for the next fifteen.