![]() Corlett and Knapp spent their early days deeply invested in creating good coffee. ![]() “It started from loving coffee and going deeper,” Knapp told business owners at the INsight conference. Knapp was largely influenced by trips he took to Rwanda and Uganda to study coffee the decade before. Corlett, after participating in two failed businesses, dove deeply into his passion for great roasting, while Knapp honed his skills for buying. They began by focusing mainly on roasting, buying and selling. Yet both Corlett and Knapp were determined to live out their dream of creating and serving a great product. Downtown was a lot different than it is today,” recounts Knapp. People are scared to go downtown, they said. “Everyone told us not to open up downtown. Once the two decided on Grand Rapids the choice to open up downtown came shortly after. Corlett and Knapp saw Grand Rapids as an opportunity to start something new in a place that was not already filled with shops, doing what they wanted to do. And that is how Madcap ended up in Grand Rapids. “We looked at a map… and noticed no one had coffee in Grand Rapids,” Knapp says, recounting his early experiences forming the shop. But before it was a Grand Rapids favorite, it was nothing. In 2008 Trevor Corlett and Ryan Knapp opened up what is now their popular establishment Madcap, known as a trendy hangout spot for hipsters on the corner of Monroe and Ottawa. Corlett and Knapp sat on a panel and talked honestly about their story and successes and failures that got them where they are today. A conference designed for businesses owners to assemble and talk about different aspects of owning a business. What if I told you that feeling you get when walking into Madcap is more than an illusion–it’s a feeling built on an ideal and has functioned on this ideal since it was birthed by friends Trevor Corlett and Ryan Knapp who shared their story at this year’s INsight conference. Maybe it just somehow feels different–otherworldly. Your friends have been telling you to try it for ages, and every cent is worth it, they say. Have you ever dropped by Grand Rapids local coffee shop Madcap just for the allure of the place? Maybe it was chic architecture or the trendy urbanites behind the counter that caught your attention.
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