Dude there is already a tonne of things like this. Just go on Meetup for London area (e.g. CTO craft London)
I'll be frank, most of the time these lunches / socials are a waste of time.
Why, well there are mostly two types of people that go to them:
* the wunderkids who are there to evangelize their amazing product that they built using Haskell and a C++ engine. They aren't really interested in anybody else (fair enough).
* the recruiters / poachers / ruby fanboys , who are there to get you signed up.
sorry Ruby fanboys/fangirls; I had to pick on someone.
This is exactly why I started this group though, to try to avoid this. I try to avoid this with a few tactics:
1. Every social event for developers or nerds like me has been awkward as hell. No one wants to stand in the corner with a beer avoiding people, or shouting over loud ass music. The lunch format has helped avoid that. I've really found that breaking bread and sitting down with food in front of you makes a big difference in the social interactions and the people that feel comfortable coming. You end up making high value connections with the 1-2 people sitting next to you.
2. Local captains are engineering leaders themselves, and they hand curate the group, and kick people out if they're being all sales-y. I curate the Boulder lunch, and it's all engineering leaders facing the same problems. No one except engineering leaders are allowed to come. The only exception to that is our first sponsor, name.com, who sends their 1 community outreach person to eat lunch, chit chat (not a pitch to the whole group), and picks up the tab at the Boulder lunch.
3. The email list provides so much additional value to the group, and because it's email (as opposed to group chat), people love writing long responses and participating over time (sometimes hours, days, or weeks after the last email in the thread has been sent), not just participating in the fleeting moment of a group chat discussion.
Would love to join but the challenge being that I'm north of UK - would love to connect with CTOs outside of the UK to get a pulse of things around the world.
I know of two in London - a monthly dinner run by a local startup CTO, and the CTO Craft circles which meet weekly and are more formal (there’s a loose syllabus and a more experienced leader who runs the groups). Ping me via http://douglassquirrel.com and I can put you in touch with both.
