Personally, I'm all for establishment of prior background connections between PCs and the starting location. I think the key thing is for you all to establish how you'd like your dynamic to be, or what you would like it to become, and then we'll move from there. If you all had some prior connection to each other, that'd be great. We don't have to go the Breakfast Club route, but it can sort of work, too. Heck, look at how the Scoobies formed on Buffy, or Clark and his friends on Smallville, or other bits of ensemble goodness.
My key desire is that I'd like you folk to decide the tune of your orchestra, so to speak. Are you all like the Lucky Seven from It, or Gordie and his pals from Stand by Me. Is it more the Breakfast Club or is it a bit of Real Genius? Perhaps it's Young Guns? Perhaps it's Dragons of the Autumn Twilight?
Basically, I figure that constructing the group dynamic before the start might help us flow through the story and enjoy the game.
As for the starting moment of the campaign, i.e. meet in an inn or what not, I'll be handling that in the opening setting of the scene/campaign. It'll be a fairly sandboxed opening, in that all the PCs will have a reason or motive or opening to join in, even if they're not directly at the location when it occurs.
Cool?