ELEVATOR PITCH
Yena has a mission to democratise high-level business support for anyone, anywhere. They provide business benefits to a growing community of startups, via a Netflix-style subscription, that supports them to start and grow a remarkable business.
OUR STORY
Back in 2013, Yena was just a group of 6 people sat around a table in a quiet corner of a bar in Bristol—people who wanted to meet others like them, who were starting businesses, working on ideas, doing something different, and breaking the status quo. People that Yena now lovingly refers to as ‘Rebels’. Now, Yena’s Rebel Meetups span 18 cities globally, connecting more than 3,500 people for free, each year.
What does it say is responsible for this success and its 6-year staying power as a bootstrapped organisation? Community.
“Building a brand around a mission and solid core values attracts people who truly love your brand and buy into what you’re about,” says Yena founder, Ash Phillips. “This has allowed us to build an engaged ecosystem and economy around the Yena experience”.
This economy is so great that member Tom Garland said, “We went over our turnover for the last year, and the sources of that income, and were really surprised to find that Yena contacts made up nearly 10% of our annual turnover”. Alongside this powerful community, Yena also provides access to discounted tools, educational content, and exclusive opportunities, all for just £9 per month.
Yena’s expertise around understanding and building communities is now not only the secret to its growing, impact-driven commercial success, but also a consulting product in and of itself: connecting brands to the next generation of consumers, businesses, and talent.
The company hopes to build on its now award-winning story by digitising its offering and ‘gamifying the startup experience’, enabling Yena to deliver on its core social mission of helping anyone, anywhere.
