Busting some Yena myths...

Further to my last post, I wanted to bust a few myths around our Rebel Meetups & their global growth (in response to some questions/statements I've heard recently)... 

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Q: What is Yena?!

A: Yena is a virtual acceleration ecosystem, by subscription. Bit of a mouthful but essentially we give you the community, tools, learning and experience, you need to start & grow a business faster/easier from just ￡9/mo. With 24/7 access to a community of rebels, digital business support and opportunities to win work. The rest of the benefits are an incredible value add (if I do say so, myself). We're not stopping there though. There's a lot more to come very soon. Keep your eyes peeled ;)

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Q: What does 'Yena' mean?

A: Yena originally was an acronym. We started as a network specifically for young entrepreneurs, so as you've probably guessed, it stood for 'Young Entrepreneur Networking Association'. Since then, our product, core values and approach has developed vastly, including the name. Yena as a platform for startups as now stage, sector and age agnostic. Meaning the age part is only applicable at our Rebel Meetups now (which are designed to be a safe space for u35s to connect). People still use 'YENA' when writing it and changing that habit will take time but Yena is starting to be used as a name, organically now, with new users, so we're almost there.

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Q: Why are you growing internationally already? 

A: One of our core values is to lower the barriers of entry for anyone, anywhere to start & grow a business. Since we've figured out how to scale events, it would simply undermine our core values *not* to scale to help everyone, everywhere connect & grow. 

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Q: Why don't you charge for events? It could make you ￡s!

A: Keeping the theme of accessibility to support – we want to make it so that anyone, anywhere can access a community just like them. Charging for our events would undermine this. Also it's a logistical nightmare to do so. So we decided to remain free everywhere and deliver massive impact instead. 

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Q: Scaling events must cost you loads?!

A: It doesn't actually. There's some secret sauce involved that I'm happy to share, but essentially it comes down to value exchange. We can now run anywhere, any time (within reason) from our HQ in Bristol. 

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Q: Are events still age limited? Why? 

A: Yes. While our subscription platform is age, stage and sector agnostic (to deliver on our mission to help anyone, anywhere), our events and Yena itself started as an organisation to help the next generation connect, without feeling any anxiety about the environment they'll be in – lowering barriers to entry for people starting out. While we'd love Yena meetups to be for everyone, we've committed to this demographic and now our Rebel Meetups are a global social impact initiative that work seamlessly/symbiotical alongside our core business product.

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Q: Do you need to be a member to attend an event?

A: No! Our events are free to attend, member or not. They're part of our social impact commitment and as a happy benefit for us as a business, also help raise awareness of our subscription, which can connect those attending to others just like them all year round (instead of the 8 times per year in each city)

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Q: Why have you chosen the cities you currently run events in? They seem rather random!

A: That's because they are! Our growth so far has been completely organic. While we have tested and are certain of purposeful/aggressive (unsure of the correct word here) growth potential, we've so far had enough people want us to exist in their city, that we've been able to run there. Network effect is what has caused this, unsurprisingly. Turns out it is who you know!

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Q: Can we partner with your events?

A: It depends but probably not at the moment, unless you're interested in being a Brand Partner. It sounds a little snooty but there's a real reason for this – everything we do in one city, generally has to be duplicated across all other cities so we don't undermine value for other members in other cities. Yena is designed to be a virtual acceleration product, i.e. Not geographically confined, with our meetups as an added experience. We're also very particular about the format of our events, a little like TED is. If you've ever been to a TEDx event, you'll know the format is very similar across all of them. There's a logistical and experiential reason for this. These are the same reasons we have. However, do ask! We're open to the question but now you know why, if we have to say no for now.

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So there you have it! Questions, answered.

Hopefully that helps answer some of the questions you've had about Yena but if you have any more, then just comment below and we'll answer where possible.

We're committed to ultimate transparency and will hopefully be taking some drastic steps in this direction very soon, alongside more product launches. I can't wait to bring all this to light but for now, we're enjoying further global growth & delivering social impact to those who feel like square pegs in round holes, wanting to build the future they want to see.