What started as a few startup enthusiasts meeting for a beer every week, has grown into a community of founders, makers and idea chasers. Below is a rough timeline of our startup journey.
Leeds Digital Festival inspires us to setup a friendly meetup that welcomes anyone involved or interested in digital in Leeds.
Community V1.0
• 1st event at a pub in Leeds
• 1st Founders event at Futurelabs
• First Startup Weekend in Leeds
We switch from meeting in a pub once a week, to meeting once a month for our flagship Founders events. The number of attendees slowly begin to increase as we experiment with different styles of events.
Community V2.0
• 1-2-1 founder mentoring for Leeds Digital Festival
• We hit the road and take our event to Manchester
• Our 1st birthday at Futurelabs
We change our core Founders venue to Platform, above the train station in Leeds. We start to explore other new venues, hosting a series of events at The University of Law, including a failure panel.
Community V3.0
• New venue for Founders at Platform
• Biggest crowd for Founders (70+ people)
• Our biggest startup quiz so far
In 2019 we focussed on theming our events: Creativity, Sustainability, Funding and Connectivity. We also had Rich & Sonia join the team! Both bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience.
Community V4.0
• Creativity event at Wizu Workspace and Sustainability at Kirkstall Forge
• Helped launch the Big Leeds Climate Conversation
• Funding event at The Walk and Connectivity at Nexus
Gary joins the team! We’re able to host a learning event with Hey! - before lockdown. We collaborate on a livestream with Consume, launch our Makers sessions and a range of initiatives that help support the community.
Community V5.0
• Launched Leeds Digital Makers
• Launched Freelancers of Leeds
• Launched Leeds Meetups
We catch-up with old friends and make new ones at our summer party, run a no-code event for Leeds Digital Festival and hit a 20 session milestone for our Digital Makers sessions.
Community V6.0
• Summer party at the Tetley
• 'WTF is No Code' event at Duke Studios
• Hosted over 20 virtual Makers sessions to date
...and beyond!
We're thrilled to continue supporting and collaborating with independent tech communities and events across the region.
We're also hard at work expanding our online directories and championing local talent wherever we can.
Community V7.0+
• Tech & digital event collaborations in Leeds
• Indie Founders Meetups
• Conferences and startup events around the world!
