Community for purpose-led founders
Community for purpose-led founders
WELCOME TO YES CLUB
YES Club is a community for purpose-led, early-stage founders.
We create intimate, curated experiences that bring ambitious people together through honesty, depth, and genuine support.
From flagship dinners to walks, forums, and retreats, our mission is to help founders grow personally and professionally, and amplify their impact.
Why YES
Building can be lonely.
Even when things are going well, it can feel like you’re carrying everything in your head, making big calls with no one to properly talk it through with, and celebrating wins that don’t always land with your non founder mates.
Networking doesn’t really fix that.
Most events feel forced, loud, and a bit performative, you meet loads of people, swap socials, then nothing meaningful actually sticks.
And the hardest part is you rarely find your people, the ones you can be real with, learn from, and build alongside.
That’s why YES exists.
Wecreate spaces where early stage founders connect, recharge, and grow, pitches and egos left at the door. Just good people, great food, phone free tables, and conversations that actually go somewhere.
Who is YES Club for?
YES Club is built for a specific kind of founder.
We believe exclusivity, when done thoughtfully, creates a more inclusive environment, one where the right people can show up honestly, feel at ease, and build meaningful relationships. We are not trying to be for everyone. We are building for founders who share a certain mindset, stage, and set of values.
We are for founders who are:
1. Early-stage
From pre-revenue to around £1M in revenue, our community is made up of founders still in the thick of building, figuring things out in real time, navigating uncertainty, and growing as they go.
2. Purpose-led
We bring together founders who care deeply about the problem they are solving and want to build something that creates a positive impact on people, society, the environment, or the future.
3. Open-minded
Our experiences are designed for honesty, depth, and growth. We look for founders who are curious, self-aware, and open to new perspectives, not closed off, performative, or driven by ego.
4. Give-first
YES Club works best when people come with generosity. Our community is built on mutual support, shared wisdom, and a willingness to help others, without keeping score.
What we value
Honesty
The best conversations start with honesty. Every YES Club experience is shaped by openness, trust, and Chatham House Rules.
Curiosity
We value founders who are open to learning, reflection, and being challenged.
Ambition
We back people with bold ideas and the drive to make them happen.
Peer support
We believe founders grow faster and better when they can learn from each other’s experiences.
Community
Building can be lonely. We are creating the kind of community that helps founders feel backed, understood, and more likely to succeed together.
YES Club may not be for you if:
You are mainly looking to self-promote, collect contacts, or turn every conversation into a pitch.
You are closed off to vulnerability, reflection, or new perspectives.
You are more interested in status than substance, or taking more than you give.
The YES experience
YES Club creates intimate spaces where founders can step away from performance mode, speak honestly, learn from each other, and build the relationships that become real support.
Membership starts in the room. After your first experience, you’ll be invited into the YES Club WhatsApp community, where members stay connected between events, share asks, offer support, and get priority access to what’s coming next.
How we bring founders together
1. Flagship dinners
Curated dinners for 16 to 20 founders, shaped around a topic, industry, or shared challenge, with keynote insight, honest conversation, and meaningful founder connection.
2. Founder Walk & Talks
Phone free walks followed by coffee or drinks, creating a relaxed space for open conversation and community.
3. Founder Forums
Small, trusted peer groups that meet consistently to build deep relationships, share the highs and lows of founder life, and learn from each other’s lived experience.
4. Retreats
Immersive multi day experiences with a curated mix of founders, combining flagship dinners, shared learning, movement, rest, reflection, and fun.
From founders who said YES
-
Still got the after-glow from such a cracking event. So many good conversations. Highly recommend saying yes to an invite. An experience that will fuel me for weeks.
Ben Walton, On A Plate & Bloody Bens
-
An incredible special community - everything about it is curated, done with intent and with every member in mind.
Lewis Baxter, FUNC & Ops LAB
-
Brilliant, thoughtfully curated evening. Loved meeting everyone and switching off for a few hours – digital detox dinners are the way forward.
Becky Bellman, Good Salt
-
A great event. I loved the attention to detail and the exercises, the topic was inspiring, and the people around the table were fantastic. It was a very dynamic way to mix people and encourage engaging conversations.
Karen Prado, Chimi Love
-
"Slow down to speed up” has never felt more true than at Arthur’s YES Club dinners. Taking an evening away from the grind, in a highly curated, phone-free setting, creates something truly special. I always leave feeling re-energised, with renewed focus, better advice to act on, and at least one incredibly valuable new connection.
Rachel Duffy, YJN & The Times
-
It was brilliant. Phones handed in, guards down, proper conversations. Unlike most events of this kind.
Emma Thackray, HIP POP
-
Significantly above and beyond
George Bownes, Citrus Health
-
It was like no other networking event I’d been to. Everything was so carefully considered, and not at all pretentious. You’re definitely onto something Arthur!
Sophie O’Brien, Pollen
-
Well done on an amazing event. Everyone was so impressed by the curation, the dinner, the notes, the details. It was great to truly get to know people and not have my phone.
Alice Ivanoff-Boardman, Kokoon
What makes YES different
Care & Curation
Every experience is intentionally designed around the people in the room. From the invitation and pre-event questions to the seating plan, format, and final details, we go the extra mile to create evenings that feel relevant, thoughtful, and genuinely valuable.
Depth & Openness
We create spaces where founders can drop the surface-level chat and speak honestly about the real experience of building a business. The highs, the lows, the uncertainty, the ambition, and everything in between. That is where the strongest relationships are built.
Quality & Fit
Every founder is carefully invited with the wider room in mind. We look for people with complementary experiences, shared energy, and a genuine willingness to contribute, not just attend.
Our Team
Arthur Colquhoun
Arthur started YES Club to create more meaningful spaces for founders to switch off, connect deeply, and grow alongside people on a similar path. With a background across community, events, startups and entrepreneurship, he loves bringing ambitious people together through memorable IRL experiences.
Founder & Host
Izzy Meeke
Izzy is the culinary queen behind YES Club. A talented up-and-coming chef, she has cooked at ski chalets, weddings and large celebrations. She creates bespoke three-course menus for each YES dinner, using seasonal ingredients to make every meal feel thoughtful and unique. Alongside YES Club, Izzy works full-time as a buyer at Ocado.
Head ChefCreative DirectorPhoebe Gane
Phoebe is the creative force behind YES Club, bringing each experience to life through invitations, tablescaping, name tags and thoughtful details. She leads the club’s creative direction and is also a Senior Account Executive at a respected travel PR agency.
Join the Waitlist
A look inside YES
-
YES Club is a relaxed, intimate space to step away from the usual founder performance mode. No decks, no pitching, no pressure, just honest conversation, good food, and founders on similar journeys. It’s about sharing what’s real, breaking bread, and connecting properly, with egos left at the door.
-
YES Club is invite-only and brings together purpose-led, early-stage founders, usually doing between £0 and £1 million in annual revenue. Our community is rooted in sectors like health and wellness, sustainability, media, tech, FMCG, and consumer brands, with each room carefully curated around a specific industry, topic, or shared challenge. More than anything, we look for thoughtful, ambitious founders who are open, generous, and genuinely excited to connect with others on a similar journey.
-
YES Club is not really about networking, it is about building a trusted community of founders who can genuinely support each other. No random rooms, awkward starts, transactional energy, or pot luck value. Every experience is carefully curated so founders can slow down, speak honestly, learn from each other, and leave with fresh energy, perspective, and people in their corner.
-
YES Club community membership is currently free. Once you come to an experience, you’ll be invited into the YES Club WhatsApp community, where we share future events, opportunities, and ways to stay connected.
Our experiences are ticketed, with flagship dinners usually ranging from £75 to £100, and walks and lighter-touch events typically starting from £5 to £10.
-
YES Club membership is currently free and begins once you attend your first experience. Members get priority access to future dinners, walks, retreats, and founder socials, plus access to the YES Club WhatsApp community, where we share updates, opportunities, founder asks, and stay connected between IRL experiences.
Coming soon: Founder Forums and YES Club co-working days.
-
Each YES Club experience is invite-only, helping us keep the quality high and the curation thoughtful. To express interest, fill out our application form, and we’ll add you to the waitlist and invite you to the right experience when a fit comes up. Once you’ve attended an event, you’ll also be added to the YES Club WhatsApp community.
-
You can reach out directly to our founder at arthur@yesclub.co.uk, and we’ll aim to get back to you within 3 to 5 working days.