The Yorkshire Mafia
About Us
“If Facebook is cool, the Yorkshire Mafia is downright dangerous”
The Sunday Telegraph
The Yorkshire Mafia started in 2008.
Yorkshire needed a better way to meet, talk and do business. At the time, every serious conversation for our startup tech recruitment business seemed to require a train to London. And, the options in Yorkshire felt dated, formal or built around “selling”. Nothing really felt natural or useful.
The Yorkshire Mafia was created to fix that.
The aim was simple: bring good people together, keep egos low, keep decision-maker density high and make it free to attend. Selective, but open. Free, but serious.
The first event had around sixty people.
The next had a few hundred.
And then the queues started (which melted our brains a little).
It was far from polished, but it worked.
People met each other properly. There was no pitch culture, no pressure and no awkward early-morning hotel lobby meetings. Just rooms full of people who wanted to get things done.
As the community grew, so did the ambition.
Leeds Business Week came out of The Yorkshire Mafia and created a whole industry of similar multi-day festival type business and digital events.
Buy Yorkshire became one of Europe’s largest regional B2B exhibitions and conferences, attracting C-suite leaders from global brands.
The Billion Pound Panel brought direct conversation with high-level operators who had started, built, ran, exited businesses worth over ÂŁ1 billion.
And, it did all of this without charging anyone to attend.
Over the years, through The Yorkshire Mafia agencies were formed and grown, startups found their first customers and many companies that later scaled or exited had their early connections here.
Seventeen years later, YM remains the most established business network in the North.
Tens of thousands of members, strong attendance at events and a long history of genuine economic and personal impact.
It is still open to anyone in Yorkshire and the wider North, And, it is still supported by major brands that value access to a serious SME audience.
The principle hasn’t changed: put the right people in the room, set the right standards and culture and the results will speak for themselves.
The Yorkshire Mafia grew because people benefitted from it and told other people, and it has lasted because those benefits are real and enduring.
Featured in The Times, The Telegraph, CNN, Bloomberg, The Guardian, BBC1, The Yorkshire Post and The Sunday Telegraph.
Founded in November 2008, we have built up a powerful network including:
- 28,000+ approved LinkedIn members (86% of which are decision makers)
- 37,000+ subscribers to our email database
- 120,000 social followers
- ÂŁ150,000,000+Â generated for the regional economyÂ
…And 17 years alter… we’re still growing!
The Yorkshire Mafia brings together executives and stakeholders from the Yorkshire Business Community to meet, network, share experience, learn, build relationships and ultimately trade (where appropriate). This is all done in a relaxed and sales-free environment.
The Yorkshire Mafia combines the best of business membership with the scale and speed advantages that social networking technologies offer. We have successfully transcended online and offline boundaries by creating a unique online forum and a calendar of targeted events to spark interaction with diverse industry executives who share a homogenous interest in the advancement of the Yorkshire region.
Our events programme includes round table discussions, thought leadership events, a variety of networking functions and annual conferences, all of which are unrivalled within the region.
Our online community is active, engaged and built on the core values of learning and sharing with each other. Our members are the most credible business members in the region and we’re constantly growing.Â
Our online and offline strategies are designed to inspire and educate, to build stronger and long lasting partnerships and wiser, more imaginative bonds which extend and expand horizons and trading opportunities.
How do you create an account?
You can create a Yorkshire Mafia account on our website on the create account page. This makes it simple to register for any Yorkshire Mafia event.
How do you become a member?
Membership of The Yorkshire Mafia is held exclusively on LinkedIn. To become a member, you must have an active, up to date, LinkedIn profile. You will be accepted on the basis of the statement you will be requested to supply, primarily explaining why you feel that you will be a good addition to our community.
