Networking for founders, creators and freelancers

Rebel Meetups returns to Maughans SOYO on Tuesday 12 May, running 6–9pm. The evening centres on two live interviews with founders who are actively building businesses, alongside open networking for founders, freelancers, marketers, consultants and anyone else working on something of their own in Leeds.

This month's interviewees are George Fairhall and Jonny Swift. Fairhall is the sole female founder behind wac, a platform for hourly-paid workers that has tracked more than 16 million shifts and raised over £1.5M. The conversation will cover building from scratch, raising investment and creating a business with a social mission around fairer pay for lower-paid workers. Swift has managed over £2M in Google Ads spend and recently launched his own agency focused on paid ads and SEO. His interview will cover when marketing spend actually works, what founders get wrong about demand generation, and lessons from going independent.

The format is relaxed. Drinks, conversation, and structured interviews rather than a formal conference setup. The target crowd is startup founders, freelancers, agency owners, marketers and growth-minded professionals — people who are building things rather than talking about building things.

Rebel Meetups is run by Rebellious Co, a Leeds-based group that organises regular evenings for the city's founder and creator community. The events are pitched as an alternative to traditional networking: fewer lanyards, more honest conversation about the realities of running a business. Maughans SOYO in the city centre is the venue for this edition.

Why attend

Two practitioners with real numbers behind them — £1.5M raised, 16 million shifts tracked, £2M in ad spend managed — talking honestly about what it actually takes to build and grow. That's a more useful evening than most panels offer.

Beyond the interviews, the room is specifically aimed at founders, freelancers and people launching something new in Leeds. If you're looking to meet people who are in a similar position rather than working a room of sales reps, this is a reasonable bet for a Tuesday night.

Agenda

• 18:00 — Doors open, drinks and networking
• Live interview: George Fairhall, founder of wac
• Live interview: Jonny Swift, paid ads and SEO agency founder
• 21:00 — Event closes

Speakers

• George Fairhall — Sole female founder of wac, a platform for hourly-paid workers with 16M+ shifts tracked and £1.5M raised
• Jonny Swift — Agency founder; previously managed £2M+ in Google Ads spend across lead generation and sales growth campaigns