The story of ONLE
It all started when…
James met Kelly at a UK networking event in 2017. After getting married (in New York City!) and setting up their web design business, they turned their attention back to the forum that brought them together: business networking.
The people-first network
The idea was simple: could they take the parts of networking that had given them business, friendship and support, while removing the parts of networking that get in the way of running a business?
The first ONLE Networking meeting took place in January 2018. Of the 18 people that attended, 17 joined. And the “network for people who like people” began to take shape.
Within two years, ONLE Networking had attracted 200 members.
And then COVID hit.
James and Kelly West, founders of ONLE Networking
Find out why ONLE embraced online-first networking to safeguard the people-first network.
2020 - the networking ‘flip’
When the world went into lockdown, ONLE switched to online networking. But rather than using it as a stop-gap, ONLE applied lessons learned while running ONLE Online to ensure that the meetings were cohesive and continued to deliver value.
This headstart, combined with the extraordinarily supportive community, meant that ONLE became the first network to ‘flip’ networking by moving to an online-first approach. Online networking means that ONLE is inclusive to all businesses, irrespective of their circumstances. Plus it is now expanding its geography faster than ever before. And as the world adapted to this online-first approach, in June 2021 ONLE membership exceeded 300 members.
2021 - ONLE goes global
Now that geography is no longer a barrier to networking, ONLE decided to push the concept further than before by launching ONLE New York. With many businesses already working globally, the only element lacking was a central forum to meet people in other countries. And as the place that Kelly and James got married, they had always dreamed of taking everything they love about networking to one of their favorite places.
KELLY WEST
We both benefitted enormously from networking before we met, but we realised that some elements of business networking were either off-putting for newcomers or put unnecessary pressure on members. We wanted to attend a professional networking business that valued meaningful relationships and collaboration over everything. When we launched ONLE to such a positive response, it was clear that others felt the same!
JAMES WEST
We founded ONLE Networking in 2018 so everyone could experience the kind of networking that changed our lives. At networking, we gained business, friendship and support, and to top it off, we met while networking! But we also saw that business networking often imposes rules that get in the way of building relationships. By removing negative elements, we've seen members relax, build genuine connections and have created a supportive, collaborative community.