Hey there! Have you heard of Fuckup Nights? You know, the OGs of the failure empowerment movement, celebrating mistakes and creating safe spaces for entrepreneurs and innovators to share their stories. 

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As an organization, we’re firm believers in the abundance mindset. With “the sun shines for all” as our motto, we let a lot of time pass before writing up this blog post. 

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For context: Fuckup Nights local organizers are required to sign a contract and pay for the license to use the brand in order to organize public events. Some copycats say they were “kicked out” of the movement in a unilateral move from our end. We think it’s time to clear things up.

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Everything started on a bender in 2012. What began as a hobby became a small operation. We used to charge 20 bucks per month, our licensing “contract” was practically a Post-it, and since the beginning we operated by assuming the best from all our local organizers. We were young and naive and eager to please ;) 

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No, but really: We were suddenly a team of almost 15 people and growing, with a worldwide presence in over 250 cities and counting, and companies from all shapes and sizes across industries wanted to collaborate and bring the Failure Culture to their workplace. A few copycat events had popped up between 2014 and 2017, but they quickly either changed the name or officially joined the family. And so reality hit: we created something bigger than ourselves, and if we wanted to keep changing the corporate world, we needed to take things seriously.

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In the contract that we created back in 2017-2018, we aimed to assure the quality and periodicity of our events and guarantee the economic sustainability of Fuckup Nights Global. Granted, we didn’t consult with our global organizers first, and we accept that as our mistake. At the same time, let’s face it: there’s no way 300 people were going to say unanimously yes to the new contract. We were already prepared to have difficult conversations with some of our Fuckuppers. 

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We did what was legally and economically within our reach to achieve an amicable agreement with the Fuckuppers who were unhappy with the new contracts we crafted. We knew there had been attempts from some of them to register the brand in their countries and they never asked us if that was OK in the first place, we only learned about it from other sources -we wonder if our copycats disclose this fun fact to their current clients.

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Alejandra Ruiz, Head of Global Movement for Fuckup Nights, explains that despite the efforts to reach a mutual agreement with certain former licensees, they've persistently refused to sign the updated contracts and since then, they have continued using the Fuckup Nights brand. They've even scheduled copycat events on the same dates as the authorized ones.

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So to clear things up:

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We never kicked anyone out. Our interests and vision for the movement didn’t align anymore with some ex-organizers. It was a matter of incompatibility or irreconcilable differences. We’re finally taking a public stand regarding these copycats with a new awareness campaign. Our authorized Fuckuppers are the cornerstone of our movement and we want to show up for them. Here’s our official press release on this matter.

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To our copycats, once again: there are no hard feelings, our doors are always open to collaborate in different ways. At the end of the day, and as cheesy as it sounds, we all want to make the world a better place. Just please stop using the brand name and logo. We know for a fact you’re super talented and creative people, so we’re absolutely certain that you can come up with another name and logo if you wanted to. And you know, it wouldn’t hurt if you cited us as inspo. But really, all we’re asking is that you stop using the brand name and logo. 

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To our past and future partners: You already know we’re all about authentic and quality failure-based training, and we offer data-based workshops and online courses. So if you’re interested in transforming your organizational culture, our doors are always open.

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Just remember, if you're looking for a corporate training provider, do your research and choose someone committed to transparency and authenticity. And don't try to copy the real deal without permission - you already know we’re the original global platform for embracing business failure, after all.

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