About us
Tech made by humans to empower humans. One platform where travelers, group leaders and travel specialists co-create group travel.
Our story
In 2016, YouLi founder Jennifer Fein planned an epic destination wedding in Jordan. She married the Jordanian man she met in Australia, in front of friends and family from the US, Australia, Argentina, Asia and Europe. Like so many of us today, her community is spread all over the world.
Jen couldn't believe there wasn't an easier way to coordinate a group trip than spreadsheets, emails and Word documents that no one ever read. So she built the first version of YouLi and tested it on her guests. The trip was unforgettable, and their feedback inspired her to solve the same problems for anyone organizing group travel.
Ten years on, YouLi serves travel businesses all over the world, from first-time retreat hosts to operators running hundreds of departures. Together they've booked hundreds of thousands of travelers and processed half a billion in payments through YouLi, for everything from weddings and study trips to adventures and retreats.
Jen has gathered a team as passionate and diverse as the travel businesses we empower. Fully remote and located all over the world, we're here to help travel professionals rediscover the joy of group travel.
Our vision
Through that connection we enable amazing online customer experiences that support real world travel experiences with the power to transform travelers.
What we value
We get a little giddy when something new ships. We hope you feel the same when your trip goes live.
If you need a "tech person" to use it, we haven't finished building it.
Serious about travel, never too serious about ourselves. Bad puns welcome in standups.
Forever curious. Ask us about anything, then watch us google it at midnight.
Small tweaks, shipped often. Version 1 is just a really confident first draft.
Group travel is about people, and so is building it. We'd rather hop on a call than send a ticket.
Our team spans hemispheres, time zones and opinions on whether it's "holiday" or "vacation".
We travel to learn and connect, and we respect the places and people who welcome us.
“I love opening up YouLi and seeing what's been introduced and updated this week.”
NicolaThe team
A fully remote team with roots in Melbourne and North America.
Co-founder & CEO
Product visionary & digital nomad
Jen believes technology should empower everyone, not just "tech people". After building email marketing platforms for large corporations in NYC, she spent time in APAC learning to build products for international markets, and made the leap from software engineer to TravelTech founder.
An American living in Australia. A digital nomad you’ll find working from anywhere.
Co-founder & CTO
Creator of accessible & joyful technology
After running her own company for 10 years, Bron joined YouLi and built the product from scratch, taking it from concept to prototype to the reliable SaaS platform it is today. Her eye for aesthetics and mastery of frameworks make it all work smoothly.
When she isn't tackling the latest in AI, she's a gifted gardener and an avid gamer.
Commercial Director
Growth-minded & empathetic leader
Sally has 20+ years leading sales and marketing teams around the globe, in companies big and small. She discovered YouLi at a Melbourne networking event in 2018 and invested soon after.
Five years later she joined full time to take YouLi to new heights with the co-founders.
Enterprise Sales
Passionate global traveler & cricket tragic
Geoff is a channel sales professional with 20+ years in hardware, software and services. His first job out of university was selling souvenirs, so a career in travel was always on the cards. He loves helping travel businesses that are ready to scale.
Ask him about the mighty South Yarra "Vincibles", his homemade honey or vintage Matchbox cars.
Sales, North America
Outdoor adventure program leader
With 15+ years leading outdoor adventure travel programs, Brad now helps organizations streamline operations with technology. He gets to know your operational challenges before exploring how YouLi can help you build scalable, transformative travel programs.
Passionate about connecting people with meaningful experiences in nature.
Business Analyst & Support
Dynamo of data & customer happiness
Based in Melbourne, Jenny joined in 2024. You'll see her answering support requests, and she's also behind product testing, documentation and onboarding our Australian customers.
Scuba diver, CrossFitter and owner of two cats who are not camera shy.
Board & advisors
We've been lucky to count on incredible advisors to steer us in the right direction, through the worst of 2020 and beyond.
Chair of the Board
30+ years in tourism, hospitality and cruise. Tammy is leading our board as we reshape the future of group travel.
Board Member & Investor
A Melbourne Angel, founder of Sentient Vision Systems and an eternal optimist. Paul splits his time between guiding his own companies and helping new founders reach inspiring goals.
Advisor & Investor
A Melbourne Angel, President of the Australasian chapter of IFITT and former Head of Digital at Visit Victoria. Paul works with travel and digital startups like YouLi to help them take over the world.
Trusted & sustainable
We support our clients to use YouLi to educate their travelers to travel more responsibly, and to choose ground operators whose values align with theirs.
We offer smaller plans with booking fees, but we prefer fixed annual fees, so our customers keep more of their growth and give back to the local communities their experiences run in.
YouLi runs on Microsoft Azure, our sustainability-minded cloud partner.
Acknowledgement
YouLi acknowledges that as travelers and nomads we are often experiencing places that are not our ancestral land. When we travel, we show our respect for the people who welcome us and recognize their right to determine the rules of our engagement and the best way to be stewards in those places.
We recognize and pay respect to the traditional owners of the lands where many of our staff call home: the Wurundjeri people of present-day Melbourne, Australia. We honor their Elders, past, present and future.
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