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How to Build Trust in a City Facing Its Toughest Times
Building a healthier culture around mistakes in a place that needed honesty and courage.
By:
Blanca Smith
Keep Kyiv online
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion, keeping Kyiv connected to the international landscape of global ideas and movements became essential.
For Kristina Seryozhechkina, CEO of Kooperativ, bringing “ Fuckup Nights ” back to the city wasn’t about flawless networking or hype. It was about building a healthier culture around mistakes in a place that needed honesty and courage more than ever.
The measured impact on real lives and stories
Building an authentic community in times of uncertainty requires perseverance and a space for unfiltered vulnerability. Over the course of its first two seasons, the “ Kyiv ” chapter gained impressive momentum: 13 organized events and 52 speakers on stage served as a catalyst for 1,823 registered attendees.
Why Success Is Built on Failure
We talk constantly about success, but real success is woven entirely from failure. To assess yourself realistically without underestimating your potential, you need to see the big picture. The fear of making a mistake is, ultimately, a fear of moving forward, and that fear destroys far more projects and opportunities than failure itself.
At Kyiv, this openness fostered a deep sense of trust within the community. About 30% of tickets for events are sold before the speakers are announced, and 40% of attendees are repeat participants.
People no longer buy tickets just to see a famous name on the bill; they trust the " Fuckup Nights " format itself.
Do you want to be a leader in your community?
Organize " Fuckup Nights " events in your city
Create a space where people can connect, share their failures, and grow—whether you run a coworking space, a community space, a business, or a conference.
Build your community and generate income while you’re at it!
Unfiltered "I wish the ground would swallow me up" moments from the stage
Stories shared behind closed doors reveal just how fragile business assumptions really are. The moments highlighted on Kyiv have ranged from complex strategic errors to simple oversights:
The founder of a company treated internal relationships as if they were family, only to have a trusted team member steal a significant amount of money from him.
A speaker was standing right next to a client, harshly criticizing the client's decisions in very blunt terms, completely unaware that the client was listening.
A project built an entire launch campaign around a supposedly well-known figure without researching its target audience, which led to a complete failure of the launch when the audience did not recognize the figure.
The main goal of sharing an "I wish the ground would swallow me up" moment isn't entertainment, but to spur real-world action. Some attendees approached the organizers after the events to share that hearing these unfiltered stories had finally inspired them to launch their own projects.
Strategic Lessons for Future Licensees
For those looking to bring " Fuckup Nights " to their own city, Kristina offers three key recommendations:
Bring together different communities: As Kristina from Kyiv advises, don’t limit yourself to gathering people from the marketing field in the same room. Bring together traditional business leaders, tech professionals, and creatives in the same space so that attendees leave having discovered radically new perspectives.
Choose your speakers carefully: Consider their backgrounds, industries, and the types of stories they share to attract a diverse audience, rather than relying solely on big-name individuals.
Let headquarters support you: You're not doing this alone. Headquarters provides templates, resources, workshops, and regular check-ins that make the journey easier and much less lonely.
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