Our story
Two mates. One chairlift. A shared, stubborn belief that workplace learning could be better than it was. Yarno has now helped thousands of learners build knowledge, change behaviour, and deliver results.
It started on a mountain in Japan
In 2015, Mark and Lachy were riding a chairlift in Japan, doing what mates do on chairlifts: talking. Specifically, talking about workplace learning – and the desire to make it better.
Mobile technology was opening up new possibilities for reaching learners wherever they were. The science of how people actually retain knowledge was emerging. And a growing number of L&D professionals were hungry for approaches that could demonstrate real business impact.
They saw an opportunity. What if they could take those emerging ideas – microlearning, spaced repetition, gamification – and meet learners where they were, making learning genuinely enjoyable, and give organisations the evidence they needed to show it was working?
They were motivated. They were naive. They were, by Lachy's own admission, "in for a hell of a ride."
Ten years later, Yarno is an award-winning learning platform, home to a brilliant team, supporting customers across Australia and beyond. Not bad for a chairlift conversation.
What we believed (and still do)
Mark and Lachy came from digital agency backgrounds where everything was measured. They brought that same outcomes obsession to learning — asking not just "did people complete the training?" but "what are they doing differently because of it?"
That question – what do learners need to do differently? – has driven every decision at Yarno from day one.
They designed the platform around the learning science that actually works: microlearning, spaced repetition, active recall, gamification, and interleaving. Not because it was trendy. Because the research said so, and the results proved it.
What we learned along the way
Never assume you know the answer!
The classic founder mistake: In the early days, Mark and Lachy did what founders often do: assumed the market would pay for the problem they wanted to solve.
They quickly discovered that certainty is usually just an untested assumption – so they talked to over a hundred L&D and HR professionals and let what they heard shape what they built.
LMS and Yarno: better together
LMSs are the backbone of workplace learning for a reason – they're powerful, established, and embedded into how organisations operate.
Yarno isn't here to replace them. We're here to complement them, adding the engagement, learning science and measurable outcomes.
Engaging learners is hard
You can have the best content in the world, but if people are clicking through just to get it done, nothing changes. It was the biggest challenge in workplace learning in 2015, and it still is.
The difference is that Yarno has spent ten years obsessing over it – and an 89% average completion rate and 4.5/5 learner feedback rating are what a decade of that obsession looks like.
How we built the team & culture
We are delighted to have our very own Yarno hive! Adorned in regal Yarno green and the Yarno logo you know and love, our hive is an explosion of colour. And housed in our hive of luxury is our very own bee colony of around 30,000 bees, governed by our Queen B, Bee-Yarn-Ce (see what we did there?). Our bee hive has grown since it first started (those bees are busy workers!) and we are excited to sample the honey. We love it drizzled on toast. Yum!
Psst...for more info on the Yarno hive, check out our blog post!
We can always do better
As a learning platform, we are well-placed to produce resources dedicated to educating about sustainability and issues that impact the community.
We believe we can always do better, and are always eager to learn about new ways we can impact the community.We see first-hand how education can create safer and more responsible communities. Yarno's platform has a significant wellbeing outcome for our customers and their stakeholders.
Check out our customers and their results.
We’d love to chat about how Yarno can benefit your business
Mark, our Head of Sales, will organise a no-obligation call with you to understand your business and any training challenges you’re facing. Too easy.
Awards
Platinum Winner
Hall Bronze Winner
of the year
