Natalie Barbu is the founder and CEO of Rella, a VC-backed startup helping social media teams streamline content planning, collaboration, and analytics. With over a decade of experience as a content creator and entrepreneur, she’s built a personal brand with a community of 380K+ and now focuses on building tools that support creators, marketers, and agencies behind the scenes. Natalie is passionate about simplifying the workflows that power digital content and creating products that solve real problems for modern teams.

During this episode, we discuss:

• The problems Natalie faced in her agency in 2019/2020 with systems and how it was so inefficient
• Why Rella decided to pivot and relaunch to focus on social media managers
• What her pivoting process was like
• The importance of listening to customer feedback and being customer-obsessed
• How to get started with customer feedback
• What made Rella decided to go with investors rather than bootstrapping
• Why you should not have a free tier of a product
• How to build trust and credibility with potential customers before they buy the product
• What’s coming up next for Rella in 2026
• The importance of nailing down your pricing and targeting

And more. Tune into this episode as we dive into what really goes into being a founder!

Emmaline Swanson is a 2x founder and startup operations specialist who has spent over 10 years building operational infrastructure as a founding team member and Chief of Staff at early-stage tech companies across healthcare, crypto, fintech, big data, GRC, logistics, and AI.

She takes a data-driven approach to operations, but what sets her work apart is applying behavioral science to design systems that actually work with how humans operate. The result: intuitive processes that people actually follow, making compliance and operations less of a nightmare and more of a competitive advantage. Her focus areas include strategic HR, business operations, data privacy and security, and compliance.

Currently, she runs two companies: Frameworks Labs, providing fractional operations, compliance, and HR support for early-stage startups, and Privacounsel, offering HR compliance guidance and advocacy for employees navigating workplace issues.

Emmaline specializes in the critical business processes every company needs but typically dreads. Her work helps founders establish operational rigor without sacrificing the speed and flexibility required to scale. She builds foundations that last, so startups can focus on what they actually care about: building their product and growing their business.

During this episode, we discuss:

• Being a self-proclaimed founder
• What made her want to start Frameworks Labs
• How she juggled her full-time job and business
• Why you should not move fast and break things
• How she got the idea for her second company, Privacounsel
• Her process for balancing both companies
• How she transitioned out of burnout
• Why 9-9-6 isn’t impressive or necessary
• What the invisible foundation of a company is
• The value in working with someone fractionally
• Advice for finding success in tech
• Her shoutout to Bryan Singleton of FlowGuide.io

And more. Tune into this episode as we dive into all things HR and compliance!

Kt McBratney is a community innovator and investor obsessed with disrupting the status bro. As General Partner and Head of Community at Renew Venture Capital, they’re redefining how founders, capital, and networks work together — building community as an operating system, not a marketing channel or afterthought

Before joining Renew VC, Kt co-founded and helped scale OwnTrail, the community-powered platform acquired in 2023, and spent years as a startup operator and marketing leader across venture-backed companies. Their work lives at the intersection of systems change, storytelling, and strategy.

Kt is also the host and producer of the Founded On Purpose podcast and a writer, artist, and speaker who brings a non-linear lens to leadership, entrepreneurship, and power. Known for candor, creativity, and an allergy to business-as-usual, they’ve built a career across roles and sides of the startup world — founder, operator, marketer, investor, and community architect — proving that innovation comes from crossing boundaries, not staying in lanes.

During this episode, we discuss:

• How they use community as an operating system to build the next generation of venture capital firms
• Building community infrastructure and showing up virtually and in person
• Providing access to relationships and knowledge
• What sets Renew’s community apart from others
• How they don’t have the typical power dynamic that typical investors have
• Why there’s harm in not having community from the start
• What Kt’s startup was and what led them to starting it
• Why you should do reflection when realizing you may need community
• By saying yes to one thing, we’re saying no to something else
• Their shoutout to Emily Best from Seed & Spark

And more. Tune into this episode as we dive into all things VC and community!