Khadijah Robinson’s entrepreneurial journey didn’t begin in a startup accelerator — it began in her childhood home, where her parents were intentional about shaping how she saw beauty, possibility, and Black excellence. That foundation led her to build the Nile List as a “therapeutic exercise” during her full-time legal career, eventually growing it into a platform supporting thousands of Black-owned businesses around the world.

In this episode, she traces the purposeful thread from her mom’s early entrepreneurial success, to launching the Nile List during a pandemic from Nigeria, to navigating an unexpected acquisition. Today, that same thread shows up in her roles as GP at Fictive Ventures, leader of the LIFT Incubator, and community architect behind The Pit in Atlanta.

For founders across industries and backgrounds, Khadijah offers something rare: a blueprint for building rooted in identity, community, and clarity — not hype.

Show Notes:
In this episode:

• The childhood lessons that shaped how she sees community, beauty, and entrepreneurship
• Why her mom’s early business success quietly set the stage for her own founder journey
• How the Nile List began as a spreadsheet for stress relief during a painful clerkship
• Launching March 1, 2020 — and why that timing unexpectedly accelerated growth
• Bootstrapping, burning personal savings, and learning she had a real business
• Subscription boxes, early customers, and community pulling the product forward
• Navigating valuation, negotiation, and leadership through her legal lens
• The realities of being a Black woman founder leading inside a larger org
• What she brought forward into investing — and what she refuses to repeat
• How she now supports founders through Fictive, LIFT, and The Pit

Links & resources mentioned:

• Khadijah Robinson on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/khadijahrobinson/
• Fictive Ventures – fictiveventures.com
• The Pit Atlanta – thepitatlanta.com
• Center for Black Entrepreneurship + LIFT Incubator – cbecenter.org

What does it look like to build a social app from an Instagram project into a VC-backed global community — and then let it go?

In this episode of Founded On Purpose, Kt McBratney talks with Kel Rakowski, artist, strategist, writer, and founder of Lex, the beloved queer social app acquired by 9Count in 2024. Kel opens up about the origins of Lex in vintage lesbian personal ads, the early explosive growth, and the challenges of scaling a community-centered product inside a venture-backed structure.

Kel also shares the deeply personal side of stepping back as CEO, navigating burnout, building with love, and finding the courage — and clarity — to start a new chapter after the acquisition.

We talk about:

• The moment Kel knew Lex was bigger than a side project
• How the community shaped the app’s evolution
• Burnout, identity, and the stigma around stepping back
• What it really means to hand your company to someone else
• Why love — in all forms — has always been Kel’s purpose
• The return to creativity through writing, Herstory, and storytelling
• Redefining success after an exit

This conversation is honest, tender, and expansive — perfect for founders navigating identity, impact, burnout, and reinvention.

Resources & Links

• Lex – https://www.lex.lgbt/
• Herstory (Kel's Instagram project) – https://www.instagram.com/h_e_r_s_t_o_r_y/
• Kel’s Substack: Work Unseen – https://rakowwwski.substack.com/
• NTS Radio – https://www.nts.live/

What really happens after your startup gets acquired?
In the first episode of season 2's After the Exit series, Kt talks with Amelia Lin, cofounder and former CEO of Honeycomb, the AI-powered family photo platform acquired in 2024, and cofounder of VC Backed Moms, the global community for venture-backed founders navigating motherhood.

Amelia shares the real story behind Honeycomb’s journey — from building safe AI image generation for kids before it was mainstream, to going viral on TikTok, to scaling through millions of family photos across the world. She opens up about the parts of M&A founders rarely talk about: preparing (or not preparing) for an exit, culture fit with an acquiring team, and the identity shift that happens when you go from founder to employee again.

We also dig into:

• Her family’s powerful story of education as opportunity
• Why she believes founders should learn about exit paths far earlier
• How viral growth is never as overnight as it seems
• What changed in her day-to-day once the deal became public
• Why she sees VC Backed Moms as a lifelong purpose, not a side project

This episode pulls back the curtain on what “after the exit” really looks like — human, honest and deeply useful for any founder mapping their own journey.

Resources & Links Mentioned

• Honeycomb – https://medium.com/joinhoneycomb/introducing-honeycomb-94395b5950f8
• Ello (AI reading coach) – https://www.ello.com/
• VC Backed Moms – https://vcbackedmoms.com

• Follow Amelia on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/amelialin/
• Renew Venture Capital – https://renewvc.com