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A Brief Field Guide to Startup Culture (Observed in the Wild)
Every founder says culture is their competitive advantage. Fewer can tell you who owns the Sales-to-CS handoff. A field guide to the gap between the two…
Jun 17
•
Katie Barnes
9
4
It's Monday. Your calendar is already a crime scene.
You built something real. You just can't keep running it like this. New post is up, and there are 2 spots open for a Bottleneck Audit at a…
Jun 10
•
Katie Barnes
10
1
2
"What Actually Gets in the Way" - Live with Katie Barnes & Shannon Bindler
A recording from Katie Barnes's live video
Jun 4
•
Katie Barnes
and
Shannon Bindler
46
12
2
30:29
You Don’t Need Silicon Valley Cosplay to Build a Real Company
Some founders come from accelerators, pitch decks, and startup podcasts. Others come from 20 years inside a broken industry, watching the same problem…
Jun 4
•
Katie Barnes
18
7
May 2026
AI Is About to Expose Every Startup Operating on Tribal Knowledge
Everyone wants AI agents right now. Very few companies actually understand how work flows through their business. I wrote about: tribal knowledge…
May 27
•
Katie Barnes
37
6
6
You're Not the Bottleneck. You're the Proof It Worked.
You got it this far. Now don't scale by yourself.
May 21
•
Katie Barnes
13
3
The Hidden Taxes Inside Messy Startups
The costs founders are paying long before they show up in a financial model.
May 13
•
Katie Barnes
19
3
Some Career Lessons I Apparently Needed to Learn 14 Different Times
15 years in startup operations taught me a few things the hard way. Like why simple systems beat fancy ones, why being “right” can still hurt a team…
May 12
•
Katie Barnes
38
2
9
Lead with Empathy. Always.
don’t think we talk enough about what end-of-life actually looks like. I’ve been in the ICU with my grandma this week, and it’s changed how I see a lot…
May 1
•
Katie Barnes
40
5
4
April 2026
The questions I ask before I blindly believe a new founder...
Founders tell me the problem. I don’t believe them. (Not yet.) Most of the time… they haven’t talked to the people doing the work.
Apr 21
•
Katie Barnes
12
2
The system that works EVERY TIME.
Spent time across multiple companies this week. Different tools. Different team sizes. Different levels of chaos. Same problem every time: nobody knew…
Apr 17
•
Katie Barnes
31
5
9
The Startup Glossary Nobody Gave You
"We're aligned." Everyone is using the same words. No one means the same thing. This will become apparent later, at the worst possible moment, usually…
Apr 8
•
Katie Barnes
37
16
12
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