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Welcome — I’m so glad you found your way here.
Systems & Side Eyes is equal parts operator diary, founder therapy, and process pep talk.
This page will give you the lay of the land: who I am, what I write about, and what you actually get when you hit “subscribe.”

What This Publication Is About

I write about the human side of operations. The messy middle between founder vision and scalable reality.

If you’re a founder, operator, or early-stage team trying to get out of the day-to-day chaos, this space will help you:

Spot the real leaks in your revenue or customer journey
Build systems your team actually follows
Bring structure without losing your soul (or your weekends)

It’s equal parts playbook, therapy, and behind-the-scenes peek into how startups actually work (and sometimes don’t).

My goal is simple:
To help founders scale sustainably, operators feel seen, and teams move forward with clarity instead of fire drills.

Who I Am

I’m Katie Barnes, founder of Rise & Optimize. A fractional COO and RevOps consultancy for early-stage teams.

For almost 15 years, I’ve been the person behind the curtain untangling broken handoffs, tool sprawl, and founder bottlenecks. I believe the best systems are the ones people feel safe following.

I started Systems & Side Eyes as a home for the stories, frameworks, and lessons that don’t make it into slide decks. Just the real talk about what happens when growth outpaces process. A lot of process and a lil sprinkle of humor. If we can’t laugh about it, what are we doing here??

What You’ll Find Here

Real-world ops breakdowns – short stories and diagnostics from my client work (anonymized but true).
Practical frameworks – Notion systems, OKR guides, and process maps you can adapt for your own team.
Founder reflections – essays about leadership, burnout, and what it actually feels like to grow something.
Substack Chat – weekly threads for founders and operators to swap wins, vent, and share what’s working.

What You Can Expect

Most weeks, you’ll get:

One essay or framework-style post you can immediately apply to your business.
Occasional “Ops Notebook” deep dives for paid subscribers — case studies, systems teardowns, or templates.
Community threads in Chat where we talk founder chaos, clarity rituals, and the realities of building teams.

Free vs. Paid

The free tier gets access to my weekly posts and public chat threads — plenty of value and real-world advice to apply right away.

Paid members join the clarity-first group of founders and operators who want deeper access — not just more content. Here’s what you’ll unlock:

The Ops Notebook — monthly case studies and frameworks from real startup work
Private Office Hours — members-only chat threads for tactical Q&A
Early access to templates + Notion resources
Exclusive Ops Prompts to diagnose your biggest lifecycle bottlenecks

It’s the practical, behind-the-scenes toolkit I use to help early-stage teams scale without the chaos.

And if you upgrade to the Founding/VIP tier, you’ll also get:
🎯 A 1:1 Systems Tune-Up working session — a focused call where we diagnose one of your biggest operational bottlenecks and build a plan to fix it.
🪩 Personal thank-you and early looks at what’s next for Systems & Side Eyes.

It’s my way of saying: if you believe in this work, you get a front-row seat and a real win for your business.

Community and Connection

This publication isn’t meant to be one-way.
Join the Chat, comment on posts, and share your own systems wins (or fails).

Founders learn best from each other, and operators never mind a good ops vent.

Bottom Line

If you’ve ever looked around your startup and thought,

“Everyone’s working hard, but nothing’s moving forward,”

you’re in the right place.

Grab a coffee, read a few posts, and join the conversation.
Growth isn’t the problem. Misaligned process is.