Just Grow With It with Natalie Barbu

*/ ?>

Latest Episodes:

How We Hit $1M ARR in 11 Months: The Real Secret to Finding Customers Oct 21, 2025

In this episode, I reveal the real secret to finding your first customers and how we scaled to $1M ARR in less than 11 months. Get actionable steps for startup growth, customer acquisition, and building a loyal audience.

00:00 - Intro & Why Finding Customers Is Hard

01:10 - The Customer Adoption Lifecycle

05:30 - Focusing on Early Adopters

09:21 - Squarespace Sponsor

10:30 - Steps to Find Your First Customers

18:00 - The Power of Social Media & Viral Growth

23:00 - Cold Outreach & Referral Programs

29:00 - Lessons Learned & Final Thoughts

Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share if you found this helpful!

Get 10% off your first Squarespace order by using code NATALIEBARBU or go to htps://squarespace.com/nataliebarbu and sign up for my newsletter: https://www.thegrowthlist.beehiiv.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How We Built Our MVP in 2 Months: Lessons from Launching a Startup Oct 15, 2025

In this episode of "Just Grow With It," I share the real story behind building and launching our MVP (Minimum Viable Product) — from taking a whole year the first time to just two months the second time around. Learn the biggest mistakes founders make, why launching early matters, how to get your first users, and what to focus on to build a product people actually want. Whether you’re a startup founder, product manager, or just curious about entrepreneurship, this episode is packed with actionable advice and honest lessons from the trenches.

Timestamps / Chapters:
00:00 – Intro: Our MVP Journey
00:19 – Welcome to Just Grow With It
00:36 – What is an MVP?
01:01 – The Earliest Version: Solving the Core Problem
01:20 – Why Start Simple?
01:43 – Our First MVP: The Perfection Trap
02:48 – Launching Too Late: What We Learned
03:09 – Building Fast: Our 2-Month MVP
03:27 – Don’t Overspend: Using AI Tools for MVPs
03:50 – No-Code & AI: Building Without Developers
04:29 – How AI Tools Can Help You Build
04:45 – Simple, But Usable: Avoiding Overcomplication
05:09 – Competing with Big Players
05:27 – Project Management vs. Content Scheduling
05:44 – Finding Your Unique Value
05:45 – Getting Your First Users
06:02 – Why Marketing Matters from Day One
06:20 – Building a Waitlist & Social Sharing
06:41 – Launching to Early Adopters
07:06 – Community Building: Facebook & Slack Groups
07:48 – Treating Your First Customers Well
08:05 – Learning from Real Users
08:24 – What to Look for After Launch
08:41 – Is Your Product Intuitive?
09:08 – Watching Real Users Onboard
09:24 – What Features Do People Actually Use?
09:42 – Decoding Customer Feedback
10:01 – User Experience: Less Clicks, More Value
10:46 – Embracing Feedback & Avoiding Churn
11:29 – Is This a Real Problem or a Nice-to-Have?
12:13 – Going Deep, Not Wide: Focus Your Product
12:50 – Saying No to Feature Creep
13:46 – Our Short-Term Goal: Be the Best at What We Do
14:48 – Q&A and Outro

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How to Find the Right Cofounder (and Spot the Red Flags Early) 🚩 Oct 08, 2025

65% of startups fail because of co-founder issues—don’t let yours be one of them! In this episode of "Just Grow With It," I share my personal journey as a founder, the hard lessons learned about co-founding, and actionable advice to help you find (and keep) the right co-founder for your business. We’ll cover: The pros and cons of having a co-founder Where to find the right co-founder (even if you don’t know anyone) How to know if your co-founder is “the one” Red flags to watch out for Navigating equity conversations and vesting Legal tips to protect your business Whether you’re just starting out or looking to restructure your founding team, this episode is packed with real stories, practical tips, and honest advice to help you build a strong foundation for your startup. Timestamps: 00:00 – Why most startups fail: The co-founder dilemma 00:18 – Welcome to Just Grow With It 00:36 – My co-founder story: The early days of Rella 01:15 – Do you really need a co-founder? 02:20 – The pros and cons of co-founders 03:55 – Emotional support and shared responsibility 04:50 – The cost of giving up equity 05:50 – Control, decision-making, and team dynamics 06:30 – Picking the wrong co-founder: Why it’s so risky 07:13 – Where to find your co-founder: Networks, events, and online 09:48 – How to know if your co-founder is the right fit 11:00 – Red flags: Communication, trust, ego, and motivation 14:16 – The equity conversation: How to split and vest 17:05 – Legal musts: Vesting, agreements, and lawyers 18:49 – Final thoughts and community shoutout

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7 Harsh Truths I Learned the Hard Way as a Founder 🚫📉👀 (watch this before launching your business) Sep 30, 2025

We spent two years and a million dollars building the wrong product. The first 500 people to use my link in the description or scan the QR code will receive a one month free trial of Skillshare! Get started today! https://skl.sh/nataliebarbu09251

In this episode of "Just Grow With It," I break down the essential steps every founder should take before starting a business—so you can avoid our mistakes and set yourself up for success. Whether you’re a creator, entrepreneur, or aspiring founder, you’ll learn how to validate your idea, find your niche customer, structure your team, and launch with confidence.

🔔 Subscribe for more founder stories, business tips, and real talk about building startups: https://www.youtube.com/@NatalieBarbu 📧 Sign up for my weekly newsletter: https://thegrowthlist.beehiiv.com

Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro: Our $1M Mistake & What We Learned 00:35 – Welcome to Just Grow With It 00:51 – The Rella Story: Launching & Learning 01:17 – Subscribe & Newsletter Shoutout 01:49 – Step 1: Write Out Your Idea 02:40 – Why Writing Clarifies Your Vision 04:00 – The Power of Clear Messaging 04:22 – Sponsor: Skillshare 06:01 – Step 2: Tell Everyone About Your Idea 07:04 – Who to Listen to (and Who Not To) 08:08 – Building Community & Getting Feedback 09:25 – Defining Co-Founder Roles & Equity 10:41 – Why Roles & Equity Matter Early 12:21 – Step 3: Find Your Niche Customer 13:16 – The Dangers of Building for Everyone 14:36 – Is Your Market Big Enough? 15:16 – Step 4: Funding Your Business 15:55 – Choosing the Right Funding Path 16:55 – Step 5: Charge Early & Validate 17:54 – Why Monetization Can’t Wait 18:58 – Step 6: Launch Quickly & Simply 20:24 – MVPs & Starting Small 21:08 – Your Startup Checklist 21:32 – What Happens After Launch? 21:52 – Outro & Next Steps

If you found this episode helpful, please like, comment your questions, and subscribe for new episodes every Wednesday!

#StartupTips #Entrepreneurship #JustGrowWithIt #BusinessAdvice #Founders #StartupMistakes #HowToStartABusiness

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From full-time influencer to founder of a multimillion dollar tech company Sep 24, 2025

Welcome to the first episode of Let's Grow with It!

I went from being a full-time influencer to building a profitable, multi-million dollar SaaS company in under a year — but it didn’t start that way. In this first episode of Just Grow With It, I’m walking you through the full story of how I turned an idea into a real business. From creating content in high school, to launching a failed product, to raising VC funding and relaunching with clarity — this is the real, unfiltered version of the journey.If you’re a founder, creator, or someone sitting on an idea, this one’s for you.

We’ll cover the lessons I learned about finding cofounders, making your first hire, building the wrong thing, pivoting quickly, and why being naive might actually be your biggest advantage.This episode is here to break down the growing pains of entrepreneurship — and how sometimes, you just need to grow with it.

00:00 - Introduction and Overview

02:39 - Journey from Influencer to Entrepreneur

03:53 - Squarespace

05:21 - My Early Business Ventures

07:38 - Transition to Full-Time Influencer

09:40 - Starting My Social Media Agency

11:22 - Birth of Rella

17:29 - Building the Team and Raising Capital

20:42 - Pivoting to Rella 2.0

24:38 - Closing Thoughts

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just Grow With It Trailer Sep 22, 2025

I'm so excited to finally share this with you... 🎙️

Introducing Just Grow with It - my new video podcast where I'm pulling back the curtain on the REAL entrepreneurial journey. Not the highlight reel, not the "I made it" stories from the top of the mountain, but the messy, beautiful, terrifying middle of building something from scratch.

Here's what I realized: I was craving advice from someone who's still in the thick of it. Someone figuring it out in real time, making mistakes, pivoting, and yes - sometimes almost shutting down the company (been there 😅).

We've hit some incredible milestones - but the path here? It's been anything but linear. And those are the stories I want to share with you.

Every episode, I'm diving into the nitty gritty of being a business owner. The mistakes that cost us a million dollars, the pivots that saved us, the moment we told our investors we were shutting down, and how we managed to turn it around.

And because I believe in building community around this journey, I'm also launching "The Growth List" - a weekly dose of founder insights, curated resources, and community spotlights for entrepreneurs building authentic, impactful businesses.

Because if you're building something, you deserve to hear from someone who's still building too. Someone who remembers exactly how it feels when everything is breaking and you need all hands on deck. And if you have any guest suggestions - tag them below!

Ready to grow with me? Let's get into it. ✨

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Just Grow With It with Natalie Barbu

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected