Founder & CEO @ Mint & Lemon 🍋 | Building personal brands for startups founders and CEOs | Speaker | Startup Advisor

Hi, I’m Elisabetta 🙋🏻‍♀️ My journey has been defined by resilience, self-belief, and a commitment to continuous learning. From navigating language barriers to building and leading teams in successful startups, I’ve proven that determination and grit can take you anywhere.

I’m passionate about personal branding and the power it has to transform careers and open doors. LinkedIn has been a game-changer for me, and I believe it can do the same for you.

Here’s what we can help you achieve:

- Attract inbound sales
- Spark investor interest
- Attract and keep top talent
- Land speaking gigs and podcast invites
- Expand your network and business opportunities

Ready to take your personal brand to the next level?

✋🏼 Book a call here to work with us: https://shorturl.at/PuMgl

✋🏼 Want only a one-off LinkedIn power session? Book a call here: https://shorturl.at/oih3f

✋🏼 Brand Partnerships - Work with me on an influencer campaign: https://shorturl.at/7Syv7

Elisabetta Torretti

POV: It’s 2026 and you stop caring about impressions.

You post what you want.
What you think.
What actually matters to you.

Not for the algorithm, not for the reach, not the vanity numbers everyone is still obsessing over 🤷🏻‍♀️

At some point, I shifted my mindset.
From:
“How many people saw this?”
To:
“Who did I actually connect with?”

Because impressions don’t pay the bills, followers ≠ impact, and reach means nothing without real connection.

What does REALLY matter?
• The conversations you start
• The people you meet
• The relationships you build
• The opportunities that come out of it

Business, collabs, friendships, that’s the real ROI 👌🏼

And because of LinkedIn, I’ve met some incredible humans: people I now call friends, partners, opportunities I’d never planned for.
(Some of you know who you are - tagging a few below 👇)

So if you’re still refreshing your analytics every day…
try this instead
STOP looking at the numbers and START looking at the doors that open.
That’s the only metric that matters 🤷🏻‍♀️

Oana Leonte Jessie Schofer Asim Amin Shoaib Ahmed Raffaella Vota Giuseppe Baidoo Arran Kingston 💜

Everyone is saying reach is down for women on LinkedIn.

No idea if this is true or not but here are 10 female creators you should follow 👇🏻

1. Mariya Valeva - your Finance queen☝🏼
2. Brianna Doe - my influencer marketing guru ✌🏼
3. Jessie Schofer - THE HR queen 👸🏼
4. Aoife Spillane - women’s health 💓 
5. Amelia Sordell 🔥 - she needs no introduction 💁🏻‍♀️
6. Laura Notaro - the UK immigration lawyer 🇬🇧
7. Anastazja Debowska - YouTube and influencer guru 👀
8. Raquel Gomes - women empowerment 👌🏼
9. Flavia De Prezzo - egg freezing journey expert 💙
10. Sophie Miller - I just love everything you write 😆

Ciao 👋🏼

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So my dad asked me to make a post today...

Today is a really special day..

Because today is International Pizza Day 🍕
(And yes, he’s right, pizza deserves a post)

Pizza has always been part of my life, and of so many people’s lives.
(Although… let’s agree not everything called “pizza” actually is pizza, unless it's proper Italian pizza 😉)

Because pizza is memories.

It’s my mum making amazing homemade pizza.
Making together with grandmas when I was a little girl.
It’s taking it out of the oven too early.
Trying just a slice, burning your tongue.
Every time.

It's that winter afternoon snack, eaten in the car while it’s still warm (still burning my toungue lol).
It’s also shared lunches.
Time with colleagues.
Tables where conversations matter more than phones.

Pizza is never just food.
It’s time shared. Togetherness.
And a way of living.

And yes, it makes me proud that this is such an Italian thing.

Happy International Pizza Day everyone 🍕
Hope you eat some pizza today!

PS: special thanks to my dad for the post 😉
PPS: kudos to my mum for making an incredible homemade pizza 👌🏼

"You don’t need to post consistently"

That’s the biggest LIE.

And I’m tired of it.
If you’re trying to grow and you don’t already have an audience, that advice does nothing but slow you down.

I got to 130,000 followers by posting.
A lot.
Even when it felt repetitive.
Even when no one noticed.
Not by waiting for the perfect idea.
Not by “posting when it felt right”.
(And no, this isn’t about posting rubbish every day.
That’s pointless.)

But good content posted occasionally?
That’s invisible.

Most people giving the “you don’t need to post” advice 
already have reach.
Already have attention.
Different position.
Different rules.

If you’re starting out or still building,
consistency is the work.
You earn the right to slow down later.
Not before.

There was a point in my life where I genuinely believed I was stupid.

Not joking.
I really believed it.

I felt stupid because I didn’t speak English,
Then when I started learning the language, I felt stupid because I couldn't understand certain English words
or I could not pronounce some 
(still can't pronounce "paths" properly
or "beach" - everyone usually hears THAT other word 😅
or missing to pronounce all the H lol)

I felt stupid because I couldn’t follow how work actually worked.
Stupid because everyone else seemed to “just get it” - and I just didn’t 🤦🏻‍♀️

I even felt stupid in the supermarket.
Standing there, staring at labels I couldn’t fully understand.
Buying the wrong things 
(I'm still doing it lol)
Going home frustrated 😔

And every single time, I blamed myself.
“What’s wrong with me?”
“Why is this so hard for me?”

What no one tells you is this:
Learning doesn’t feel empowering.
It feels humiliating sometimes.
(or most of the times)

There’s a phase where you feel lost.
Slow.
Behind.
A phase where your confidence takes a hit.
Where you doubt yourself daily.
But that phase?
That’s not failure.
That’s growth in disguise.

Because every time I felt “stupid,” I was actually stretching.
Learning.
Rewiring my brain 🧠
And slowly (painfully slowly) things started to click.

So if you’re in that phase right now…
Feeling like you should be further ahead.
Feeling like everyone else is smarter than you.
Please hear this:
You’re not stupid.
You’re brave for being in the room.
And this part?
It’s supposed to be hard 💛

As a little girl, I didn’t need anyone to tell me what girls were “meant” to do.
The world around me made it obvious.

I grew up in a small town.
The kind where everyone knows your name..and exactly what you should be.

There was a sort of silent script, especially for girls:
Be helpful, be polite, be smart, but not too smart.
Dreams were fine, as long as they didn’t disrupt anything or were too much.
Ambition? That was harder to explain.

At school, it got reinforced.
The boys were encouraged to be engineers or entrepreneurs or doctors or lawyers.
The girls were somehow expected to keep things running quietly in the background.

It was subtle, but constant.
And it works.
- By age 6, girls already start doubting their intelligence.
- By adulthood, only 27% of STEM roles are held by women.
- And only a fraction go on to lead companies or raise capital.

But at home, the rules were different.

My parents never told me to be careful.
They never warned me to tone it down.
They didn’t ask me to choose the “safe” path.
They raised me like the world didn’t get to decide who I’d be.
There were no big talks about feminism or empowerment.
Just small, consistent signals:
→ Your ideas matter
→ You’re allowed to want more
→ Your path doesn’t need permission
→ Build your wealth and never depend on a man's money

That gave me an edge that didn’t look like confidence at first.
It looked like discomfort with limits.
I felt like I didn't belong, like the reality I was in was too tight compared to what I was living in my household..
And that's also why 13 years ago I packed my bags and left the country for good..

But now I know, that safe home environment gave me everything.
Because before I ever knew what I wanted to be,
I was raised to believe I could choose.

That’s what changed my life.

And it’s why I don’t wait to be invited in..
I build the damn room ✌🏼

PS: special thanks to my parents for being my forever cheerleaders 💜

My mum always told me "Don’t talk to strangers!"

So naturally… I invited 3 of them to lunch at Honest Greens 😆
(Sorry, mum)

We met on LinkedIn.
Comments. DMs. Voice notes. You know the drill.

But meeting in real life?
Different game.

We sat down at the new Honest Greens London spot.
Busy. Bright. Full of life.

Because the space sets the tone.
Relaxed. Open. Unpretentious.
Not your average restaurant where you rush, eat, leave.

The food was honestly 🔥
Fresh. Clean. The kind of meal that doesn't make you crush after 2pm 🤷🏻‍♀️

And then something really nice happened.

The “strangers” part disappeared.
The conversations flowed.
No awkwardness.
No agenda.
Just real talk, laughs, and that easy feeling you get when you’re exactly where you’re meant to be.

There’s something about sharing food.
It makes things more open. More human.

Honest Greens nailed that vibe 👌🏼
Good food.
Good energy.
Good people.

Turns out, talking to strangers isn’t that dangerous after all 🤷🏻‍♀️

👇 If you’re planning a lunch with friends, colleagues, family, or someone you want to get to know better, try Honest Greens. Download the app and get money off your first meal: https://lnkd.in/eRwxmMrc

#Ad

Brand partnership • Founder & CEO @ Mint & Lemon 🍋 | Building personal brands for startups founders and CEOs | Speaker | Startup Advisor

In 2017, I took 68 flights.

I was everywhere.
Different countries. Different time zones.
Working from cafés, airports, hotel rooms. Wherever there was Wi-Fi.

From the outside, it looked great.
Remote work. Freedom. That whole “living the dream” thing.
And yes, parts of it were amazing.
But I was also completely wrecked.

My routine was all over the place.
Sleep didn’t exist properly.
Food was whatever I could grab.
Training was inconsistent, if it happened at all.
My body never caught up.
I was tired in a way rest didn’t really fix.
Always slightly jet-lagged. Always a bit off.

What I didn’t realise at the time is how hard that lifestyle actually is on you.
Mentally and physically.

We glamorise “working from anywhere” so much.
But your nervous system doesn’t care about the view from your laptop.
It cares about rhythm.
Consistency.
Predictability.
Same wake-up time.
Same meals.
Same gym.
Same walk.
Same bed.

Sometimes the life that looks boring from the outside is the one your body has been asking for all along 👌🏼

Dear LinkedIn,
Can we please have FOLDERS for saved posts?
Thank you.
Kindly,
Everyone 😅

It’s Friday. Maybe I’ll call in sick.

Sh*t. I forgot I’m the boss.

Oh hello, 24/7 work-life balance 😆🤦🏻‍♀️

Last month I spent more time talking about a meeting than being in the meeting.

Emails.
Reschedules.
“Sorry just catching up.”
“Does next week work instead?”

What’s funny is that almost everything else in my work is automated now.
Sales. Ops. Growth. Brand.
Except time.
Which is probably the one thing that should be handled better.

No secret I’m a founding creator partner at Meet-Ting 💁🏻‍♀️
And simply because it's a tool I love (and DESPERATELY NEED for my everyday life 😅)

It doesn’t just book meetings.
It learns how you make time decisions.
Who you prioritise.
What you delay.
What you protect.
What you never say yes to twice.
I don’t manage it.
I just CC it in an email or WhatsApp.
It plans and books the call. 
Adds an agenda.
Sends me a short brief before the meeting.
Spots no-shows.
Offers to follow up.

The goal isn’t efficiency for the sake of it. It’s judgment.
A schedule that makes the decisions you’d make if you actually had the time to think.
Because work keeps scaling.
But the day doesn’t 🤷🏻‍♀️

If your calendar feels heavier than it should, this might be worth handing off 👉 meet-ting.com

If you haven't watched this video yet, then do it NOW 👇🏻

If you are a woman, this is something you know (unfortunately) very well.
If you are a man, how does this make you feel?

If you have any female colleagues, remember they worked bloody hard for that role, pushing through all the nasty questions they have been asked, and pretending it's normal.

Let's not do this only for our daughters.
Let the change happen now.

PS: Kudos to BOL for this amazing campaign 👌🏼

I got my Top Voice badge taken away.

Unfortunately, for one reason.

I never had one 😆

You want to come and have lunch with me?
Not joking.
On me.

Food has always been my thing.
I grew up in a house where ingredients mattered.
My family had an olive oil business. Fruit trees. Veggies in the garden.
Very Italian 🇮🇹
Very normal.
Very “you don’t mess with food.”
(Thanks Dad, for making me extremely picky with restaurants 😂)

When I was living in Barcelona, Honest Greens became that place that you could trust. It’s clean, nutritious, delicious food. Simple. And Real.

So when I heard they were opening in London,
my immediate reaction was: “Take me there. Now.”

If you’re in London and fancy a proper lunch with me,
Download the Honest Greens app and drop a comment below 👇🏻
👉 https://lnkd.in/ebXW4MWt

I love meeting new people.
And we Italians meet around food 🤷🏻‍♀️🍝
So be Italian with me 💁🏻‍♀️🇮🇹
(Limited spots)

PS: If you’re in Soho and want a proper lunch, this is the place. But fair warning: it’ll become a habit 😆

#Ad

POV: you’re a bit of a control freak 🙃
But you call it “just staying on top of things” 😆

Because you care, you want things done properly.
So you check. Then you check again.

And somehow…
You’re involved in way more than you planned.

For years, I told myself this was just being responsible.
That this was leadership.
That this was what “good” looked like.

In reality, I was slowly losing my headspace.

Marketing wasn’t hard.
It was just never off.

It followed me on walks.
Popped up in the shower.
Sat with me at dinner.

Always that background noise:
Did that go out?
Is that still running?
What if something breaks and I don’t see it?

People would say,
 “Just automate it.”
Which sounds great… Until automation feels like letting go… and hoping nothing goes wrong.

So instead, I hovered. Tweaked. Checked dashboards “just in case”.
More tools.
More systems.
More mental tabs open 🧠

At the start of this year, something clicked.

The problem was carrying everything in my head.
I needed breathing room.

That’s when I realised what had been missing all along.
Not automation that just runs.
But automation that actually thinks.

That’s where ActiveCampaign came in.

It doesn’t just execute. It learns. It adapts.
And it shows you what genuinely needs attention, and what doesn’t.

That’s Active Intelligence. That’s Autonomous Marketing without the low-level anxiety 😅

Ironically, trusting the system gave me more control back.
Less checking.
More headspace.
Better decisions.

And this year, I’m leaning into that shift.
I’ll be sharing what changes, month by month, as I get further out of the weeds 🌱  and let marketing work with me, not against me.

If you see yourself in this…
You’re probably closer to the weeds than you think.

Try ActiveCampaign and see what happens when your brain finally gets a break 💁🏻‍♀️ https://lnkd.in/eXpD_viZ 

#Ad #ActiveCampaignPartner #OutOfTheWeeds #AutonomousMarketing

ActiveCampaign

"Post 7 days a week"
"Don't post every day"

"Use carousels"
"Carousels are dead, use cheatsheets"

"Videos are the future"
"Videos are dead"

"Post every day at the same time"
"Posting time doesn't matter"

"Pictures don't perform anymore"
"Pictures are the stronger visual"

..wtf 🤷🏻‍♀️
You do you and don't follow the gurus
remember you are unique, your job is unique, your industry is unique, your geography is unique, so whatever works for you doesn't work for other accounts..

you do you and forget the nonsense 🤷🏻‍♀️

He clearly didn't check my website..

..because I don't have one 😆

And yet I’ve built a business that works.
Clients. Revenue. Referrals. Repeat work.

And before anyone jumps in,
I’m not saying websites are useless.
They’re not.
But before you spend months on a website, fix your damn LinkedIn profile!

Because that’s where people actually go first.
That’s where they decide if you’re credible.
That’s where they decide if they want to talk to you.

Your link in bio matters more than your website early on.
Not as a list of links, but as a landing page.
Clear:
– who you help
– what problem you solve
– why you’re worth listening to
– what to do next

I’ve closed business with:
– no website
– no funnels
– no “perfect setup”
Just me, myself and my LinkedIn 💁🏻‍♀️

If you’re stuck building instead of selling,
...you’re really overthinking it.

Fix LinkedIn first.
Website later.
That order matters.

Heart disease causes around 25% of all deaths in the UK.

But this isn’t just a statistic, it’s not something that happens “to others”.
Most of us have been touched by it in some way. Maybe a parent, a friend, or our own body.

That’s why the British Heart Foundation’s In Living Memory campaign is so powerful.
The people behind it didn’t just tell a story, they captured the emotion behind it.
The love.
The hope that still remains.

It doesn’t just raise awareness, it gives hope.
And sometimes, hope is exactly what people need.

Heart health isn’t a future problem.
It’s a now problem.
And it touches far more of us than we realise ❤️

MrBeast working with Salesforce on a Super Bowl ad should shake up every B2B team.

It deeply challenges how old-fashioned B2B thinks about creators.
There’s this idea that creators sit in a separate box.
Great for consumer brands.
Interesting, but not really relevant for “serious” B2B.

I’ve worked with large B2B brands (Notion, AWS, Semrush, Hubspot, etc..) that are genuinely ahead of the curve when it comes to marketing.

The common thread isn’t how polished they are or how carefully they manage brand voice, it’s that they understand attention.
And they’re realistic about where it comes from.

The people buying B2B products don’t suddenly become different humans at work.
They consume the same content.
They follow people they trust.
They form opinions long before they ever speak to sales.

B2C got comfortable with this years ago.
B2B stayed cautious and procedural.
Salesforce stepping into this space is a sign of where things are already moving.

A lot of B2B opportunity sits in plain sight right now.
I'm pretty sure we'll see more B2B brands stepping up ⬆️

Has anyone else clocked what the Ritz Paris has been doing on social lately?

This is a brand that could afford to stay untouchable.
A heritage brand.
World-famous.
Old-school luxury.

Instead, they’ve gone the other way.
And not just on Instagram. On LinkedIn too.

The tone feels current.
Not stiff.
Not corporate.
Not “we’ve been here since 1898, therefore we don’t need to try”.
And the engagement is honestly kind of mad.

And they’re doing it without trying to be cool or trendy.
They haven’t diluted the brand.
If anything, they’ve made it feel more alive.

If Ritz Paris can evolve without losing its soul, no brand gets a free pass to stay static.
Luxury doesn’t mean silent.
Heritage doesn’t mean boring.
Credibility doesn’t come from hiding.

Some brands move. Some just hope their name still does the work..

Co-founder & COO at Plumm | Making mental health accessible for all | Mental Wellbeing, Resilience and Start-ups

Hi, I’m Nabil, COO and co-founder of Plumm 👋🏻

We started Plumm to build something that genuinely touches people’s lives. Plumm started as a mental health platform, and over time, it’s grown into a full HR solution that keeps people at its core. For me, it’s all about helping companies create workplaces where people can truly thrive.

From revenue to operations, I’m focused on making Plumm practical, impactful, and easy for teams to use every day. Outside of work, I’m passionate about finding new ways to contribute to the community in any way shape or form. 

If you’re curious about how Plumm can support your team, request a demo here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0m7VVl0

I’d love to connect and explore what we can create together!

Nabil Ismail

UK sponsorship compliance just got serious.
 

Between July 2024 and June 2025, 1,948 sponsor licences were revoked. That's more than double the previous year's 937.
 
The rules haven't just tightened. They've fundamentally changed.
 
Compliance Officers used to focus on what was happening on the day of their visit. Spot checks. Email requests. Present-day documentation.
 
Not anymore.
 
They're now demanding evidence going back 12+ months. Documentation from day one of each sponsorship. The entire paper trail for individual workers.
 
The change is clear: from monitoring to enforcement. From checking to penalising.
 
For businesses sponsoring workers, this creates a real problem. Manual systems can't keep up. Spreadsheets fail. Paper trails go missing. And one gap in your records can cost you your licence.
 
So what should you be doing differently?
 
First, treat documentation as mission-critical from day one. Not something you sort out later. Every new sponsorship needs a complete file from the moment it starts.
 
Second, centralise everything. If your records are scattered across emails, filing cabinets, and different systems, you're creating risk. One place for all sponsor-related documentation makes audits manageable.
 
Third, run regular internal audits. Don't wait for the Home Office to find gaps. Check your records quarterly at minimum. Test whether you could pull a complete file for any sponsored worker within an hour.
 
Fourth, automate where you can. Manual tracking of right to work checks, absence records, and reporting duties is where most businesses slip up. Technology exists to handle this reliably.
 
The enforcement approach isn't going to soften. If anything, expect it to intensify.
 
I've been working through these changes with quite a few businesses lately. If you're navigating this and want to talk through what's working (or what isn't), always happy to share what I'm seeing.

Co-founder & COO at Plumm | Powering People and Performance | Human Resources and Mental Wellbeing

Think you can ignore the HR changes coming in 2026 and 2027?
You can.
It is just a choice to outsource risk to your future self.
 
The Employment Rights Act implementation runs across 2026 into 2027.
 
The qualifying period for unfair dismissal drops to six months.
 
The compensation cap is being removed.
 
So the old founder move of “we’ll tidy HR later” gets riskier.
 
Because the gap is never the policy.
It’s the behaviour.
 
A manager makes a rushed call.
There’s no documentation.
Nobody can show what support was offered.
The business ends up defending a process that did not exist.
 
If you are scaling, treat this like any other operational risk:
Define the minimum standard.
Train it.
Audit it occasionally.
Fix it before it becomes a tribunal story.
 
Founders love talking about culture.
This is one of the moments where you prove you mean it.

Most companies only involve HR once something has already gone wrong.
 

A grievance.
A resignation.
A manager decision that now needs review.
 
At that stage, choices are limited and risk is already higher than it needed to be.
 
The value of HR shows up earlier.
When roles are defined.
When managers are promoted.
When difficult conversations are prepared properly.
 
In effective organisations, HR is part of decision making.
In weaker ones, HR is asked to review outcomes after decisions have already been taken.
 
The difference usually comes down to authority.
 
If HR is only asked to document or approve decisions, their impact is limited.
If HR is included before decisions are finalised, issues are reduced and outcomes are more consistent.
 
If leaders want HR to be effective, a few actions matter:
 
Include HR in people decisions, not just policy updates.
Support HR when they slow decisions down to ensure the right process is followed.
Set the expectation that managers act on HR guidance, rather than treating it as optional.
 
Most HR teams already understand what needs to change.
What they often lack is the authority and support to implement it.
 
When HR is seen as bureaucratic, it is often because responsibility has been given without real influence.

Ever wondered what would happen if everyone at your company knew what everyone else earned?
 
That situation is getting closer, whether leaders like it or not.
 
Pay transparency rules are already in place in parts of the US and are moving through Europe. Salary ranges in job ads are becoming normal. Pay audits are no longer optional in some markets.
 
The intention makes sense. Close gaps. Reduce bias. Give people clearer information.
 
Where it gets hard is execution.
 
Most organisations do not have a pay transparency problem.
They have years of decisions that were never meant to be seen together.
 
Roles evolved without being reset.
Titles drifted.
Pay was agreed in moments that made sense at the time, but were never joined up later.
 
That is manageable when pay stays private.
It becomes uncomfortable once ranges are visible.
 
Not because people are difficult.
Because they want to understand the logic.
 
Why am I here in the band?
What actually moves someone up?
Why do two similar roles look different on paper?
 
Posting salary ranges is not the work.
Explaining them is.
 
For founders and operators, this is less about compliance and more about discipline.
Clear roles.
Clear progression.
Pay decisions you can explain calmly, without caveats.
 
Most companies are not unfair.
They are just inconsistent.
 
Transparency has a way of surfacing that quickly.
 
If your team could see every salary tomorrow, which decision would you struggle to explain first?

Everyone says they are too busy to look after their health.
 
I told myself the same thing.
 
Last year, I was running tired more often than I admitted.
Not collapsing.
Just operating with less margin than the job actually required.
 
Meetings stacked.
Decisions piling up.
Little recovery between any of it.
 
I kept assuming I could push through and deal with it later.
Later never arrived.
 
What changed was not a health goal.
It was noticing the impact on my work.
 
Shorter patience.
Slower thinking.
Decisions that took more effort than they should have.
 
That is not sustainable when other people depend on you.
 
So I made a few non-negotiables.
Sleep first.
Training early, before the day filled up.
Eating properly so energy did not swing all over the place.
 
No transformation story.
Just fewer bad days.
 
The difference showed up quickly.
Clearer judgement.
More capacity for the team.
Less time spent recovering from my own decisions.
 
The part that made it stick was other people.
Family who adjusted.
Colleagues who respected boundaries.
People who called it out when I slipped back into old habits.
 
Leadership already comes with enough pressure.
Running it exhausted just lowers the quality of everything.
 
Health is not a side project.
It limits how well you can do the job.

Gen Z is using dating apps to find co-founders.
 
Not joking.
 
More and more, platforms like Hinge and Bumble are being used less like dating tools and more like lightweight networking spaces. Profiles explain what someone is building, what they care about, and how they want to work. Matches happen around ambition and working style, not just hobbies.
 
At first, that sounds strange.
Then you think about how most co-founders actually meet.
 
Conferences.
Mutual friends.
Same university.
Right place, right time.
 
I have been a co-founder for eight years, and most founder stories still follow that pattern. A conversation at the right moment. An introduction that happened to land. Being in the same room when an idea was forming.
 
Gen Z seems less comfortable leaving that to chance.
 
They are filtering earlier. Values. How someone wants to work. What they are trying to build. All before committing time to the wrong partnership.
 
People roll their eyes at this approach.
Dating apps.
Side projects.
DMs instead of introductions.
 
But many Gen Z builders do not have access to the networks others benefited from. No warm intros. No alumni pipelines. No casual office conversations where things quietly start.
 
So they are building their own way in.
 
Is it perfect? No.
A profile will not tell you how someone handles pressure or conflict.
 
Then again, neither does a rushed coffee at a networking event. We just tend to trust the one that feels familiar.
 
Gen Z is not avoiding the work.
They are redesigning how it starts.
 
There is probably something in that worth paying attention to.

Most founder pitches fail for one simple reason.
 
They are overcomplicated.
 
When I was raising, I spent far too much time polishing the wrong things.
Slides.
Metrics that looked good but changed nothing.
Language that sounded impressive and explained very little.
 
The hardest part was not the deck.
It was answering two basic questions cleanly.
 
What does your business actually do?
And are customers paying for it?
 
Early on, everything else is noise.
 
If you cannot explain your product in one plain sentence, it usually means the problem is not well defined yet.
If you cannot point to real revenue, it is hard to argue you have proof of anything beyond intent.
 
I learned quickly that investors do not get confused because they are slow.
They get confused because the business is.
 
Once I tightened how I explained the problem and could point to customers paying for it, the conversations changed.
Not because the pitch was better.
Because the business was clearer.
 
If someone asked you today what your company does, would your answer survive a follow up question?

If hiring feels harder than it should, this is probably part of it.

 
Gen Z already makes up a big chunk of the people most companies are trying to hire. By next year it will be around a quarter of the UK workforce. Not at some point in the future. Now.
 
This is not really about a generation. It is about expectations.
 
Most Gen Z candidates assume flexibility is normal. They expect mental health to be taken seriously. They expect work tools that actually work.
 
None of that feels extreme from their point of view. It is just what they are used to.
 
Where companies struggle is when their ways of working have not moved on. Fixed hours. Clunky systems. Vague career paths. That friction shows up quickly in hiring and even faster in retention.
 
Teams then blame the market or say “this generation is different”, when the setup is the real issue.
 
This is not about bending over backwards to appeal to Gen Z. It is about being honest about whether your organisation is still designed for the people you want to hire.
 
If someone joined your team next week, what would feel most outdated to them?

Founders and operators get painted a certain way.
Some of that is true.
Most of the job is not.
 
A lot of the work is emotional.
Managing uncertainty.
Having conversations that do not come with a clear answer.
Holding pressure without passing it straight down the line.
 
You do not get to have obvious bad days.
You still show up.
You still make calls.
You still steady things when you would rather step away.
 
There is also far less control than people imagine.
You inherit constraints.
You work around other people’s decisions.
You bridge the gap between ambition and what is actually possible.
 
None of that is glamorous.
But it is the work.
 
You learn to listen more than you speak.
To separate signal from noise.
To manage your own reactions before you try to manage anything else.
 
This side of building companies is rarely talked about.
But it is what most of the job actually looks like.

I used to dread HR admin.
 
Every week, HR waste hours chasing paperwork, sending reminders, and sorting out simple requests that should have taken minutes.
 
Important tasks slip, approvals drag on, and good people get stuck doing boring admin.

We've been innovating in the HR space and we're so excited about the growth.
 
We built an HR agent you can talk to, just like texting a friend.
 
Now, if you need to book time off, update info, assign a task, or find a document, you ask once and it’s sorted.
 
No more admin battles.
No more getting buried in forms.
Just simple prompts and instant results.
 
I wish I’d had this years ago.
The hours I get back now let me focus on what actually matters, my team and the business.
 
Would you use it if it saved you an hour a day?

One tweet can undo a decade of brand work.
 

That is not dramatic, it is structural.
 
For years, companies controlled their narrative through ads, press, and approved statements. If you owned the channel, you owned the story.
 
That control is gone.
 
Your brand now shows up in places you do not manage.
 
A candidate talking about their interview.
A customer posting a review late at night.
An employee sharing their experience publicly.
Someone tagging your company into a conversation you did not choose.
 
Most people trust those experiences more than anything a company publishes about itself. That is not a marketing insight, it is how trust works now.
 
The brands that hold up are not louder or more creative. They are consistent in how they behave.
 
What you promise.
What people experience.
How leaders act when nobody is watching.
 
When those drift apart, the gap becomes public, searchable, and very hard to explain away.
 
The companies that still believe they control their brand usually find out otherwise through someone else’s post.
 
Where do you see that gap showing up most clearly today?

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Elisabetta Torretti

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The Battle

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Elisabetta Torretti's LinkedIn Performance

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