Welcome to The Boardroom | Retention, Revenue + Customer Success for Female Founders

Natalie Bernacchi
  • 5.0 (59)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to The Boardroom is a podcast for ambitious female founders ready to build predictable recurring revenue, real client loyalty, and a business that has consistent compounding revenue growth. Hosted by Natalie Bernacchi, a Retention and Revenue Systems Expert with 15 years scaling startups to $50M ARR, each episode blends honest female founder conversations with practical Customer Success and post-sale revenue strategy. When you are ready to build alongside other female founders, The Boardroom Besties community is where it continues. New episodes weekly.

  1. 3h ago

    49: Protecting Your Income as a Female Founder, with Grace Tabib of DuPay

    You spent years pouring into other people's dreams, and somewhere along the way you started wondering if your own had quietly expired. If you have ever questioned whether the door has closed on something bigger for you, this conversation will land directly in your chest. Grace Tabib spent seven years as a full-time mom in three different countries, and at 42 she built DuPay, a subscription service that has now recovered over one million dollars in unpaid invoices for freelancers, creators, and women-owned businesses. In this episode, Grace shares the very real internal dialogue she walked through during COVID, the moment she realized her education and experiences were stacking into something purposeful, and how she partnered with her husband to build a business that is helping female founders protect their revenue. We talk about retention and renewal systems through a different lens, the systems that help you actually keep what you have already earned, and why so many women are quietly losing income simply because they have no infrastructure to chase it. This conversation was made for the woman who is sitting in her car, in her kitchen, or at her desk wondering if it is too late to begin. It is not. As an online business strategist working with female founders, I see this exact pattern over and over, and Grace's story is the receipt that your timeline is not behind, it is loading. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN ▸ Why your lived experience as a mom, employee, or career-pivoter is the exact foundation a strong digital business strategist needs to build something meaningful at any age ▸ How to recognize the difference between productive sprinting and unsustainable hustle, and the simple weekly ritual Grace and her husband use to protect family time ▸ Why so many women are losing income to unpaid invoices and what a real retention and revenue protection system actually looks like ▸ The mindset shift from listening to every opinion to trusting yourself, and how that one shift speeds up everything in your business WEEKLY CHALLENGE This week, schedule a three-hour block of intentional family time on your calendar like it is a client meeting. No phone, no laptop, no peeking at email. Whether it is a beach picnic, a board game, or a slow walk together, give your people a window of you that is fully present. Then notice how your nervous system responds when you come back to your business afterward. RESOURCES ▸ The Boardroom Besties | Want to be in the room where big decisions are made for your business? Boardroom Besties is a community for female founders who are done growing alone, built for the woman who wants real strategy, honest support, and a circle of women building serious businesses right alongside her. Come find your seat at the table. → https://nataliebernacchi.com/the-boardroom-besties-waitlist ▸ Book a Quick Call |  If you have ever had a strong revenue month and still felt anxious because you were not sure it would repeat, that is a sign your retention systems need attention. Book a 45 minute call with me and we will walk through your customer journey together to identify where support would make the biggest difference for your revenue. Book a call here → https://calendly.com/nataliebernacchi/claritycall GUEST INFO ▸ Instagram → @dupayme ▸ X (Twitter) → @dupayme ▸ LinkedIn → @dupayme ▸ Website → https://www.dupayme.com CONNECT WITH ME 🥂 Instagram → @nataliebernacchi and @welcometotheboardroompod 🥂 Website → https://nataliebernacchi.com 🥂 Get The Boardroom Brief → https://nataliebernacchi.com/newsletter

    40 min

  2. Jun 10

    48: How to Onboard Clients So They Stay, Renew, and Refer

    The first seven days after a client says yes are the most expensive days in your business, and almost no one is watching them. Your client is sitting on the other side of a decision that felt big, scanning for proof they made the right call, while you have already moved on to delivery and assumed they were settled. That gap is where the money starts slipping, often before the kickoff call ever happens. In this episode, Natalie walks through exactly what happens inside those first seven days and how to design them so your client confirms their decision instead of regretting it. She shares the corporate retention analysis that changed how she thinks about onboarding, the personal voice note that made her feel like the only member in the room, and the simple questionnaire shift that has become the single biggest driver of renewals in her own business. This is Client Onboarding Success, the first of the 5 Pillars of Post-Sale Revenue, and it is where strong client experience either gets built or quietly erodes. If you have ever celebrated a new client, sent the welcome email, and then wondered weeks later why they went cold, this episode was made for the exact season you are in. Onboarding is the first chapter of the renewal conversation, and learning how to improve client experience in those early days will change your retention before you ever pitch the next phase. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN ▸ Why buyer's remorse shows up within the first 24 hours and how to fill that window before it costs you the renewal ▸ How to flip your kickoff call so it builds confidence and momentum instead of drowning your client in logistics ▸ The pre-call questionnaire that becomes your most powerful retention tool and the documented proof of how far your client has come ▸ Why the first quick win in week one or two is the most important deliverable in your entire engagement and how it builds client loyalty WEEKLY CHALLENGE Audit your current onboarding sequence and find the moment where buyer's remorse is most likely to creep in. Map every touch point from the yes to the kickoff call, look for any gap longer than 24 hours, then fill the single biggest gap with one human moment, a short voice note, a personal video, or a quick check-in that says you saw their yes and you are already thinking about their business. RESOURCES ▸ Take the Revenue Leak Finder | A free 2-minute diagnostic to identify exactly where revenue is slipping through your business and what to fix first. Find it here → nataliebernacchi.com/revenue-leak-finder ▸ Book a Quick Call | If you have ever had a strong revenue month and still felt anxious because you were not sure it would repeat, that is a sign your retention systems need attention. Book a 45 minute call with me and we will walk through your customer journey together to identify where support would make the biggest difference for your revenue. Book a call here → https://calendly.com/nataliebernacchi/45-minute-call CONNECT WITH ME 🥂 Instagram → @nataliebernacchi and @lightheruppodcast 🥂 Website → https://nataliebernacchi.com 🥂 Get on The Lit List → https://nataliebernacchi.com/newsletter

    23 min

  3. Jun 3

    47: On a Mother Level: Authenticity, Compassion, and What It Really Takes to Lead When Life Is Full With Korina Maestas

    Nobody hands you a manual for what happens after you bring the baby home, and nobody warns you that building a business while building a family is going to stretch you in ways you were never prepared for. In this episode, Natalie sits down with Korina Maestas, board certified behavior analyst, special education advocate, founder of Kaibab Behavioral Services and Rising Mountain Academy, and author of the mini book and journal "On a Mother Level," for one of the most honest and wide-ranging conversations this show has ever held. Korina shares what it was like to start her first business while pregnant, navigate postpartum anxiety without knowing that is what she was experiencing, parent a neurodivergent child while being neurodivergent herself, and slowly rebuild her sense of self across her first four decades of life. This is a conversation about the fourth trimester nobody talks about, the generational patterns that surface the moment you become a parent, and what it actually means to lead with compassion when you are the one who is still healing. If you are a female founder who has ever felt like a dried-out rubber band being pulled in every direction at once, this episode is going to make you feel deeply seen. And if you have ever wondered whether the version of yourself that is building a business and raising kids and trying to show up fully for the people who need her is enough, Korina's answer is going to stay with you for a long time. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN ▸ Why the transition from your first to your second child is one of the most underestimated emotional seasons of motherhood, and what Korina wishes more people talked about before it happens ▸ How becoming a parent became the most powerful mirror for the personal growth work Korina needed to do, and why she believes parenting is only difficult for good parents ▸ What compassion as a leadership tool actually looks like inside a growing organization, and how Korina built a team culture where people stay because they feel heard ▸ Why authenticity on social media is not just a feel-good idea but the actual strategy that creates real connection, and how Korina learned to show up as herself instead of the version she thought people wanted to see WEEKLY CHALLENGE This week, write down one thing you have been carrying alone that you have not let anyone help you with. Then reach out to one person in your life and ask for that specific help. Korina is right that there is almost no season of life where you need support more than the ones that feel most overwhelming, and asking for it is not weakness. It is the most powerful thing you can do for yourself and for everyone who depends on you. GUEST INFO ▸ Instagram → @onamotherlevel713  ▸ Book → On a Mother Level by Korina Maestas, available on Amazon  ▸ Services → Kaibab Behavioral Services (ABA therapy, parent and teacher training, law enforcement training on autism) and Rising Mountain Academy (micro school for kiddos with disabilities in Arizona)  ▸ Donate → Rising Mountain Academy is a nonprofit; donations support scholarships and a robust educational experience for students CONNECT WITH ME 🥂 Instagram → @nataliebernacchi and @lightheruppodcast 🥂 Website → https://nataliebernacchi.com  🥂 Get on The Lit List → https://nataliebernacchi.com/newsletter

    56 min

  4. May 27

    46: The Sale That Actually Builds Your Business Happens After the First Invoice

    If you have been pouring your energy into finding the next new client while your existing relationships fade into your archive folder, this episode is going to reframe everything. Most founders never realize that the biggest sale they will ever make to a great client almost never happens on the first invoice. It happens on the second engagement, the renewal, the referral, the next phase of a relationship that was already built on trust, results, and real work done together. In this episode, Natalie Bernacchi breaks down exactly how to build recurring revenue from the clients you already have, why your first sale is the doorway rather than the destination, and what a real customer success framework looks like when it is built with intention. This episode connects directly to the Ascension and Expansion Pathways pillar of Post-Sale Revenue, and it is for every founder who wants to understand how to improve client experience so deeply that the next step always feels obvious to the client before she ever has to ask. If you are a solopreneur or six-figure founder who is exhausted by the constant pressure of launching, and you want a revenue model that compounds instead of disappears, this conversation was made for the season you are in right now. The money is already in your business and this episode will show you exactly where to find it. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN ▸ How to build client loyalty that turns a single transaction into a long-term client relationship, starting with how you design the first sale as a deliberate entry point into something bigger ▸ Why the offboarding language most founders are using right now is unintentionally signaling to clients that the relationship is over, and exactly what to say instead to keep the door open to continued revenue ▸ How to improve client experience so that renewal, expansion, and referrals feel like the natural next chapter rather than something you have to pitch or convince a client into ▸ What a real Ascension and Expansion pathway looks like inside a service-based business, so your clients always know exactly what their next step is and you are never losing revenue simply because you forgot to name it WEEKLY CHALLENGE Pull up the list of every client you have worked with in the last 12 months and mark the ones whose engagement ended without a clear next offer. Then pick three clients from that list, the ones whose results you are still proud of, and write each of them a short, personal message that celebrates one specific win they had with you and offers one clear next step that fits where they are now. Send those three messages this week, because one of them is going to turn into your next sale, and that sale is going to compound into your retention rate, your lifetime value, and your monthly recurring revenue in a way that a cold launch never could. RESOURCES ▸ Take the Revenue Leak Finder | A free 2-minute diagnostic to identify exactly where revenue is slipping through your business and what to fix first. Find it here → nataliebernacchi.com/revenue-leak-finder ▸ Book a Quick Call | If you have ever had a strong revenue month and still felt anxious because you were not sure it would repeat, that is a sign your retention systems need attention. Book a 45-minute call with me and we will walk through your customer journey together to identify where support would make the biggest difference for your revenue. Book a call here → https://nataliebernacchi.com/book-a-call CONNECT WITH ME 🥂 Instagram → @nataliebernacchi and @lightheruppodcast 🥂 Website → https://nataliebernacchi.com  🥂 Get on The Lit List → https://nataliebernacchi.com/newsletter

    33 min

  5. Mar 23

    45: From Performing to Embodying: Redefining Visibility, Leadership, and Success as a Mother and Entrepreneur w/ Krystal Jugarap

    What if the reason you feel tired, unseen, or disconnected in your business has nothing to do with your work ethic and everything to do with how you’ve been taught to perform success? In this episode, I sat down with Krystal Jugarap, founder of Herrolo, for a deeply honest conversation about what it actually looks like to step off the hamster wheel and start building a life and business that feels aligned, spacious, and true. Krystal shared her journey from being the “good girl” who checked all the boxes to becoming a mother and entrepreneur who leads with intention, boundaries, and community at the center. We talked about leaving corporate life, navigating motherhood while building a business, redefining visibility beyond social media pressure, and why community is not just a nice-to-have but the foundation for sustainable success. This episode is for the woman who knows she is meant for more but is ready to stop performing for it and start embodying it in a way that actually supports her real life. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ✨ Why performing success leads to burnout and how embodiment creates sustainability ✨ How motherhood can become the catalyst for redefining success on your own terms ✨ What visibility looks like when it is rooted in relationships and community, not constant posting ✨ How to build a business that honors boundaries, energy, and long-term legacy WEEKLY CHALLENGE This week, take ten quiet minutes to ask yourself where you are performing instead of embodying. Choose one small boundary you can honor that feels supportive rather than restrictive. Let that boundary be an act of self trust, not self discipline. RESOURCES ✨Join Krystal's Online Community ✨ Join The CEO Besties Virtual Community  A virtual membership designed for women in the early stages of building a business who want clarity, structure, and support before acceleration. Life-first. Foundation-focused. Community-driven. ✨Have you ever had a “great month of revenue” and still felt anxious because you don’t know if it will repeat? Book a call with me and let’s talk through your business and your customer journey. We’ll explore what working together could look like and where support could make the biggest difference. Book a call here  →  https://calendly.com/nataliebernacchi/claritycall GUEST INFO ✨ Instagram → @joinherrolo ✨ Website → https://www.herrolo.com/ ✨ Instagram (Personal) → @iamkrystalj CONNECT WITH ME ✨ Instagram → @nataliebernacchi & @lightheruppodcast ✨ Website → https://nataliebernacchi.com/ ✨ Get on The Lit List → https://nataliebernacchi.com/newsletter

    55 min

  6. Mar 12

    44: Why More New Sales Won’t Fix a Business with Leaky Revenue

    What if the reason your revenue feels unstable has nothing to do with how well you sell? So many founders assume that when revenue dips, the answer is simple. More leads. More content. Another launch. More visibility. But what if the real problem is not how many people are coming into your business, but how many are quietly leaving? In this episode of the Light Her Up Podcast, Natalie Bernacchi dives into one of the most overlooked drivers of business growth: retention. Drawing on more than 15 years of experience building customer success systems inside tech startups, Natalie shares the moment she realized her own business did not have a sales problem. It had a retention problem. This conversation explores the silent revenue killer called churn, why launches plateau when retention is weak, and how founders can shift from constant selling to building stable, recurring revenue. If you have ever felt like you are always hustling for the next client while wondering why income still feels unpredictable, this episode will feel like someone finally turned the lights on. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ✨ Why strong launches can still lead to unstable revenue if clients are leaving faster than they arrive ✨ What churn actually means in a service based business and why it quietly drains growth ✨ How shifting from acquisition thinking to retention thinking changes the way you run your company ✨ Practical ways to strengthen onboarding, client success, and renewal pathways so revenue compounds over time WEEKLY CHALLENGE This week, shift your focus from where clients enter your business to where they leave. Take a look at your last five to ten clients and map their journey. When did they exit? Was it after onboarding, after the first month, or at the point of renewal? Then ask yourself one powerful question: Are clients seeing value fast enough? Even a small insight from this exercise can reveal where your revenue is leaking and where you can create a stronger experience that keeps clients engaged and supported for longer. RESOURCES ✨ Free Customer Journey Audit Natalie is offering listeners a free audit to help identify where clients may be dropping off and how to strengthen the client journey. DM the word AUDIT to @nataliebernacchi on Instagram to get started. ✨ Join The CEO Besties Community A virtual membership designed for women in the early stages of building a business who want clarity, structure, and support before acceleration. Life-first. Foundation-focused. Community-driven. Join Here → https://theceobesties.com/launchpad-society ✨Have you ever had a “great month of revenue” and still felt anxious because you don’t know if it will repeat the next month? Book a Clarity Call with me and we’ll talk through your business, your customer journey, and the role retention can play in creating more predictable revenue. As a Revenue and Retention Strategist with over 15 years of experience building and leading Customer Success and post-sale growth inside high-growth startups, I bring that same revenue infrastructure thinking into founder-led businesses. We’ll also explore what working together could look like and whether deeper support would be a fit. Book a call here → https://calendly.com/nataliebernacchi/45-minute-call CONNECT WITH ME ✨ Instagram → @nataliebernacchi & @lightheruppodcast ✨ Website → https://nataliebernacchi.com/ ✨ Get on The Lit List → https://nataliebernacchi.com/newsletter

    20 min

  7. Mar 5

    43: How to Reclaim Your Life Without Burning It Down with Michelle Hooey

    Ever hit that moment where you think, whose life is this, and how did I get here? In this episode, Natalie sits down with returning guest Michelle Hooey for a conversation that feels like a deep exhale and a wake-up call at the same time. Michelle is stepping into a brand new chapter as an author, with her book The Goldie Effect launching March 6, and she shares what this season is really like behind the scenes, including the fear, the certainty, and the identity shift that comes when you stop playing small and start telling the truth. Michelle opens up about her family’s journey, including five pregnancy losses, Goldie’s early birth, six months in the NICU, and what it has meant to mother a medically complex child with no clear diagnosis. What makes this episode powerful is how Michelle turns that lived experience into something practical and usable. She shares the exact framework that helped her survive the hardest seasons and still build a meaningful life, the 15-Minute Rewrite: regulate, reflect, reclaim. If you are in a season of burnout, uncertainty, reinvention, or you simply feel like you have been living on autopilot, this episode is here to remind you that your life is not broken. You do not need to burn it down to change it. You can rewrite it, one small decision at a time, and this conversation was created for the woman who is ready to choose herself again. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ✨ Why identity shifts often start in the most unexpected, painful seasons and how they can lead you back to who you really are ✨ The 15-Minute Rewrite framework and how regulating your body first changes what you are able to handle next ✨ How to stop trying to “fix” your life and start reclaiming it through small, consistent choices that actually stick ✨ What it looks like to build a life-first business model, including Michelle’s decision to run her business in 10 hours a week WEEKLY CHALLENGE Pick one day this week and schedule your 15 minutes like it matters, because it does. Set a timer and do this: 5 minutes to REGULATE: breathe, stretch, shake it out, take a short walk, anything that brings you back into your body 5 minutes to REFLECT: ask yourself, what feels heavy right now, and what do I actually need 5 minutes to RECLAIM: take one small action that supports your life, your health, or your next step Then DM Michelle or Natalie and share what shifted for you after you did it.  JOURNAL PROMPT ✨ Journal Prompt: Where am I saying yes out of obligation, and what would change if I trusted my no ✨ Journal Prompt: If I had 10 hours a week for my goals, what would I stop doing and what would I focus on RESOURCES ✨ Get your copy of The Goldie Effect by Michelle Hooey! Buy it HERE. ✨ Join The CEO Besties Community A virtual membership designed for women in the early stages of building a business who want clarity, structure, and support before acceleration. Life-first. Foundation-focused. Community-driven. ✨Have you ever had a “great month of revenue” and still felt anxious because you don’t know if it will repeat the next month? Book a Clarity Call with me and we’ll talk through your business, your customer journey, and the role retention can play in creating more predictable revenue. As a Revenue and Retention Strategist with over 15 years of experience building and leading Customer Success and post-sale growth inside high-growth startups, I bring that same revenue infrastructure thinking into founder-led businesses. We’ll also explore what working together could look like and whether deeper support would be a fit. Book a call here → https://calendly.com/nataliebernacchi/45-minute-call GUEST INFO ✨ Instagram → http://instagram.com/michelle_hooey  ✨ Website → http://anchorlesscoaching.com/  CONNECT WITH ME ✨ Instagram → @nataliebernacchi & @lightheruppodcast ✨ Website → https://nataliebernacchi.com/ ✨ Get on The Lit List → https://nataliebernacchi.com/newsletter

    56 min

  8. Feb 6

    42: From Burnout to Visibility: How Podcasting Helps Women Grow Their Business Without the Hustle w/ Candace Dudley

    What if growing your business did not require you to be everywhere, all the time In this episode of the Light Her Up Podcast, Natalie sits down with Candace Dudley for an honest, grounding conversation about burnout, identity shifts, and building visibility in a way that actually supports your life. Candace shares her journey from teaching and early motherhood burnout to becoming a podcast guesting coach with over 200 episodes under her belt and dozens of guest appearances in a single year. Together, Natalie and Candace unpack why podcasting feels more sustainable than social media for so many women, how guesting can create long-term visibility without constant content creation, and why alignment matters more than algorithms. This episode is for the woman who wants to grow her business, use her voice, and still have space for her kids, her energy, and her real life. If you have ever felt pulled toward something new but unsure how to trust yourself enough to go all in, this conversation will meet you exactly where you are. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ✨ Why podcasting can be a powerful alternative to constant social media posting ✨ How guesting builds visibility, credibility, and relationships without burnout ✨ The identity shifts that come with leaving stable careers and choosing yourself ✨ How alignment, strategy, and intuition work together in sustainable business growth WEEKLY CHALLENGE Take five quiet minutes this week and ask yourself this question: What part of my business feels energy-giving, and what feels energy-draining right now? Write down one thing you could do less of and one thing you want to lean into more. No action required yet. Just awareness. RESOURCES MENTIONED: ✨ Explore aligned visibility through podcast guesting and start your podcast tour HERE ✨Join Candace’s Podcast Matchmaking Community HERE ✨ Interested in increasing retention, reducing churn, and building customer success systems that help clients stick around longer? Book a call with me and let’s talk through your business, look at what’s actually going on, explore what support might help the most, and see if we’re a good fit to work together. You’ll leave with actionable takeaways either way!   Book a call here  →  https://nataliebernacchi.com/book-a-call  GUEST INFO ✨ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/candacedudley/  ✨ Website → https://candacedudley.com  ✨ Podcast → The Podcasting Mentor  CONNECT WITH ME ✨ Instagram → @nataliebernacchi & @lightheruppodcast ✨ Website → https://nataliebernacchi.com/ ✨ Get on The Lit List → https://nataliebernacchi.com/newsletter

    1 hr
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5
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59 Ratings

About

Welcome to The Boardroom is a podcast for ambitious female founders ready to build predictable recurring revenue, real client loyalty, and a business that has consistent compounding revenue growth. Hosted by Natalie Bernacchi, a Retention and Revenue Systems Expert with 15 years scaling startups to $50M ARR, each episode blends honest female founder conversations with practical Customer Success and post-sale revenue strategy. When you are ready to build alongside other female founders, The Boardroom Besties community is where it continues. New episodes weekly.

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