natalie riso

Raise @ Mercury
Startup & VC Content, Ops, and Fundraising
3x LinkedIn Top Voice
Personal Brand Consultant

collaborate

  • Speaking & Events

    I’ve spoken and hosted 40+ events on LinkedIn, content marketing, & startups/VC.

  • Venture Capital

    I often take on side projects with VCs around content, operations, events, and deal flow.

  • Brands

    Interested in reaching my following of ~380,000 on LinkedIn?

  • Consulting

    Looking to level up your personal brand? I got you covered.

how I got here

In 2015, I began writing on LinkedIn. I covered the things dearest to me at the time: women in STEM, startups, education, and media. To break through the noise online, I brought light to subjects like the mental health crisis among startup founders and the lack of representation of women in tech companies.

Fast forward a few years, and I grew a following from my writing, graduating as the most followed student in the world on Linkedin in 2018.

After college, I expanded my work outside of writing and personal brand consulting to build an event series around startups and mental health. I subsequently joined 500 Global (formerly 500 Startups) to help with their content marketing and marketing partnerships. I co-led 500’s first-ever virtual Demo Day, advised startups on GTM strategy, launched 500 female founders’ hub and Black founders’ hubs, and led many of the firm’s data reports and content efforts for LPs, co-investors, and founders.

In 2023, I moved to Mercury to help build out their Raise program.

Today, I spend most of my time building founder community and mentorship at Mercury. On the side, I help out VCs and startups with project-based work, including content marketing, personal branding, and ops.

featured in

  • Linkedin Top Voices
  • Cosmopolitan Magazine
  • Inc feature
  • Motherboard by Vice