Barbara Turley

Founder & CEO at The Virtual Hub | Speaker | Podcast Host 🎙| Operational Efficiency Enthusiast 💥| Passionately helping businesses remove bottlenecks & scale 🚀

A 'Mum first' entrepreneur who has bootstrapped and scaled a 350 employee, digital first support assistant company with clients spanning the globe, all while attending toddler ballet, kids ski club, playdates and living between the mountains of Europe and the beaches of Australia.

The usual question I get asked is 'how the hell did you do that?' 

To which my usual reply is ......

'By focussing on building great systems, nailing process delegation and leveraging cost effective teams of support assistants in The Philippines.'

Platforms. Processes. People. 

Everyday I see great companies full of great people who are roadblocked by the vortex of busywork. From small businesses with 5 people to large organisations with 500 people the story is the same. Great people bogged down by necessary but inefficient and time consuming busywork. 

By identifying the 20-50% of most peoples day that is taken up by admin and/or process driven tasks any business can strategically optimise their human capital budgets by delegating to a team of offshore virtual assistants. 

From e-commerce and SAAS to coaching and service businesses, we help unlock business growth by freeing great people from the time-suck of busywork.

At The Virtual Hub, we provide fully managed, in-house trained and dedicated virtual assistants starting at $750 USD per month.

By integrating great support assistants inside your business we act like a 'bolt on' scaling partner to your growth plans.

Founder & CEO

Helping companies work smarter, move faster & scale better with a combination of operational efficiency frameworks, tech stacks that work and offshore team strategies.

Riley Ghiles I.

Founder Compass

I help startups and entrepreneurs get :
Product market fit as fast as possible
Life is too short to build something nobody wants

Strategic Startup Advisor  - Lean l Bootstrap l OKRs l Product x Market Fit

adplist.org

ADPList is a global community on a mission to democratize mentorship for all. Founded in 2021, it has since grown to 30,000+ verified mentors who have mentored more than 100 million minutes in 141 countries across the globe. Mentors on ADPList are everyday people who share their knowledge to elevate careers.

Mentor

ifrican_inq

Media and content production for
Entrepreneurship, Culture, Athletes

Founder

Stellafai 🚀

Quote from Bella Co-Founder of Stellafai:

"I started working with Riley in the early stages of my startup in 2022. The impact he had on our speed and success was profound. He is one of those unicorns who is technically very capable, knows UX but also has a business head. 

He was brilliant at guiding us through the quagmire of thousands of ideas, and messy messaging to clarity and a product. Riley's expertise, agility and creativity will unlock the potential of your ideas and enable you to validate them quickly - maximum value at high speed with low waste. 

With Riley's help, we were able to go from nothing to having our first MVP in 6 weeks. 
Beta launch in 12 weeks. GA in 6 months 🚀"

Founding Team - Evangelist 

Red Hat - Open Innovation Labs

Mike Walker Global Director  - Open Innovation Labs

"Riley is a founding member of our Red Hat Open Innovation Labs team, and as such, has demonstrated an incredible range of talents and capabilities during his tenure. He joined as our first User Experience Engineer, but performed with excellence a variety of roles while working together, everything from sales through services delivery. 

Riley worked for clients around the world -- in Asia-Pacific, across Europe, in the US, Canada, you name it, he was there. Riley has a unique ability to understand devs and architects just as well as he understands business leaders and product owners. Riley is masterful at designing iterative and experimental approaches to identifying and solving problems -- and helps direct teams towards outcomes that matter. 

Riley has been an incredible, positive influence to our team, and to our customers around the globe. He's also been a great partner and friend. I recommend every opportunity to work with Riley.

Founding Team Digital Transformation Evangelist - Lean - Bootstrap

BABYPROGRESS S.A.S 

Design and improve the birth experience for all actors of the ecosystem, from the pregnant woman to the Medical doctors,

Software can save lives and I am proud to be part of this PROGRESS --

Founding Team - Product Owner, U.X Engineer, Scrum master

iSikhna

Fulfill iSikhna's vision: Achieve education for all with technology

Co-founder, U.X Engineer (Personal project)

XPRIZE

Building software, to improve the learning experience and achieve Global Learning. 

Education should not be a matter of luck --

Competitor with iSikhna for Global Learning Challenge ( Volunteer )

Bureau Veritas

UX Engineer -  Consultant

Ux4all (volunteer)

Providing Free U.X 101 sessions 90 min per week to startup to boost they product's experience and methodology.
You can request a free session by mailing me @ riley.ux4all@gmail.com

For eXperience design consultant (U.X -- Volunteer )

Most early founders build the wrong thing. I help you fix that, and scale up to $12K MRR with my proven S.T.A.R.R method (95% success rate).My Mantra: Inspire & Empower People 🇺🇸 🇫🇷 l

I was born in an African village without running water.
Decades later, I pitched My startup Steve Ballmer Microsoft CEO
Nearly raised $1M from Elon Musk.
Consulted for Microsoft, Google, WHO, Aramco, and IBM....

Then I walked away.

After earning my Master’s in Computer Science, I jumped straight into startups,  because I didn’t want to be a salaryman.
I built in education, healthtech, fintech, medtech, and gaming.
And every time, I hit the same wall:

I could build, but I couldn’t get people to buy.

I made the same mistake most technical founders make:
I built great products no one wanted.
I expected traction to appear out of thin air.

So I paused everything and joined the founding team of a new business unit inside a major US tech company.

We scaled it from 4 people to 80.
Generated nearly $40M in direct revenue.
And I finally learned the part I was missing:
→ Marketing. Positioning. Distribution. Execution.

Now I help technical 1st time founders avoid the mistakes I made for years.

Using my S.T.A.R.R. Method, I guide solo founders from messy ideas to focused execution and from $0 to $12K MRR.

📈 $585K+ generated by clients in 6 months in 2024
✅ 95% success rate
⚠️ Life’s too short to build something nobody wants

And full transparency?
I’m still building too.

The same system I use with my clients, I apply to my own business in real time.
I don’t preach from the sidelines. I do the work, in the kitchen with them.
That’s how I know it works.

💡 If you’re building but no one’s buying, let’s fix that.
🧭 DM me “STARR” or take the Free Founder Compass quiz to see where you’re stuck.

Ever dreamed of turning an idea into a real product?
Venkat Sai Kolli didn’t just dream it he built it. Fast.

As an international student in the U.S., he saw a gap:
Students needed safe, short-distance rides and stays and current platforms weren’t built for them.

So he launched OurBuddy a privacy-first platform helping students and professionals safely share rides and stays.

🎙️ In this live episode, we’ll cover:
	•	How Venkat went from idea to MVP and launch
	•	Rapid prototyping with Flutter & Firebase
	•	Bootstrapping tactics for early traction
	•	Designing for trust in peer-to-peer platforms
	•	His startup playbook for first-time founders

📅 Whether you’re at idea stage or knee-deep in iteration, this one’s packed with tactical gems.

Solo 1st-time SaaS founder? Helping you stop coding for 0 customers & get you to $12k MRR even if you are still in ideation | Startup mentor, advisor & investor | 7 Clients Bootstrapped revenue 2025 $1.2M+ l NPS 77.5

🟧 BLACK FRIDAY: $10,596 MASTERCLASS IS FREE FOR 72 HOURS 🟧

Over the last 24 months, I’ve delivered this 90-min masterclass to startup founders, growth teams, and C-level execs.

🏛️ The in-person version for C-level teams goes up to $10,000 (USD)
💻 The virtual version is priced at $250 (USD)


But today?
You get it for FREE.
🟧🥐

For 72 hours only.
(Stops Monday 11.59 PM)

Inside this Clarity & Focus Masterclass, I break down:
→ How to set a North Star that drives real traction
→ How to translate it into OKRs that don’t rot in Notion
→ How to measure progress like a founder, not a project manager
→ Why dashboards lie and how to read them like a pilot

If you’re a founder working 12h/day, shipping nonstop, but still stuck below $10K MRR…
This is your reset button.

⚠️ Drop a comment: “Black Friday”
Send me a connection request
I’ll send you the early access form + bonus when it drops.

(And yes the orange beanie is included 🥐)

🟧 Let’s go!

#BlackFriday #founder #Clarity

3 Marketing pillars that ALSO work for Building a good SaaS business

Last week my favourite Laura gave a masterclass during #LinkedinlocalMtl

Here are the 3 pillars you can use for Both marketing and building a SaaS

✴️ Talk to your customers & get feedback
✴️ Automate your processes
✴️ ... check her post to find out
(link in 1st comment)

Why marketing advice work for building a tech product?
Because it's all about people
- People's problem
- People's need

One will help you build the right thing
The other will help you communicate it right

2 sides of the same coin

🟧 🥐
VOILAAA

Build. Test. Fail. Repeat.
That’s the default cycle for 90% of solo tech founders.
You code → you launch → no one buys → so you code again.
Silent spiral.

Been there.

5 failed startups before I figured it out:
Your problem isn’t your skill.
It’s that you’re building in the dark.

👉 That’s exactly why I launched a YouTube channel.

Not some “tech lifestyle” vlog with coffee shots and desk setups.
A real vault for solo SaaS builders:

✴️ How to stop coding in the dark
✴️ How to validate & sell before touching VSCode
✴️ How to go from 0 customers → to 3 → to actual MRR

Short videos. Actionable frameworks. Real case studies. And a few hard truths too.

💡 If you’re a solo founder (or thinking about it)
💡 If you’re done guessing and ghost launching
💡 If you want signal, not noise

➡️ Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/e8gtyVAf
(and yeah, hit the bell 🔔 you’re not here to build for no one, are you?)

🥐 🟧

🔥 Live Today Startup Kitchen Show

Is burnout killing your creativity?

Jack Vitick felt that too so he built a tool to fix it.

👨‍💻 Jack is an app developer with a background in marketing, and the founder of Socialync a content management tool built to help creators and brands post everywhere without burning out.

🎯 His core belief?

“Creativity comes from boredom. If you’re never bored, you’ll never have ideas.”

In this live episode, we dive into:
	•	Why most creators are running on fumes
	•	Jack’s unique take on burnout and how to avoid it
	•	Building a lean SaaS from a real problem
	•	Marketing as a second brain for developers
	•	How Socialync automates content distribution in seconds

🎙️ Hosted by Riley Ghiles Ikni
📍 Live on LinkedIn + YouTube + X
📅 November 27, 2025


🎙️ Nouveau dans le streaming ou cherchant à passer au niveau supérieur ? Découvrez StreamYard et obtenez $10 de réduction ! 😍 https://lnkd.in/e_5VRQRv

🚨 NEW LIVE PODCAST ALERT - TSKS 006🍜 
You shouldn’t need a law degree to find a good lawyer.
But for millions of immigrants, legal help is still confusing, expensive, and slow.

Krish Parekh knows the struggle because he lived it.

That’s why he built CaseViaUs: a legaltech platform to book vetted lawyers online, in a few clicks.
No shady forms. No endless phone tag. Just clarity, trust, and action.

📅 On the next Startup Kitchen Show, we talk:
✴️ His journey from GED to founder
✴️ Building legaltech as a non-lawyer
✴️ Turning pain into product
✴️ The systems making access to justice actually accessible

Clic attend and share it to your friends !

🥐🟧

#StartupKitchenShow #LegalTech #ImmigrantFounders #AccessToJustice #StartupStories

Fixing Legal Access for Immigrants ✴️ with Krish Parekh #TKSK 006 🍜

"𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲" = Total B.S that kill entrepreneurs everyday
(This is not a personal attack but a critic on the "𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐚")

I did 150+ consultation this year with founders, a lot of them came with "ideas"
Most of them failed then had to start back from 0.

1- Ideas are self centred
→ My ideas, me, mine, and nobody else
→ Most people approach them with emotions, they don't own the idea
✴️ ideas own you and you don't think clearly
✴️ Ideas disconnect you from connecting with people who have problems

2- Ideas don't compound
→ If one idea does not work you start from zero
→ Most 1st time SaaS Founders move to completely different industries
(1st idea: CRM for accountants, 2nd idea a pomodoro for designers...)
✴️ You never build distribution, you change markets all the time
✴️ You never talk to the same people to build knowledge and trust

🥸: Okay Smart Croissant SaaS Advisor, what should we do?

Let me quote Aaron here:
"If you see a PROBLEM in the world"

Start with a problem,
Validate the problem
Validate the demand

1 Problem = infinite solutions

Life is too short to build an idea nobody wants
🟧🥐

PS: I did a full video about finding a good problem and validating it
Link in the comments !

Founder of Singularity Systems Defense and Cybersecurity Insiders. Strategist, DOW SME [CSIAC/DSIAC/HDIAC], Multiple Thinkers360 Thought Leader and CSI Group Founder. Manage The Intelligence Community and The DHS Threat

𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲

Something fundamental has shifted. What used to take months of planning, fundraising, hiring, and development can now be built in days and in some cases, in seconds. The bottleneck is no longer code. The bottleneck is vision.

Because of that, I am always open to ideas. If you see a problem in the world, in business, in healthcare, in education, in energy, in security, in art, in science, I want to hear it. If the idea is real, I can help turn it into something real faster than ever before.

This is an open call. If you have a strong idea and the will to see it built, reach out. The age of waiting for permission is over. The only remaining scarcity is imagination.

Target knew a teen girl was pregnant… before she did, because of what she was buying.
Most founders can’t even predict their own next sale. Here’s why.

🟧 Founders don’t measure anything.
Or worse you measure the wrong thing.
At the wrong frequency.

You obsess over:
→ Page responsiveness (page, nobody visits)
→ AI code completions
→ Features shipped
→ Velocity

But you ignore:
✴️ What makes users come back
✴️ Is the problem monetisable
✴️ What triggers a purchase
✴️ What signals a churn

💡 That’s what your startup should measure.

Every key result is a light on your dashboard.
But only if you choose the right ones and look often enough.

✴️  Start small:
→ 3 metrics that matter for revenue
→ Tracked daily
→ Reviewed weekly
→ Acted on monthly

Data is not about being “data-driven”
But "data-informed"
It’s about clarity.

Target predicted pregnancy.
You should at least predict cash flow...

...Or at least if you are building something somebody wants

🟧🥐
Want help setting the right metrics for your stage?
Comment “clarity" I’ll send my mini clarity template.

taplio

The Battle

Barbara Turley

Riley Ghiles I.

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taplio

The Battle

Barbara Turley

Riley Ghiles I.

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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);}Riley Ghiles I.'s LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreRiley Ghiles I.'s LinkedIn Performance