Kt McBratney is a community innovator and investor obsessed with disrupting the status bro. As General Partner and Head of Community at Renew Venture Capital, they’re redefining how founders, capital, and networks work together — building community as an operating system, not a marketing channel or afterthought

Before joining Renew VC, Kt co-founded and helped scale OwnTrail, the community-powered platform acquired in 2023, and spent years as a startup operator and marketing leader across venture-backed companies. Their work lives at the intersection of systems change, storytelling, and strategy.

Kt is also the host and producer of the Founded On Purpose podcast and a writer, artist, and speaker who brings a non-linear lens to leadership, entrepreneurship, and power. Known for candor, creativity, and an allergy to business-as-usual, they’ve built a career across roles and sides of the startup world — founder, operator, marketer, investor, and community architect — proving that innovation comes from crossing boundaries, not staying in lanes.

During this episode, we discuss:

• How they use community as an operating system to build the next generation of venture capital firms
• Building community infrastructure and showing up virtually and in person
• Providing access to relationships and knowledge
• What sets Renew’s community apart from others
• How they don’t have the typical power dynamic that typical investors have
• Why there’s harm in not having community from the start
• What Kt’s startup was and what led them to starting it
• Why you should do reflection when realizing you may need community
• By saying yes to one thing, we’re saying no to something else
• Their shoutout to Emily Best from Seed & Spark

And more. Tune into this episode as we dive into all things VC and community!