Melanie Robb

Startup Advisor / Fractional CPO at avviare

Melanie Robb is a startup advisor and fractional Chief People Officer who helps founders accelerate from startup to scale-up with clarity and confidence. Through her advisory firm, avviare, she partners with early-stage leaders to design people strategies that unlock growth—providing proven frameworks for operations, leadership, and team design. With 18 years’ experience in People and Leadership roles across Australia and the US—including six years in New York—Melanie brings a global lens and deep operational insight. She’s known for helping founders make confident decisions in complex environments, combining commercial nous with a people-first mindset. As a mentor, advisor, and angel investor, Melanie is driven by a clear mission: to create more opportunities for female founders and leaders. She believes people are the foundation of startup success—and brings both heart and rigour to building high-impact teams.

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The People & Culture edge: Building investable companies through people, culture & leadership

What makes a company truly investable? In this panel, Melanie Robb, Erika Enberg, Jess Blomfield, and Reshmi Buthello bring investor and operator perspectives to the people, culture, and leadership traits that signal growth readiness. Reshmi draws from her experience with deep tech scale-ups at Main Sequence and 5B; Erika from nearly two decades guiding startups from seed to Series E; Jess from her work with ANZ's leading startups at Airtree Ventures; and Melanie from advising early-stage founders through her people-first, scale-ready frameworks at Avviare. Together, they’ll explore the fundamentals investors notice, the red flags they don’t ignore, and how People leaders can align talent, culture, and strategy for long-term success. This is for anyone building from the inside—and thinking like an investor.