886 Caroline Dell: Co-Founder of Goodword

What if your greatest competitive advantage isn't your product, your funding, or even your experience—but the relationships you've built over time?

On this episode of The Kara Goldin Show, I'm joined by Caroline Dell, Co-Founder and CEO of Goodword, an AI-powered relationship management platform helping founders and operators turn their networks into one of their most valuable business assets.

Before launching Goodword, Caroline was a founding executive at Chief, where she helped scale the company from 200 members to 20,000 and more than $120 million in ARR, recruiting 80% of its top-tier talent and helping build one of the fastest-growing female-founded companies to reach unicorn status. Before Chief, she was one of the earliest employees at LOLA and began her career at Bain & Company.

In this episode, Caroline shares what she learned from helping build high-growth companies before becoming a founder herself, why relationships—not transactions—have shaped every stage of her career, and how those experiences inspired her to create Goodword.

We also discuss why AI should strengthen human connection rather than replace it, what founders often misunderstand about networking, how to identify the relationships that matter most, and why investing in your network may be one of the highest-return activities of your career.

Whether you're building a company, growing your career, raising capital, or simply looking to become a better leader, this conversation is full of practical insights on leadership, relationships, scaling teams, and creating opportunities that last.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

Why Caroline left Chief to co-found Goodword

The lessons she learned helping scale Chief from 200 members to over $120 million in ARR

Why relationships are a founder's greatest competitive advantage

The difference between networking and building meaningful relationships

How AI can strengthen—not replace—human connection