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Rachel Harker knows what loneliness looks like.

As a clinical psychologist, she spent years sitting with young people one-on-one, listening, supporting, and witnessing the quiet epidemic rising beneath the surface. Disconnection. Isolation. A deep yearning for meaningful relationships, buried beneath the illusion of always being “online.”

“I was working with 18 to 25-year-olds and just thinking, how is this generation so lonely?” she says. “They’re more connected than ever, but also more disconnected than ever.”

So, she built Tribal.

Tribal is a social enterprise app that helps people form authentic friendships and relationships without the superficial swiping. It uses clinically backed questions and value-based matching to spark deeper, real-world connections. In short, it’s not about finding someone cute. It’s about finding someone compatible.

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From psychology to product building

Rachel never set out to become a founder. Her background is deeply clinical, rooted in youth mental health. But the pain she kept seeing in her clients and the limits of what traditional therapy could solve pushed her to think bigger.

“I kept thinking, there’s got to be a better way to use technology for good,” she says.

Now, Tribal lives at the intersection of research and real life. Users answer a series of science-backed questions (44 if you’re dating, 33 if you’re looking for friends) that help map their core values. The app then shows you where you align, or differ, with others, using a visual “tribal map” of compatibility. To reduce snap judgments, profile photos are blurred, just enough to get a sense without triggering superficial bias.

Behind the scenes, there’s serious tech working to keep users safe. AI filters scan voice notes, text bios, and photos before anything gets posted. And Rachel’s already planning community events to help users meet offline and build deeper bonds IRL.

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A different kind of founder journey

Founding Tribal has taken Rachel well outside her comfort zone.

“The biggest shift for me was moving from clinical work to running a business,” she says. “I’ve had to learn about everything—marketing, user journeys, raising capital. It’s a completely different world.”

That’s where the Startmate Collective (formerly Ladymates) came in.

For Rachel, joining the Collective wasn’t just about networking. It was about finding a support system, one filled with ambitious women who were a few steps ahead and willing to share what they’d learned.

“Everyone was so generous. I’ve never met a community where people are this helpful,” she says. “It made all the difference.”

The community gave her access to feedback, connections, and confidence, something that came in handy when pitching Tribal at the Startmate Launch Club Pitch Night.

“I’d done a pitch the night before that didn’t go great,” she admits. “But Startmate gave me my confidence back. I ditched the paper script, trusted myself, and it worked.”

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What’s next

Tribal soft-launched in March and is now live on the App Store and Google Play. The pre-seed raise is underway, and Rachel’s gearing up for her first major marketing campaign. She’s also expanding the friendship arm of the app, with a vision to make Tribal the go-to platform for genuine, values-led connections.

Her advice to new founders? “Say yes to everything. Every coffee, every intro, every opportunity, you never know which conversation could change everything.”

And in a world where loneliness has become the norm, Rachel’s building the antidote, one value-aligned match at a time.

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Interested in joining the Startmate Collective community? Apply here.