Case study
How Nakatomi built psychosocial compliance into a lean Sydney studio without losing its people to admin
Nakatomi is a Sydney venture studio that builds and backs bold startups from day zero, co-creating ventures alongside founders, corporates, and creators. The work is fast and intense, and the team is small, so it needed psychosocial compliance handled properly without pulling anyone off the build. ReFresh gave it a system that runs itself.
Industry:
Venture studio and technology innovation
Headquarters:
Sydney, Australia
Headcount:
11-50
120
Hours saved
Returned to the team by automating surveys, collation, and reporting, so a lean studio does not lose its people to compliance admin.
50K
Cost reduced
Achieved by retiring the consultant engagement and manual processes a small team would otherwise carry, with one platform covering it instead.
100%
Risk Coverage
Reached by assessing every team member on a continuous cycle, giving full, defensible coverage across the studio rather than an occasional check-in.
“"We move fast and the work can be intense, so looking after our team's wellbeing is not optional. As a small studio we did not have time to build psychosocial systems from scratch or the budget to have a consultant run it. ReFresh gave us a proper system that runs itself, so we can meet our obligations and actually look after our people."”
Overview
Nakatomi is a Sydney-based venture studio that builds and backs startups from day zero, deploying capital, creativity, and capability alongside founders, corporates, and creators. Its lean team of strategists, engineers, and creators takes ideas from research through to launch, and has helped bring ventures like Ovum and Ruminati to life.
Building new companies is fast, demanding work, which makes looking after the team's wellbeing a real responsibility rather than a box to tick. As a small studio operating in New South Wales, Nakatomi is subject to the same psychosocial obligations as far larger employers, but without a dedicated compliance function to run them.
The challenge
Psychosocial obligations apply regardless of headcount. For a studio of this size, the practical problem is capacity: there is no spare person to design a programme, send surveys, chase responses, and assemble reports, and the intense pace of venture building is itself a source of psychosocial risk worth managing well.
The two obvious routes both had drawbacks. Building it by hand would pull senior people off the work the studio exists to do. Bringing in a consultant to run periodic surveys would add cost a lean team would rather avoid and still leave gaps between engagements. Nakatomi wanted its obligations met properly without either.
The solution
Nakatomi rolled out ReFresh Psychosocial Automate. Prebuilt controls and risk scenarios meant the studio did not have to design anything from scratch. Assessments run automatically on a set cadence and reach the whole team, with responses scored and emerging risks surfaced in one place.
Reporting is generated on demand and mapped to New South Wales regulatory expectations, so the studio has a structured, defensible record without anyone maintaining it by hand. The programme runs in the background, which is exactly what a small, fast-moving team needs.
The outcome
Nakatomi now meets its psychosocial obligations through a system that runs itself, with every team member assessed on a continuous cycle and full coverage across the studio. The work no longer competes with the studio's actual output, and there is no recurring consultant bill to carry.
For a team whose work is built on looking after the founders and ideas it backs, having the same care applied to its own people, and being able to show it, matters. Compliance is handled, and the studio's focus stays where it belongs.