At Bright Founders Talk, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Ragna Hes, the dynamic Co-Founder and CCO of Instama, an AI-driven marketing platform revolutionizing how brands create on-brand assets in minutes. With a rich background in advertising and marketing, Ragna brings deep industry insight and creative flair to her leadership role.

In our conversation, she shared how her journey from freelancer to founder was driven by a desire to build something truly impactful. Instama, short for Instant Marketing, was born out of a need to streamline content creation and empower marketers with fast, consistent brand execution. Ragna’s entrepreneurial mindset and product vision are tightly rooted in real-world marketing pain points she experienced firsthand.

She highlighted the importance of leveraging her network, collaborating with co-founders, and continuously learning from clients to shape a better product. Whether serving startups, corporates, or agencies, Instama is proving to be a versatile solution in a rapidly evolving marketing landscape. Join us as we explore Ragna’s story and the bold mission behind Instama.

From Freelance to Founding: How Ragna Is Speeding Up Marketing with Instama

Ragna didn’t exactly plan to become a founder—it just made sense. After years of freelancing in marketing and advertising, she realized working for others wasn’t quite her thing. “Let’s say following orders wasn’t my strongest trait,” she joked. So, when the opportunity came to co-found Instama, a platform built to make marketing instant and effortless, she jumped in. But make no mistake—this wasn’t just a leap of faith. It was backed by years of hands-on experience with agencies, clients, and brand strategies that often lived in forgotten PDFs.

With a small team of three partners, Instama launched just over six months ago, and it’s already reshaping how brands produce content. Their AI-powered platform helps companies—from scrappy startups to global corporates—generate brand-aligned assets in just minutes. What’s even more impressive? Ragna and her team designed it not in a vacuum, but based on the real-world workflows they once struggled with themselves. “We created the tool we always wished we had,” she said. And clearly, others are wishing for it too—early traction has come from across the spectrum: agencies, internal marketing teams, and even major corporates.

What makes Instama stick is its founder’s empathy. Ragna knows what it’s like to be on the marketing frontlines, juggling deadlines, brand guides, and limited budgets. Her platform is like having a superpower for content creation—no Photoshop skills required. She credits her career roots for giving her an edge in both product development and customer conversations. As she put it, “We know what they need, because we were them.” And that might just be the secret sauce behind Instama’s fast-growing success.

"This Isn’t Just ChatGPT with a Logo": Why Instama Is Changing the AI Game for Brands

When Ragna shows potential clients what Instama can actually do, there’s a familiar pattern: initial skepticism, a few raised eyebrows, and then—that moment. The moment when she uploads a brand's tone of voice, strategy, and templates, then lets the platform create fully branded assets in seconds. It's not just AI copy or pretty images—it’s a whole studio where users can tweak, edit, and fine-tune their content while staying perfectly on-brand. “People think they’ve seen it all with ChatGPT,” she laughs, “but then I show them what happens after the copy is generated—and that’s when it clicks.”

It turns out one of Instama’s biggest competitors isn’t another startup—it's the idea that ChatGPT can do it all. Ragna runs into that all the time. Companies assume their generic AI tools are enough, until they see how Instama connects all the dots: strategy, visuals, messaging, and real-time editing. “We built a kind of motor block,” she explains, “where we plug in the best AI tools for each task and make them work together.” That modular approach means Instama doesn’t just generate content—it builds fully functional campaigns, ready to launch, without weeks of back and forth with design or strategy teams.

What’s more, AI doesn’t just power the product—it shaped how it was built. The platform itself was created by a single developer, something Ragna says would’ve taken 20 people just a few years ago. That’s the real transformation: AI speeding up not just what users can do, but what builders can achieve. For brands struggling to maintain consistency while scaling fast, Instama offers a new kind of solution—one that doesn’t try to replace people, but gives them superpowers.

"We Want It to Be Bigger Already": Ragna on AI, Patience, and the Push for Growth

Ragna is the kind of founder who dreams big—but keeps both feet firmly on the ground. She knows AI is evolving at breakneck speed, and while that’s exciting, it also makes the road ahead unpredictable. "Six months ago, we used it one way. Today, it's already completely different," she says, noting that the real challenge isn’t just innovation—it’s adoption. Not every company is ready to embrace AI the way she has. And that gap between what’s possible and what’s practical? It’s something she wrestles with daily.

Success, for her, isn’t about vanity metrics or investor buzz. It’s in the applause—the feedback from real users who love the platform and keep coming back for more. That’s what energizes her. Instama isn’t trying to scale recklessly. Instead, the team is building a product with its users, gathering input, shaping features, and improving workflows based on hands-on collaboration. They’ve even found a clever sales model—commission-based partners who help spread the word while the team stays focused on what they do best.

Still, there are moments when patience runs thin. Ragna admits that as a founder, she often wishes they could fast-forward. “We want it to be bigger already,” she says. But instead of rushing, she’s choosing to grow with intention. Every feature is built around real use cases, every improvement solves a real need. It’s that balance between vision and practicality—between dreaming and doing—that’s setting Instama up for something lasting.

“Start Small, Stay Close”: Ragna’s Real Talk on AI Adoption, Scaling Smart, and Winning Over Skeptics

For Ragna, building Instama hasn’t just been about creating another AI tool—it’s been about reshaping how companies work. She’s not shy in admitting the current onboarding process isn’t scalable—but that’s by design. This phase is all about staying close to the customer, learning, and perfecting the product. Once everything runs smoothly, then comes the automation and the big leap into scaling. “We’re replacing a full workflow, not just adding a shiny feature,” she says. That’s why every client interaction, every feedback call, is part of building something that lasts.

And while many companies still treat AI like a buzzword, Ragna sees it as a concrete solution. Instama is often the first real hands-on AI experience for many traditional businesses—one they can simply plug in and go. The commercial teams are usually thrilled, but creative teams? Not always. Designers can get twitchy about templates and automation. But as Ragna points out, Instama takes care of the boring stuff—the repetitive work most creatives don’t want to do anyway. “Some resist it, sure,” she admits, “but in-house studios love it—because it frees them up for more meaningful work.”

When asked what advice she’d give to other founders, Ragna keeps it refreshingly real. Don’t wait for perfection. Build a solid MVP, launch, and grow with your users. Go where your potential clients gather—speak at niche events, build connections, and create momentum through partnerships. And above all? Stay scrappy. “Go to market with something small, then grow based on real use cases.”