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Revenue day 1: Excel sheet to $1M (solo founder story)
Manage episode 504119963 series 3679457
Former HR executive and psychology lecturer Nikki Tugano reveals how she transformed being fired into building a profitable SaaS company, starting with just an Excel spreadsheet and bootstrapping to $1M in funding.
Nikki is the founder and CEO of SeenCulture, a people analytics platform that identifies untapped talent within organizations. With a decade of leadership experience across Australia and the UK, plus a background teaching positive psychology at the University of Melbourne, she brought deep domain expertise to the startup world. When her employer dismissed her for championing a product vision too forcefully, she proved them wrong by building it herself. Starting with Excel and bootstrapping to revenue on day one, she now serves companies like Lassonde and CultureAmp.
She explains:
⬛ How getting fired became the catalyst for founding her company
⬛ Why starting with Excel was actually a strategic advantage
⬛ How 88 employees sent 900+ invites without being asked to
⬛ The reality of raising capital without a "friends and family" network
⬛ Why her domain expertise matters more than technical skills
Follow Nikki
LinkedIn: /nikkitugano
Website: https://seenculture.com/
More Founders Show
LinkedIn: /more-founders-show
YouTube: @morefoundersshow
Website: https://morefounders.show
Follow Dave
LinkedIn: /daveberner
X: @dave_or_dead
YouTube: @daveordead
Website: https://daveberner.me
Sponsors
Kinde: https://kinde.com
Chapters
1. Intro (00:00:00)
2. What is SeenCulture? Shining light on hidden talent (00:00:32)
3. From voiceless child to tech founder (00:02:45)
4. The mission: Making everyone feel seen (00:08:30)
5. Getting fired led to starting my company (00:10:50)
6. How an Excel spreadsheet became our MVP (00:13:14)
7. Revenue from day one (with just a spreadsheet!) (00:17:55)
8. Surviving Techstars as a solo founder (00:19:52)
9. Why finding a co-founder is like dating (00:23:23)
10. The agency that became our partner (00:29:45)
11. Building a team on a shoestring budget (00:31:23)
12. How AI agents replaced half our team (00:35:32)
13. Why we ditched enterprise for smaller teams (00:38:58)
14. The 900 invites that changed everything (00:43:44)
15. How referrals drive 100% of our growth (00:48:57)
16. That LinkedIn post got 50,000 views (00:51:30)
17. Coming soon: Free profiles & PLG motion (00:56:52)
18. "Know what you don't know" - founder advice (00:58:37)
19. Music to get you in the zone (01:00:20)
3 episodes
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