1: Revenue day 1: Excel sheet to $1M (solo founder story)

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