You asked for more content around business finances, so we’re delivering. Welcome to Money Matters where we give you an inside look at the pocketbooks of CEOs and entrepreneurs. In this series, you’ll learn what successful women in business spend on office spaces and employee salaries, how they knew it was time to hire someone to manage their finances, and their best advice for talking about money.

Nicole Hartwig learned everything she knows about money from her late Aunt Lynn. “My aunt guided me through all of my financial firsts, often sitting me down with a pencil and paper, teaching me the most foundational financial principles like how to make a budget and how to set a savings goal,” Hartwig tells Create & Cultivate. “She coached me through saving up for my first car by allowing me to make ‘deposits’ into a Tupperware container she kept safe for me in her kitchen drawer.“

So when her aunt passed away in 2013 after a 25-year battle with cancer, Hartwig was inspired to help girls develop financial literacy skills as a way of honoring her late aunt and the values she lived by. “My aunt relentlessly pursued her career goals in finance, slowly working her way up with a steady determination and humble grace, all while battling breast and ovarian cancer for nearly half her life,” explains Hartwig. Thus, Capri, an app designed to teach high-school and college-aged girls financial literacy skills and cultivate confident money mindsets, was born.

Ahead, Create & Cultivate chats with Hartwig about everything from starting her business to bringing on her first hire, and everything in between.

How did you make your first dollar and what did that job teach you that still applies today?

My first job was at a local coffee shop in Metro Detroit when I was 14 or 15. They only hired team members 16 years and older, but I applied anyway. When they asked me the obligatory interview questions about past jobs, I told stories about how I’d taken care of friends during tough times or risen above challenges at school, and I got the job! That experience taught me something that I’ve carried with me ever since: you never know until you try.

Take us back to the beginning. What was the lightbulb moment for your business and what inspired you to pursue this path?

The idea for Capri came from my late Aunt Lynn, who passed away in 2013 after a 25-year battle with cancer. A true Capricorn (the inspiration for the name Capri), my aunt relentlessly pursued her career goals in finance, slowly working her way up with a steady determination and humble grace, all while battling breast and ovarian cancer for nearly half her life.

Entrepreneurship is all about taking calculated risks. What’s the most pivotal financial risk you’ve taken, and how did it change your path? 

The most pivotal risk I’ve taken was leaving my full-time job to pursue building Capri. Creating the space, both logistically in my schedule and energetically in my life, changed everything. There’s a lot of advice floating around about waiting to leave your day job until you’re really ready. The truth is that your path depends on a lot of factors: your financial situation, your drive, the opportunity you’re pursuing, your network, etc. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer for when to leave your day job to pursue the thing you’re passionate about. 

For me, creating the space was critical; it was essential to the growth of the company. As a sole founder in the early stages of a startup, there is no company without me. If I’m burned out, the company suffers. If I don’t have time to make that meeting, the work doesn’t get done. If I have no space to envision what’s next, the company has no path forward. The degree to which I make space for the creation of this company is directly correlated to our growth and success. Making space for the overall wellness of myself and the company was—and still is—one of the most important actions I’ve taken as a founder.

Where do you think is the most important area for a business owner to focus their financial energy and why?

The needs of your business change with every stage of development and each business is unique. Every founder has a unique set of circumstances within which they’re working, and their business is a direct reflection of that. 

Capri is a female-led, bootstrapped, early-stage tech startup. Within our unique set of circumstances, our most important spend was on product development, but we also chose to spend on our brand identity development at the same time. For us, this was vital. We were building brand awareness during a pandemic and we had to rely largely on our digital presence to make that happen. Many would have argued against that expenditure so early on, but for us, in our unique set of circumstances, it was what helped us establish ourselves in our launch market. 

As a business owner, you have to trust your gut, because there is no right answer out there. Everyone—founders, operators, investors—will have different advice for you. You have to follow your intuition about the next right step. 

What was your first big expense as a business owner and how should small business owners prepare for that now? 

Our first big expense was hiring a software development team to build our beta. We intentionally built a true minimum viable product, both for cost savings, and because we knew we’d make edits to the product design once we got the product in front of users. 

Aside from the design research and development that led up to our hiring decision, we also did a ton of due diligence and vetting of potential vendors. That took months and months of work. My best advice for founders preparing to build a technical product is to build in a huge cushion for the amount of time it will take!

What are your top three largest expenses every month?

Software development, graphic design, and legal expenses.

In the beginning, how much did you pay yourself and how did you know what to pay yourself? 

We’re 2 1/2 years in and I still haven’t paid myself a dollar. That’s not a badge of honor that I wear, it’s just the truth. All the capital we’ve raised has gone to product development and business expenses. We just aren’t at the stage of development where it would be appropriate to pay myself. Once we reach that stage, I’ll add in a modest salary for myself until we’re really rocking and rolling. 

Would you recommend other small business owners pay themselves? 

Of course, when it makes sense for the business. You don’t build a business to not make money, but you also don’t usually build a business just to pay yourself. You have to wait until it “pencils”—until the financials of the business support a salary. 

How did you know you were ready to hire and what advice can you share on preparing for this stage of your business? 

I made my first hire after I completed our first accelerator program. I knew I had hit a wall in my own capabilities and I needed someone to help me bring the initial design of the product to life. For every single team hire I’ve made, I’ve shopped from my first-degree network. I cannot recommend this enough. Working with colleagues and friends who were familiar with me, my character, and my working style, allowed me to forge team relationships quickly on an existing foundation of mutual trust. My best advice to other founders preparing for this stage of their business is to comb your network. Literally scroll through LinkedIn and see what your connections are up to. Reach out to people you know who are doing the scope of work that you need, and start that conversation. Expect it to take some time to gain their full trust, but know that you’ll have a headstart working with people you already know personally and/or professionally.

Did you hire an accountant? Who helped you with the financial decisions and setup? What do you recommend or advice do you have for that?

I made all of our financial decisions in the beginning, and I asked trusted people around me when I wasn’t sure how to move forward. For example, when I incorporated the company, I had to choose the total number of shares of the company. I went to business school, but I didn’t know a thing about this part. So I Googled, I made phone calls to anyone I knew who might know a thing or two about it, and I ultimately made a decision based on the information I had (and the very limited amount of money the company had in the bank). This is the beauty of starting a business—it’s truly messy! You cobble together the answer to every single question and decision, and there are a million of them, day after day. It wasn’t until we were a year or more into the business that I brought on a team member with great financial experience. Now we make those decisions together. We still learn as we go, together, and we ask questions when we don’t know the answer. 

What apps or software are you using for finances? What has worked and what hasn’t?

In the earliest stages of the business, I used Freshbooks to track what little expenses we had, and I used an Excel spreadsheet template for our financial projections. Now that we’ve raised capital, we use QuickBooks in place of Freshbooks as it’s more sophisticated for reporting purposes, but we still use the same (albeit much more customized) Excel spreadsheet to create our financial projections.

What are some of the tools you use to stay on top of your business financials? What do you recommend for small business owners on a budget?

I loved using Freshbooks in the early days of Capri! It was inexpensive, easy to use, and the interface is honestly delightful. For projections, Excel is great. Get a template from the internet or from someone working in finance or in whatever industry you’re in. If you can get someone to sit with you for a bit to explain the formulas, that’s ideal. You can then take that spreadsheet and make tweaks to it, which you’ll continue to do forever and ever. It’s actually great to familiarize yourself with making projections from the very beginning. A lot of your business success hinges on your ability to understand the relationship between various business expenses and practices.

Do you think women should talk about money and business more? Why? 

Yes! Money is still a taboo topic to talk about, and the world of startups is still so male-dominated and so mysterious. When women are profiled for being successful in business, they’ve often already slogged through the toughest part: getting started. Rarely do you hear the real story behind the buzzy headlines; the I-drained-my-401(k)-to-start-the-business story, or the I-moved-in-with-my-parents-to-save-the-company story. Those are the stories women starting businesses need to hear. They need to hear that the messiness they’re experiencing is normal. That successful women didn’t always save up the perfect emergency fund before they launched their companies, or they didn’t get a check from the first VC they had a meeting with. They need to see themselves and their situation reflected in these stories. The truth is that founders who have ivy-league connections and family members in private equity have an easier go of it. If you don’t have those things, starting a business can feel like a hopeless pipe dream. Women without those privileges have made it happen by being scrappy, creative, and persistent. The more we talk about those experiences, the more we encourage women of all backgrounds to go for it.  

Do you have a financial mentor? Do you think business owners need one? 

I do! I have several. I have one advisor who manages an angel investing group who advises me from an investor’s perspective. I have another advisor who comes from private equity and the finance industry. I have an advisor who coaches startups. And of course, my most cherished mentor is my late Aunt Lynn. Even though she’s no longer with us, her foundational teachings from my teenage years will stick with me forever, and her loving energy is still with me every day. 

What is your best piece of financial/money advice for new entrepreneurs?

First, heal your money traumas (we all have them in some form). Reflect on the past experiences and beliefs that might be holding you back. Second, listen to your intuition. It won’t steer you wrong. 

Anything else to add?

Just don’t let fear stop you. Don’t let the odds that seem stacked against you stand in your way, whatever they are. Trust—trust, trust, trust—that if you have a vision for something you want to create, you are meant to bring it into the world. Follow what lights you up.

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