Kat Norton Built A $2M Business Off The Most Boring Topic Ever: Excel
Meet the founder that made using Excel fun – and made millions doing it.
Miss Excel Revenue
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Kat Norton starts the business
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Miss Excel hits $100K in revenue
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Miss Excel hits $400K in revenue
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Miss Excel hits $1.2M in revenue
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Miss Excel hits $2M in revenue
About The Founder
Who is Kat Norton?
Kat Norton is the creator and founder of Miss Excel – the viral social media account that teaches millions of people how to use Excel.
Kat launched Miss Excel in June 2020 and went viral within 3 weeks of posting her first video. Over the past 4 years, Kat has built an audience of 950K followers on Instagram and 939K followers on TikTok. In 2023, Miss Excel hit $2M in annual revenue.
About The Business
What problem is Miss Excel solving?
- Excel is difficult, boring, and time-consuming to learn
- Individuals need to learn a skill to become more marketable for a job or promotion
- Companies don't have time to teach their employees how to use Excel
- People need fun and engaging ways to learn a boring topic
Niches
Target Audiences
Founder-Market Fit
Skills
What skills did Kat Norton have that led to their success?
Passions
Idea
How did Kat Norton get the idea for Miss Excel?
Kat started her career in consulting where she taught Excel training workshops for her company around the country. But when COVID lockdowns hit, Kat realized she wasn’t happy with her job.
Kat loved teaching Excel, she liked helping people, and she loved to dance. A friend suggested, ‘What if you put your Excel tips on TikTok?’ 48 hours later, she posted her first 14-second video.
Build
How did Kat Norton build the initial version of Miss Excel?
- Miss Excel’s initial growth was 100% on TikTok.
- Her 4th video got 100K views. By the 6th video, the CEO of an IT company reached out for training
- 5 months after launching on TikTok, Kat built her first online Excel course and made more than her monthly salary
- Created 10 more courses within the first 1.5 years of the business
- Eventually made $100K in ONE day through courses
- Continued to grow her audience through free webinars and a newsletter
- Gained even more popularity through major media outlets like The Verge, CNBC, The Times and Business Insider
Startup Costs
What were the initial startup costs for Miss Excel?
Kat’s total startup costs were about $1,000:
- LLC Formation ($200)
- Ring Light ($30)
- Green Screen ($30-40)
- iPhone ($700-$1200)
- TikTok (free)
- Course Platform: Thinkific ($150/month)
Launch
How did Kat Norton launch Miss Excel?
- June 2020: launched on TikTok as (@miss.excel)
- 4th video: 100K views
- 6th video: CEO of an IT company reached out to hire Kat for employee training
- 3 weeks after TikTok launch: first viral post (3.4M views) and 100K followers
- Expanded to Instagram and continued to post daily videos with fun and engaging Excel tips.
- 5 months after launch: started selling online Excel courses
Growth
What is the growth strategy for Miss Excel?
Kat grew primarily on TikTok and Instagram. She did something no one else was doing: taught a boring topic (Excel) in a fun and exciting way (TikTok dance trends). The business has grown through 10 different online courses, Corporate Training programs, and Keynote speaking.
Lessons Learned
What were the biggest lessons Kat Norton learned building Miss Excel?
- Find Your One-of-One: NOBODY else online was as excited to teach Excel as Kat. She found a gap in the market and spent 100 hours per week (at first) filling it.
- Figure Things Out For Yourself: Kat ran the business by herself for the first 1.5 years. She kept her operations lean, doing everything herself: marketing, creating the courses, editing every video.
- Don’t Wait For Things To Be Perfect: Kat launched courses before they were 100% ‘done.” She chose to host her courses on Thinkific because it was the easiest product to use. And she created and launched new courses within 5-6 days, from ideation to fully publishing.
Tools
What platform/tools does Kat Norton use for Miss Excel?
Similar Ideas
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- 4,818 founder case studies
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- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
