How Nina Alag Suri Built X0PA AI from a DIY Recruiting Tool to $8.5 Million Revenue: The Complete Employee Ownership Playbook

This article was written and sourced from Nina’s keynote presentation at Founderpath’s last event. The images embedded below are from her slide deck. Her keynote recording is here.

What happens when an electronics engineer decides to disrupt her own $20 million recruiting business? Nina Alag Suri founded X0PA AI in 2017, after running a global executive search firm called Nastrac Group. After 18 years of witnessing the “subjective, manual, and tedious” nature of traditional hiring, she made the brave—perhaps foolish, as she admits—decision to pivot completely to artificial intelligence.

The results speak for themselves: X0PA’s revenue reached $8.5M in 2024, up from $5.6M in 2023, $3M in 2020, and $1.2M in 2019. But the real story isn’t just about revenue growth—it’s about how Suri built a team that’s as emotionally invested as the founder herself.

The Playbook: Nina Suri’s 5-Step Formula for Building an Invested Team

1. Transparency Above Everything: Suri implemented visualization tools that show every employee exactly what their equity is worth at different company milestones. No more mystery around “100 stock options”—employees can see dollar amounts tied to specific ARR targets.

2. Leave No One Behind: Unlike traditional models where only sales teams get incentives, every single X0PA employee—from engineering to customer success—earns incentives based on company ARR performance.

3. Visualize the Future: Through platforms like Svested, employees can manage their ESOPs easily through a user-friendly digital platform that shows projected values at Series B, Series C, and beyond.

4. Monthly Payouts Matter: Sales teams receive incentive payouts monthly once they cross 50% of their ARR threshold—no waiting until year-end to see rewards.

5. Culture as the Invisible Glue: People join for financial benefits but stay for culture. X0PA established five core values shared with every employee from day one.

1999-2017: Electronics Engineer Builds $20 Million Recruiting Empire from $1,000 Investment

Nina Alag Suri’s entrepreneurial journey began in the late 1990s when she left her corporate engineering role to start her first venture. Starting with just $1000 in her garage, she turned her first company, Nastrac Group, into a $20 million global HR consulting firm.

For 18 years, she ran this traditional recruiting business across five continents. But something bothered her deeply about the industry. The hiring process was riddled with inefficiencies—subjective decisions, manual processes, and bias that led companies to “hire the wrong people or lose the right people.” Both outcomes, she observed, were dramatic for businesses.

By 2017, with her recruiting firm approaching $20 million in revenue and owning most of the business herself, Suri made a decision that would define the next chapter of her career: disrupt her own successful business with technology.

2017: X0PA AI Launches as DIY Recruiting Platform with Patents and AI Ethics Focus

X0PA AI was founded in 2017 by Nina Alag Suri and Co-Founder Dr. Jussi Keppo, with a mission to solve hiring’s two biggest problems: process waste and bias. The platform wasn’t just another applicant tracking system—it was designed as a comprehensive DIY tool that gives companies complete control over their hiring process.

What set X0PA apart from day one was its focus on ethical AI. The company became the first HRTech company to receive AI Verify status for being responsible, ethical, and explainable AI. They also filed patents for their unique algorithms—a rare move in the HR tech space.

The platform automates everything from sourcing candidates worldwide to conducting automated interviews, scheduling, and even predictive analytics on candidate performance and retention. Leading companies trust the platform to reduce bias, cut hiring time by 50%, and save up to $119K annually, with access to 250M+ candidate profiles.

2018: X0PA Implements Revolutionary ESOP Visualization Strategy Using Svested Platform

The turning point in X0PA’s team-building strategy came in 2018, their second year of operation. Suri realized that if she expected her team to wake up every morning as excited as she was, they needed real skin in the game.

Initially, X0PA managed ESOPs through Excel spreadsheets—a messy, manual process that left employees confused about the actual value of their stock options. “You get 100 options” meant nothing to most people. The company allocated 10% of all shares to the ESOP pool, with a four-year vesting period for all full-time employees.

The game-changer was adopting Svested, a Singapore-based ESOP management platform. This wasn’t just administrative efficiency—it was about radical transparency. Every employee could log into their personal dashboard and see:

• Exactly how many options have vested
• Current value of their ESOP in dollar terms
• Projected value at Series B, Series C, and beyond
• How company ARR milestones directly impact their personal wealth

The psychological impact was immediate. Employees could literally see their future wealth tied to company performance, creating unprecedented alignment between individual and company goals.

2019-2021: First Sales Hire and Transparent Incentive Calculator Drive Early Growth

In 2019, X0PA made its first direct sales hire—a critical moment for any startup transitioning from founder-led sales. The offer letter was refreshingly transparent: base salary clearly stated, potential earnings laid out, and most importantly, no cap on commissions.

Suri implemented what she calls the “incentive calculator”—a simple Excel tool shared on SharePoint that any salesperson could access. The rules were straightforward:

• Threshold to earn incentives: 50% of ARR target
• Price discounts reduce achievement proportionally (10% discount = 10% reduction)
• Multi-year contracts earn 10% additional achievement per year
• Monthly payouts once threshold is crossed

This transparency extended beyond sales. Non-sales employees—engineers, customer success, delivery teams—all received incentives based on overall company ARR. The message was clear: “You cannot do sales without delivery, you cannot do sales without product development.”

January 2022: X0PA Closes $4.2 Million Series A at 15x Revenue Multiple

In January 2022, X0PA announced $4.2 million in Series A funding led by ICCP SBI Venture Partners, with participation from SEEDS Capital, AI8 Ventures, XCEL NEXT VENTURES, and SASV Investments. The timing was impeccable—Suri closed the round at a 15x revenue multiple, just before the market correction that would follow.

The Series A wasn’t just about capital—it was a validation moment that energized the entire team. Employees who had been tracking their ESOP values suddenly saw real numbers attached to the company’s $22 million valuation. The visualization tools that showed “what happens at Series B” suddenly became much more tangible.

According to investor Sajit Nair from SASV Investments, X0PA’s clients recorded a 600% increase in ROI, 80% savings in time and 50% in cost to hire. These metrics made the investment decision straightforward for sophisticated investors who understood the acquisition potential in the HR tech space.

2023-2024: Revenue Accelerates from $5.6M to $8.5M Through Partnership Strategy

In 2024, X0PA’s revenue reached $8.5M, up from $5.6M in 2023, representing over 50% year-over-year growth. The company now has 62 total employees, 9 sales reps carrying quota, 300 customers, an engineering team of 20, and a marketing team of 2.

The growth came from strategic partnerships with major technology companies. X0PA became a partner of SAP, Oracle, Intel, and Nvidia, while maintaining its strategic Microsoft partnership. The platform is now trusted by 100+ organizations including Singapore government agencies and global enterprises, and was listed as the 31st fastest-growing company in Singapore by the Financial Times in 2024.

X0PA’s unique position as the only HR tech company with AI Verify certification became a significant differentiator. As companies globally grappled with AI ethics and bias in hiring, X0PA had already solved these challenges with patented, explainable AI algorithms.

Nina Suri’s Leadership Secrets: Building Teams Across Singapore, India, UK, and UAE

Managing a distributed team across four countries requires more than just good video conferencing. Suri’s leadership team includes heavy hitters like her CTO, who left his product head role at eBay in California to set up X0PA’s engineering team in Hyderabad, India.

How did she convince Silicon Valley talent to join a Singapore startup? The answer lies in finding a specific niche: experienced professionals who were “not always delighted with working with corporates.” These leaders wanted the startup experience but with the stability of proven founder leadership.

Suri’s approach to distributed teams focuses on three principles:

1. 60/40 Time Split: 60% of CEO time on external revenue-generating activities, 40% on internal team alignment
2. Culture Code First: Five core values shared with every employee from day one
3. Empowerment Over Management: Give people ownership through ESOPs and let them drive their areas

Interestingly, Suri’s first investor was her husband—though she warns others to be careful with this approach. “He changes his hat very quickly at the dinner table and says ‘what’s your ARR today?'”

The 80/20 Incentive Model: How X0PA Aligns 62 Employees Toward One Goal

X0PA’s incentive structure is deceptively simple but psychologically powerful. For non-sales employees, the company uses an 80/20 model tied to overall company ARR. Once the company hits 50% of its annual ARR target (which was $5 million for the year Suri presented), every employee starts earning incentives.

The beauty of this system is its universality. The engineer writing code in India, the customer success manager in Singapore, and the business development rep in UAE all have their incentives tied to the same north star metric: Annual Recurring Revenue.

This creates what Suri calls “team cohesion to remove internal frictions.” When everyone wins or loses together, the typical finger-pointing between departments disappears. Sales can’t blame product for missing features. Product can’t blame sales for overpromising. Everyone rows in the same direction.

For the sales team, the incentive structure is more aggressive but equally transparent. The incentive calculator shared on SharePoint allows any salesperson to model their earnings based on different deal scenarios. This transparency removes the mystery and mistrust that often plague sales compensation plans.

Beyond the Spreadsheet: Why X0PA Invested in Professional ESOP Management Tools

The transition from Excel-based ESOP management to a professional platform like Svested wasn’t just about efficiency—it was about belief. When employees can visualize their wealth growing with interactive dashboards, the psychological impact is profound.

Svested, one of the few companies in Singapore that specializes in ESOP management, helps retain employees and enhances the employer’s value proposition to attract talent. The platform transforms abstract stock options into tangible wealth projections.

The investment in proper ESOP infrastructure paid dividends in unexpected ways. During recruitment, X0PA could show candidates exactly what their equity package might be worth at different company milestones. This transparency became a powerful recruiting tool, especially when competing against larger companies for talent.

The platform also automated the entire ESOP lifecycle—from initial grants through vesting schedules to exercise events. This removed the administrative burden that often causes startups to delay or mismanage their equity programs.

The Future of X0PA: From $8.5M to $50M Through AI-Powered Growth

With current revenue at $8.5 million and 300 customers, X0PA is positioning for aggressive expansion. The company’s partnerships with tech giants like Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP provide distribution channels that could accelerate growth significantly.

The HR tech market is ripe for consolidation, and X0PA’s unique position—profitable growth, ethical AI certification, and strong presence across multiple geographies—makes it an attractive acquisition target. Companies with X0PA’s profile often command 8-12x revenue multiples in strategic acquisitions.

More importantly, Suri has proven that you don’t need Silicon Valley-style burn rates to build a significant tech company. By focusing on sustainable growth and keeping the team aligned through transparent equity participation, X0PA represents a new model for global SaaS expansion.

Key Takeaways: Building Your Own Invested Team

Nina Alag Suri’s journey from a $1,000 garage startup to an $8.5 million AI company offers clear lessons for founders struggling to build committed teams:

Make Equity Visual: Don’t just grant stock options—invest in tools that help employees see exactly what their equity is worth at different milestones. The psychological impact of visualization cannot be overstated.

Universal Incentives: When everyone from engineering to sales has incentives tied to the same company metrics, you eliminate departmental silos and create true alignment.

Monthly Rewards: Annual bonuses feel distant. Monthly incentive payouts create immediate feedback loops that drive behavior.

If you’re an ambitious founder looking for capital to grow, we’d love to consider funding you at Founderpath. Click here to request capital.