We Were 13 Years Old When We Launched Our Own Brand | Elisha Parikh & Veer Kapur

Who said you have to be an adult to start you own business?

Starting their businesses at the age of 13, Elisha Parikh and Veer Kapur are already entrepreneurs. Today, they continue to run their business in Mumbai, while pursuing their education in London. Balancing them both especially during exams is difficult but through their determination they manage to handle them both spectacularly.

From learning how to create a community on Instagram, to adapting to the changes of social media – they do it all! This is epsiode 6/15 of the campaign by Kidsstoppress and Instagram celebrating kids who are lifelong learners who continue to dream and make them come true.

What is Cakeify?

Cakeify is a cake mix company that Elisha and Veer have been running for around two or three years now. They have a small team in Bombay that helps them manage the logistics while they’re away. Even though they’re abroad, both Elisha and Veer are still very involved in the business.

“It’s not something that we have to do. It’s something that we’re so passionate about and we want to do.”

…says Veer when asked about how on how they make time for their business among all the other things kids their age would rather prioritise. Cakefiy is something that comes from within them and they want to make time for it. It’s because of their passion for this company and this brand, that they are able to continue working for it every single day.

Is it difficult to manage studies with work?

Elisha and Veer were releasing a new Brownie mix around the time of their mock exams, and these exams were quite important because at the time they didn’t know if their final exams would even happen. Veer explains they didn’t really choose between work and studies, they had to do both, because they felt that if they focused on their exams too much, cakeify would suffer and vice versa.

“We want to do well in both fields, so there are times where we feel slightly overwhelmed. But when we give it our all, everything works out in the end.”

How did they launch their own brand at 13?

Veer and Elisha started cakeify as a part of a course called the Young Entrepreneurs Academy in 2020. They were around 13 years old at the time. As a part of the course, they had to think of a project that was very personal to them and something that they could see becoming a full graduate business at the time.

Both being very passionate about the food space, they really wanted to help make logistics of making it easier than it was. So that’s where they took off from.

They realized that there was a gap in the market for cake mix companies because when you walk into a supermarket, you’d just see one cake mix box, and then you’d have to buy ingredients to buy your icing. You’d have to buy the molds. You’d have to buy so much more than just the cake mix.

“That’s just such a large inconvenience, especially if you just want to start out baking and you don’t want to invest so much in just one cake. So that’s kind of how we thought of cakeify, which is an all in one baking kit, which includes the cake mix, frosting, like sprinkles molds and measuring cup. “

Elisha and Veer get so much encouragement, not only from all of their followers online, but also from all the food and mommy bloggers they collaborate with. Thanks to the community they have built on Instagram, they get constructive criticism, all sorts of support and plenty of inspiration to keep doing what they love to do!

Their Biggest Learning:

“I think prioritizing is definitely something that we’ve learned throughout our journey. Academics for both of us is number one. But taking out some free time that you might use to meet with friends or go online, even taking out like ten or 15 minutes from the day really makes such a large difference in terms of organizing and prioritizing. 15-20 minutes is really all you need to give to make that dream happen.”