When Taylor Capuano and her twin sister Casey Salai each took $5,000 of their personal savings to start a side hustle in 2022, they never imagined it would quickly become a full-time job.
“I didn’t expect this to actually lead to anything,” says Capuano, 33. “All I knew was, ‘This is a simple solution that will help us. Maybe others can help too?'”
Salai and Capuano are co-founders of Cakes Body, which makes silicone nipple covers that customers can wear under their clothes. This is intended to prevent chafing and avoid visible bra lines. Capuano said both sisters knew the embarrassment of having a wardrobe malfunction while wearing ill-fitting underwear or cheap nipple covers that were uncomfortable and unflattering.
Thanks in part to an appearance on ABC’s “Shark Tank” in December 2023, Cakes Body has amassed nearly 500,000 social media followers across TikTok and Instagram. Customers frequently tout their “non-slip” silicone “boob solutions” as being more effective and of higher quality than many other covers on the market.
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Cakes Body brought in net sales of about $95 million in its most recent fiscal year, which ended in June, after posting full-year revenue of more than $1 million in its first year of business. According to a company spokesperson, the company initially operated the business in-house, but has been making a profit since 2022.
Capuano said the only outside investment to date was a deal the sisters struck with Skims and Good American co-founder Emma Grede on “Shark Tank,” providing $300,000 for 10% of the company. The investment, which valued Cakes Body at $3 million, closed in December 2023, Capuano said.
“We realized, ‘Here’s a simple solution that works for us. Could it work for other people?'” said Capuano, the company’s chief creative officer. Sarai is the CEO of Cakes Body.
Inspiration from “despair”
Cakes Body was born out of “despair,” says Capuano.
In 2022, she and Sarai (marketing managers for clothing brand Life is Good and spirits company Pernod Ricard, respectively) found themselves both looking for new jobs. Pandemic-era layoffs have reduced the size of Salai’s team, and the birth of Capuano’s first child has led her to seek flexibility that her job doesn’t provide, she said.
Both sisters “really needed a way out,” Capuano said, but were unable to find new jobs and “really had nothing to lose.”
They brainstormed business ideas around specific pain points in their lives. Both girls had been using silicone nipple covers (which don’t contain any sticky substances and use body heat to adhere to the skin), but Capuano said she found them unsightly and ineffective. They reasoned that higher quality and better designed options could fit more seamlessly under clothing, solving a frustrating problem for women like them.
The sisters researched silicon manufacturers and, according to Capuano, did “a lot of Google searches” before choosing one and ordering a bunch of prototypes. Capuano said the sisters had little design experience of their own, so they had “several back-and-forths” with the manufacturer to make sure the prototype covered enough surface area, could stick to bare skin without adhesive, and was tapered to fit seamlessly under clothing.
Once the prototype was completed, the sisters wore it “every day,” Capuano said. As a result, “it made our lives better. (And) if it solves a problem for us, it will solve a problem for others.”
Capuano said the sisters spent a total of $5,000 each to launch Cakes Body, including ordering a prototype, purchasing the first 500 units, buying social media advertising and opening an online store through Shopify.
“Is this reproducible?”
The sisters still had full-time jobs and took up side hustles in their limited free time. The name Cakes Body comes from an earlier entrepreneurial idea. Sarai wanted to start a bakery business, but never got it off the ground, Capuano said.
While Sarai filled orders in the kitchen, Capuano focused on growing Cakes Body’s online following, showcasing the company’s products in up to 100 TikTok videos each month. Five months after launching, Cakes had its first viral moment, generating over 1 million views on a single TikTok post and selling out all of its initial inventory.
“It was very exciting and gave (us) the first glimmer of hope,” Capuano said. But the co-founders were reluctant to quit their day jobs in case they couldn’t sustain even a moment of viral success.
After that, there were several more viral posts (about once a month), each of which sold out of stock. Both sisters decided to focus on their business full time. Capuano quit his job in June 2022, followed by Salai in August.
Cakes Body shamelessly promotes quality over affordability. Its price is $33 per pair, two to three times more expensive than most existing cheaper options. The company faces competition from other expensive brands making similar products, from startups Gatherall and Third Love to lingerie giant Victoria’s Secret.
Capuano said Cakes Body’s competitive strategy includes future international expansion and a network of more than 25,000 affiliate content creators who regularly share social content about the company. The company took its first step into brick-and-mortar retail in August. In partnership with cosmetics giant Ulta Beauty, Keix Body products have been introduced to 1,000 stores across the United States.
Despite initial fears that Cakes Body’s success wouldn’t last, Capuano now tells other first-time entrepreneurs to start by turning a good idea into a viable business. If you have a product that solves a problem in a market large enough to support your business, and you have “sufficient margins to meet your financial goals,” it’s worth moving forward, she says.
“There comes a moment when you have to make a bold decision to order inventory or post your first Instagram post,” Capuano says.
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