Student Startup Spotlight: Caper

Planning bachelorette parties is a massive headache. From picking the activities, agreeing on budgets, and coordinating the logistics, it is no easy task. That is what prompted NYU Stern MBA students Leah Shisha and Isha Vij to found Caper. Caper curates incredible experiences and takes the hassle out of the process. They also create “party boxes” that include everything you’d need to throw a fun event. I spoke with Leah and Isha about how they came up with the idea, what it’s like to start a business while in school, and the challenges of being female founders.

• How did you come up with your idea? Why did you decide to pursue it?

  • Isha: We’re both big entertainers, and both of us, in our social circles, are often the ones chosen to organize experiences for our friends.

  • Leah: In planning large and small events, we’ve seen how hard the process is because the market is just so fragmented. We realized over the last few years that the parties that were the biggest challenge to plan were the bachelorette parties. We started researching, and realized there was a huge business opportunity here. We saw some compelling trends: women are getting married later, so they have more discretionary income to spend on bachelorette parties. They’re also viewing it as a fun girls weekend, rather than a wild night out. Secondly, the millennial generation tends to value and spend money on experiences – creating memories – over material belongings. We thought these trends were a perfect storm for us.

  • Isha: Bachelorette parties in particular are really unique because they happen only few times in your life – depending on how many friends you have – so the amount you spend on them is disproportionate. And because these are group activities with several women, word-of-mouth has really helped build the business.

  • Leah: Bachelorette parties can be incredibly frustrating to plan. It’s a large number of people, everyone has different budgets and opinions on what to do, and the person assigned to plan often has never planned one, and has no desire to do it. Plus, the person planning wants to do something original, because there is a lot of pressure to impress the bride and make sure the rest of party has a blast. They want to do something unique and memorable. And often the planner has to coordinate payments, travel logistics, reservations – it’s a huge responsibility.

  • Isha: We realized that what’s already out there isn’t what we would want, or what our friends want. Bachelorette parties should be truly unique and special, and reflective of the person getting married. That’s when we realized there’d be a true opportunity here.

• So what makes Caper different?

  • Isha: First of all, we want to be a one-stop-shop for the bachelorette party planner. We work with the most unique vendors – curate and create experiences that can’t be found anywhere else – we offer everything from a taxidermy party to having a custom cocktail designed for each guest based on their horoscope to a roaring 20s party in a private wine cellar. We are passionate about creating the most memorable experiences out there.

  • Leah: We also take the pain out of having to coordinate logistics and payment—which is actually pretty difficult—because we pre-negotiate packages. It’s all been paid for in advance so everyone can simply show up and have a great time. And besides experiences, we also make “party packs,” which are essentially boxes that include all the décor and supplies you would need when throwing a bachelorette party.

• You’re currently only in New York City. Do you have expansions plans?

  • Leah: We have slowly started to expand outside of New York. We’re primarily focused on NYC, but we’ve also done the Bahamas, Miami, and Vancouver, and as demand has come in from elsewhere, we’ve started planning parties in several new cities such as New Orleans and Las Vegas. Manhattan is great because there’s a large number of our target demographic here: female professionals, age 25-40, who are plugged in to the best the city has to offer. Also, New York City is a top 10 destination for bachelorette parties.

• How do you manage your time between school and launching your business? How do you prioritize?

  • Isha: It’s tough! We put a big emphasis on socializing and going out because so many of the experiences we uncover are from being out and about the city. New York is such an incredible place and we meet people every day that inspire our business. Leah and I also meet really early in the morning.  

  • Leah: We don’t sleep much! We also use every experience in the day to sell Caper. We’re always talking about it and selling it. We really are partners, and we’re able to divide and conquer. I know if I can’t attend something because I’m in class, I can count on Isha to be there. Having a dependable co-founder is like being able to be in two places at one time.

  • Isha: For next semester, we’ve planned our class schedules to leave Monday, Wednesday, and Friday open. We hope that having three dedicated weekdays to work on the business will really make a difference.  

• What advice would you give to students trying to launch a startup while still in school?

  • Leah: Only do it if you’re truly passionate about it. The only way you’ll have the energy when you’re running on empty is if you have a real drive for it.

  • Isha: You need to have thick skin and be comfortable with a fair amount of risk. A lot of people might call your idea “cute” and write you off. We didn’t go to business school to do something cute.

  • Leah: Yeah, we’re not 8-year-olds selling lemonade. We saw a true need in the market in an area that we’re passionate about and we decided to build a solution. What I’ve noticed is that now, in every single class I’m taking, I’m applying the concepts to our business.

  • Isha: So many things I learned about in class used to be so abstract and hypothetical, but now, the lessons I’m learning in class are incorporated into the business almost right away.

• Do you think you encounter struggles that male founders don’t have to deal with?

  • Isha: Absolutely. 100%. We experience struggles, but we meet so many champions along the way to. Many female entrepreneurs we’ve interacted with—mentors and business partners—have said “we know how tough it is,” so they’ll give us their time because they’ve gone through it themselves. After just one meeting with a the founder of a business we were hoping to partner with, the female founder offered to advise and mentor us along the journey. She connected with us, and has been invaluable to us since then, because she knew firsthand what it’s like.

  • Leah: Between being female and having a business around bachelorette parties, people often smirk and don’t take it seriously. But being female has helped in other ways. It’s enabled us to connect with other female founders based on a mutual understanding of what it’s like to be a female business owner. So it has definitely been difficult to be taken seriously, but it has also opened some doors.

You can learn more about Caper at www.caperco.com