--- title: "Michelle Aran of Velvet Caviar: Inside the Strategic Blueprint to Merging Ultimate Device Protection with Trendsetting Design" url: "https://authoritymag.co/articles/michelle-aran-of-velvet-caviar-inside-the-strategic-blueprint-to-merging-ultimate-device-protect" publisher: "Authority Magazine" author: "Doug Noll" authorUrl: "https://authoritymag.co/authors/doug-noll" interviewee: "Michelle Aran" company: "Velvet Caviar" category: "Business" datePublished: "2023-09-09T23:53:56.703Z" dateModified: "2026-11-12T17:06:43.649Z" tags: "Business" --- # Michelle Aran of Velvet Caviar: Inside the Strategic Blueprint to Merging Ultimate Device Protection with Trendsetting Design *Velvet Caviar founder Michelle Aran shares how she transformed a college side hustle into a powerhouse accessories brand with over one million customers.* > I thought our warehouse made a mistake and shipped all units to one customer wiping out our inventory, but really the units I had just stocked were instantly all SOLD! --- As*a part of our series about Women Founders, we had the pleasure of interviewing Michelle Aran.* *Founder, Michelle Aran of designer phone case and accessories brand,*[Velvet Caviar](https://velvetcaviar.com/)*is dominating the industry by creating fun yet practical accessories for your phones and today has over 1 million customers. The brand launched back in 2014, shortly after Michelle graduated from college and intended to go to law school. Instead, Michelle decided she wanted to be an entrepreneur and use her creative side to make something she would truly love and use.* --- **Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?** I always loved cute phone cases, accessories in general. I used to go to the mall every weekend, often picking up a cute new case from the random kiosks. At that time, it was very hard to find anything nice online, so options were very limited. I’ve even made a few of my own DIY cases at home from glue and crystals. After I graduated from St. Johns with my undergraduate degree, I was about to enter law school. To help pay for the expensive tuition, I decided to start a “side hustle” selling products online. Given my love for phone cases, I thought this was a great opportunity to bring some new styles to market that weren’t available. More importantly, I wanted to make a more protective case than what I was buying at the kiosks, since my phone screen kept cracking with theirs. The vision was to merge good protection from the rugged brands like OtterBox, with my cute and trendy styles. With my first few hundred cases in stock, I launched my website and began posting them on Instagram. In 2014, Instagram views grew rapidly, and my video took off like a rocket. Within a few months, I was shipping over a hundred orders a day out of my living room. At that point, I decided to pause law school and commit to Velvet Caviar full time. **Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?** So many things have happened in the last 9 years, but I would like to highlight our collaborations. Seeing behind the scenes and learning about the process of the legendary brands, Betty Boop, Bratz, etc. That was amazing and very inspiring. As an entrepreneur, I am always looking for inspiration and enjoy seeing how these names have evolved and still remain a household name. **Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?** In the early days, I wore many hats including inventory! One day, while working on restocking our website, I noticed a style which I had JUST restocked, was sold out in seconds. I thought our warehouse made a mistake and shipped all units to one customer wiping out our inventory, but really the units I had just stocked were instantly all SOLD! Lesson learned would be to properly watch trends on your website and master the skill of projecting inventory. A few years later I am happy to say we built out some pretty sweet tools that help us manage our inventory. **None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?** That would be my business partner, Paul. We met 1.5 years after I started Velvet Caviar, and things have changed and improved so much since we have collaborated. At first I hired him as a consultant to redesign our website. While redesigning our new flow & site, I recognized talent and true commitment from him early on that I couldn’t imagine building VC without him. He had a big vision for VC that I aligned with, and within a few months he joined VC full time to grow the business. Funny story would be how I thought I could grow this company from my tiny apartment! He had convinced me to get an office early on which I am so happy I listened. It hadn’t occurred to me that I would need to build out a team of employees to support our rapid growth. I thought I could just run it all from my tiny home like a true startup. My partner sent me some listings on Craigslist and boy were they grungy! Among the options there was one sublease I couldn’t stop thinking about, I truly saw a future there for VC. Ironically, the lady that was subleasing her space did NOT want to sublease her space to me because I was just a 24-year-old girl with no business history. Paul convinced her that we were going to be a household name and to just give us a chance. 7 years later we now call the Brooklyn Navy Yard our home and have expanded to a much larger and nicer office down the street from our first one. I would recommend any founder to never build alone and find great partners! **According to**[this](https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmailtrack.io%2Ftrace%2Flink%2Feed922745500aa950443505c2868c69dc6b4dbb7%3Furl%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fnews.crunchbase.com%252Fnews%252Feoy-2019-diversity-report-20-percent-of-newly-funded-startups-in-2019-have-a-female-founder%252F%26userId%3D7643614%26signature%3D9a2d226b71e4bcc6&data=05%7C01%7Cccaravana%40michelemariepr.com%7C8050d13a74ce4ed98de508db944b94e6%7C0130f0dd360d4e3e8ca045c0842cd86b%7C1%7C0%7C638266824594092919%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=F6wHtRjn0kw2qQUbo8%2BqHzJtaJV9lQJt7mb4XqoEkIk%3D&reserved=0)**EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?** I believe there’s a social stigma that women aren’t typically founders. I’d love to empower women that it is in fact possible and very likely. The reality is many successful ecommerce brands are products sold to women. Ironically, many are founded by men who see the demand and are willing to take the risk. The only thing holding women back is taking a chance, working hard, and networking more in the entrepreneurship community. There’s plenty of female focused funds and mentors, you just need to get started and not give up. **Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?** It should begin with more entrepreneurial education at the high school and collegiate level with more focus on female founders and how they succeeded. In addition to that, dispersing a larger pool of grants and awards to female founders would help as well. **This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?** It’s a great opportunity to work on something you love with an amazing team you’ve curated, earn a good living, and have a purpose to work on something meaningful. **What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?** “They were lucky.” That’s part of it, but it’s also good timing, and very hard work for a long time. **Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?** Unfortunately, everyone is not cut out to be a founder and for good reason! Some people are bigger thinkers, but worse operators. From the elements you can control, it takes a lot of hard work, risk, and sacrifice. Many people are not in the position or comfort to do that, which is okay. Entrepreneurs wouldn’t succeed without the help of an amazing team, and employees wouldn’t have innovative places to work at without an aspiring entrepreneur. I believe everyone has a chance at some point in their career to take the leap when they’re ready, but it’s okay to work somewhere else until you reach that. Besides that, not every idea is great, and it’s important to wait until you have something worth pursuing. **Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)** 1 . **Hire great people faster.** In the beginning, I had 5 roles. From customer service, shipping, inventory, marketing, and photography. My first hire was a customer support representative which finally freed up half my day. I wish I had spent more time recruiting than handling the 4 other roles I had. Whatever brand you establish, envision what team you’ll need to reach your first big milestone, and recruit them as soon as you can afford it. 2 . **Be OK with breaking even early on.** Back in 2016, Facebook advertising traffic was very affordable, about 1/4 of the price it is today. As more marketers entered the space, the costs of advertising naturally increased. I wish I had spent more on marketing back then when the channel was extremely ripe and affordable. 3 . **Everything is negotiable.**Over time, you learn that a service provider, factory, store, etc. are ALL negotiable. Don’t settle for the first price, as it’s never the best price. This will save your bottom line quickly and give you more opportunity to invest back into marketing to grow your business. 4 . **Hire accountants who specialize in your industry.** When I started out, I asked friends and family for an accountant. They helped me get set up, but eventually a few years down the road we outgrew their expertise. This cost us a lot of time and confusion with another firm to clean up their work. Having the right providers is extremely important, from accountants, lawyers, inspectors, etc. as it can make or break a project. Hire great providers early on and don’t fear the more “expensive” option. 5 . **Network with more entrepreneurs.** Some of the best ideas I’ve had came from conversations with founders who are already achieving the scale of business I’m pursuing. Their insight is not only inspiring, but often a rare topic. A dinner with other founders can teach you more about your business than hundreds of podcasts. Get out there, don’t be shy, and help others so they help you. How have you used your success to make the world a better place? We’ve certainly helped reduce the amount of screen repairs the world needs! Jokes aside, we’ve donated significant funds to a handful of charities each year that empower female entrepreneurs and environmental initiatives. Also, our cases use recycled plastic which is a great way to reduce the production of new plastics the world doesn’t need more of. **You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.** I would love to see people put their phones down and interact with the community around them. The amount of time we spend online is certainly detrimental to our social skills and happiness. You just never know what business connection or new friend you could meet out there in the real world. **We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.** I’m a huge fan of Tim Ferriss! I love his work in business, self-development, and living well overall. He was an early inspiration and great educator to this day. It’d be great to finally meet the person I’ve read and listened to for thousands of hours. **Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.** --- A*bout the Interviewer: Douglas E. Noll, JD, MA was born nearly blind, crippled with club feet, partially deaf, and left-handed. He overcame all of these obstacles to become a successful civil trial lawyer. In 2000, he abandoned his law practice to become a peacemaker. His calling is to serve humanity, and he executes his calling at many levels. He is an award-winning author, teacher, and trainer. He is a highly experienced mediator. Doug’s work carries him from international work to helping people resolve deep interpersonal and ideological conflicts. Doug teaches his innovative de-escalation skill that calms any angry person in 90 seconds or less. With Laurel Kaufer, Doug founded Prison of Peace in 2009. The Prison of Peace project trains life and long terms incarcerated people to be powerful peacemakers and mediators. He has been deeply moved by inmates who have learned and applied deep, empathic listening skills, leadership skills, and problem-solving skills to reduce violence in their prison communities. Their dedication to learning, improving, and serving their communities motivates him to expand the principles of Prison of Peace so that every human wanting to learn the skills of peace may do so. Doug’s awards include California Lawyer Magazine Lawyer of the Year, Best Lawyers in America Lawyer of the Year, Purpose Prize Fellow, International Academy of Mediators Syd Leezak Award of Excellence, National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals Neutral of the Year. His four books have won a number of awards and commendations. Doug’s podcast, Listen With Leaders, is now accepting guests. Click on*[this](https://podcast.dougnoll.com/podcast-guest.)*link to learn more and apply.* --- Source: https://authoritymag.co/articles/michelle-aran-of-velvet-caviar-inside-the-strategic-blueprint-to-merging-ultimate-device-protect (Authority Magazine, Business). Interviewee answers are first-person statements of the guest. Index of all pages: https://authoritymag.co/llms.txt