Not My First Guess

Baking in Loyalty: Cakedrop's Recipe for Startup Success - Featuring Nicola Ward, Co-Founder of Cake Drop

April 09, 2024 Hattie Willis Season 1 Episode 43
Not My First Guess
Baking in Loyalty: Cakedrop's Recipe for Startup Success - Featuring Nicola Ward, Co-Founder of Cake Drop
Show Notes

This episode we are joined by Nicola Ward, Co-Founder of CakeDrop. Having both worked in the City, Nicola and her sister Anna had a conversation about how awkward office birthdays can be. Often forgetting to buy a cake and having to resort to a cheap last minute one from the shop around the corner. They felt that something needed to be done to improve the employee experience in the office and uplevel celebrations at work. This gave way to the idea for CakeDrop. CakeDrop began by delivering artisan cakes to offices for employee birthdays, supported by an online calendar that allowed office managers and HR teams to pre-schedule key dates for the year ahead. 7 years on, and CakeDrop have worked with customers such as Disney, Meta, Netflix and LadBible.


In this episode we discuss:


  • Evolving her business idea
  • Running a business with a sibling
  • How CakeDrop began and how they got to where they are now
  • How they reacted to lockdown
  • Building a team and finding the right people
  • Learning the difference between how your gut is leading you and how your anxiety is leading you to make decisions
  • Public speaking and founder confidence 
  • The importance of momentum in fundraising
  • Managing your potential investor base


Link to the Cake Drop website: