Starting a business during college presents challenges that stop many would-be entrepreneurs. For identical twins Caitie and Maggie Sfingi, it was just the next step in a path they’d been walking since high school. Back then, they were “the weird kids with side hustles” – but those early experiences were just warm-ups for what was coming.

At 19, when most of their peers were focused on exams and campus life, the Sfingi sisters faced rejection from banks, battled imposter syndrome, and worked to prove themselves in rooms where they felt like they were sitting at “the little kids’ table.” Yet today, their software design and development agency Merakite has grown into a successful business.

Their story shows that youth and inexperience don’t have to block your business dreams. In fact, as you’ll see, sometimes not knowing what should scare you becomes your biggest advantage. If you’ve been waiting for the “right time” to start your business, the twins’ experience might just convince you that now is as good a time as any.

From Dorm Room to Business Room

The sisters went to different colleges but kept their entrepreneurial spirit alive. Caitie did graphic design and web development work. Maggie handled social media management, paid ads, and analytics.

They joined forces in fall 2017, during their sophomore year, after Maggie needed design help for a client project.

“Hey, this is ridiculous, let’s just join forces (again) and put everything under one roof.”

The partnership wasn’t planned as a long-term business at first. “The fall of our sophomore year, I remember being on the phone with Maggie saying ‘let’s just keep a Google Drive folder with notes from all our classes, and if we don’t have jobs lined up when we graduate, we’ll do something with it,'” Caitie recalls. That folder, briefly named “Business X,” quickly evolved into Merakite.

Balancing school and business meant lots of late nights. “From that point onwards, it was a lot of 7 hour Zoom calls after dinners, visiting each other on long weekends, and applying what we were learning in classes to either our own business or our clients’ projects,” Caitie explains.

While building their business, they also completed their education. Caitie earned a degree in Science, Technology, and Society from Stanford. Maggie graduated with a business administration degree from USC with honors in data science and consumer behavior.

Their first real office setup was far from glamorous. “Our first ‘office’ was a Casper mattress box in the middle of our empty apartment when Idaho went into lockdown and we were finishing our senior years of school.”

Finding Their Focus and Overcoming Challenges

Merakite wasn’t always the software design and development agency it is today. The business evolved, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“COVID gave us the nudge we needed to flip the switch,” Caitie explains.

When they graduated in 2020, they worried client spending would drop. Instead, they saw more work coming in.

“Everyone was doing something digital. Everyone needed a website or something custom online.”

This surge helped them narrow their focus. Today, Merakite specializes in building digital products, particularly for founders with “big ideas” like productivity tools and custom community platforms.

Their first major client came through an unexpected source. “Our first big client win came through a referral from our coworking space. We were looking to break more into the software development space with female founders, and another entrepreneur in our office threw our name out on Instagram.”

Starting a business at 19 came with hurdles. The twins struggled with feeling too young in business settings. They couldn’t even get a business credit card without their mom’s help because banks kept denying “two nineteen-year-olds.”

“We struggled a lot in the early days with imposter syndrome and ageism.”

Their solution? Let the data speak for itself. “There’s a right or wrong answer—it doesn’t matter if the company you hired is run by college students.”

They found a practical way to overcome imposter syndrome too. “We said ‘yes’ to a lot of projects early on, and that helped. Looking back, I think most imposter syndrome suffering is caused by having too much time to overthink—to overthink your business, your clients, your work, that reply to your email, all of it.”

Being so busy actually helped them. “The silver lining of being completely overworked was that it totally broke us of our overthinking habits because we just didn’t have the time. So any advice to the imposter syndrome sufferers: fill your schedule with the kind of work you overthink, as fast as possible.”

Throughout their journey, their father—who has been self-employed their entire lives—served as an important role model and sounding board.

Building a Women-Led Tech Company

In recent years, Merakite has worked primarily with female founders. This stands out in an industry where women-led companies receive very little funding. According to PitchBook, companies founded solely by women garnered just 2% of total capital invested in US venture-backed startups in 2023.

As an all-women team themselves, they take pride in “building more female-founded technology products in the marketplace.”

Even as identical twins, Caitie and Maggie found ways to divide responsibilities that played to their strengths. “We’re really lucky to have different and complementary skill sets (and interests). We know lots of family businesses don’t have that luxury.”

“We like to use the analogy of a 5-gallon bucket and Dixie cups: we each have a cup, and Merakite is the bucket. Some days I can only put two cups in, Maggie might put four, and you probably can’t tell the difference that day. But everybody’s working to fill the bucket.”

This flexible approach extends to their work styles too. “Being 50/50 co-founders doesn’t mean matching schedules. You don’t have to get to the office at the same time and leave at the same time.”

Learning Through Growth and Persistence

The early years taught the Sfingis valuable lessons about work-life balance.

“The biggest mistake early on was boundaries—work-life boundaries, personal boundaries, client boundaries.”

They were so excited about their work that burnout crept in without them noticing. Now they have systems to “shut things down after hours.”

“We both have do-not-disturb settings that turn Slack off at 6 pm, and we also built our own task management tool for our agency that we can customize to make the administrative side of our business more manageable,” Caitie shares.

Another lesson came when growing their team. At first, they thought no one would care about their business as much as they did. They were happy to be wrong.

“Finding people who share our same outlook, work ethic, and curiosity is not only possible but valuable,” Caitie shares. “We could have never built the agency we have today on our own.”

The twins have faced moments when they almost gave up. About a year ago, they struggled with “a really persistent bug on a client project that was impacting our team’s morale internally. It felt like playing whack-a-mole, and everyone (client included) was getting frustrated.”

Despite advice to walk away, they pushed through. “Looking back, I think the thing that kept us going was that it would have driven us insane to not know the right answer. We love this industry because we love understanding how things work.”

Their persistence paid off. “We ended up figuring it out, and the underlying technology is now something we’ve been able to modify and incorporate into other projects.”

The twins compare giving up to “quitting before you reach the mountaintop and then staring at it out your office window just wishing you had a selfie from the top!”

What’s Next and Lessons Learned

The twins continue to innovate. They’re launching IsEveryone (iseveryone.com), a scheduling tool they designed themselves. In January, they started The Friday Fundraise newsletter (merakite.com/fundraise-newsletter) that shares funding opportunities for women-led teams.

For those thinking about starting a business, the Sfingi twins offer these takeaways:

• Set work boundaries early to avoid burnout
• Don’t be afraid to build a team of passionate people
• Let your results speak for themselves when facing doubts
• Fill your schedule with work to overcome overthinking and imposter syndrome
• Find a partner with complementary skills if possible

From Side Hustle to Success Story

The twins’ path shows that you don’t need perfect timing or massive startup capital to begin. They started with under $1,000 and built their business through personal savings and client work. When faced with doubts about their age, they let their data and results do the talking.

“What we probably would have seen as ‘giving up control’ in our early days has easily been one of the most rewarding and inspiring aspects of growing our business,” Caitie reflects.

This willingness to evolve—from college freelancers to agency owners to team builders—has been key to their success.

What began as side hustles has grown into a successful agency that helps others bring their digital ideas to life. Perhaps your business idea is closer to reality than you think.

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Visit merakite.com to see their work