We Sold Brownies and Japanese Fruit Sandos on Church Street. Here's What I Learned.

I knew I could build a website and sell it. It was the obvious choice for my EYFI Challenge. I already had the skills, and I knew how to execute it.

But I wanted to try something I had never done before: sell something I made with my own hands.

That decision led me to brownies, Japanese fruit sandwiches, a stall on Church Street, and a crash course in what it actually takes to sell to real customers.

Choosing the Unfamiliar

I've baked brownies several times and always received good feedback from friends and family. But I had never tried selling them.

That was what made the idea interesting. Baking for people you know is one thing. Convincing strangers to pay for your product is another.

I teamed up with Charitha Gandluri, a fellow YouStart participant. We initially had different ideas, but we agreed that we wanted to build something from scratch and test it in the real world.

We decided to sell brownies alongside Japanese fruit sandos. Brownies were familiar and indulgent, while the sandos were something more unusual and visually appealing.

Before setting up a stall, we spoke to people about their preferences, what they would be willing to pay, and which combinations sounded appealing. We also spoke to people with experience selling food products and visited Church Street to observe the footfall and how other stalls operated.

We thought through our pricing, portion sizes, packaging, and presentation. Since we were selling on the street, we wanted the setup to look clean, inviting, and hygienic.

Our First Day on Church Street

On March 9, we finally set up our stall on Church Street.

The first few minutes were the hardest. We had to figure out how to approach strangers, explain what we were selling, and make a pitch without knowing whether anyone would buy.

Some people walked past. Others weren't interested. Every interaction came with the possibility of rejection.

But gradually, we started getting customers. We experimented with our pitches, paid attention to people's responses, and adjusted our approach as we went along.

There was no script and no guaranteed outcome. We had to learn by doing.

The Numbers Behind Our First Attempt

We spent money on ingredients, preparation, packaging, and the stall setup. By the end of the day, I had made around ₹650, against an investment of approximately ₹1,200.

It wasn't the financial outcome I had hoped for. I had recovered only part of my investment, and there was plenty we could have done better.

But the experience helped us understand what we needed to improve: our pricing, our costs, and how we presented the products.

We had spent time planning, but it was only when we started selling that we could see how people actually responded.

What Selling Taught Me

The biggest challenge wasn't making the products. It was putting ourselves out there.

Approaching strangers felt awkward at first. Not everyone wanted to listen, and not everyone was going to buy. I had to learn not to take every rejection personally and to move on to the next person.

I also realised that people don't buy products based only on what they cost to make. Presentation, timing, location, and what customers are willing to pay all matter.

The same product can perform very differently depending on where and when you sell it. And a product that gets great feedback from friends isn't automatically going to sell to strangers.

Most importantly, I learned that planning can only take you so far. You have to put your idea in front of people, listen to their responses, and adapt.

The EYFI Challenge started with a simple goal: earn money within 30 days. For me, it became an opportunity to step away from what I already knew, try something unfamiliar, and learn what it takes to turn an idea into a real-world transaction.

I'm G. L. K. Abhiram Reddy, a YouStart Cohort 2.0 fellow at Polygnan Foundation.

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This story was adapted from Abhiram's original EYFI Challenge report and edited by the YouStart team.