Mohammad Sharique Khan

I'm Sharique — a 16-year-old founder from Bengaluru building the ecommerce platform I wish had existed when I tried to sell online. I failed once. Then I decided to fix the system instead.

How It Started

Before ELIXMODE, I tried to build an online clothing brand. I had the products. I had the vision. What I didn't have was $400 a month to spend on Shopify, WhatsApp integration, abandoned cart apps, analytics tools, and a developer to stitch it all together. So I gave up — not on the idea of selling, but on the idea that the current tools were the right ones.

That experience sat with me. I kept thinking: if this was hard for me — someone who understands how these systems work — what was it like for the thousands of business owners globally who don't? The kirana owner who wants to sell online. The woman in Jaipur who makes block-printed kurtas. The guy in Bengaluru who roasts specialty coffee. They all have products. They all have customers. They just don't have a platform built for them.

So in August 2025, I started building. In Bengaluru. In Class 10. With my co-founder Arsh, who brings a different kind of clarity to problems than I do — the kind that cuts through complexity and gets to what actually needs to be built.

What I'm Building

ELIXMODE is a global AI-native commerce platform. The concept is simple: a business owner types a message — "I sell handmade silver jewellery, set up my store" — and their complete online store is built in minutes. Products, checkout, payments, WhatsApp integration, order management. Everything a real business needs. No code. No agency. No Shopify bill that costs more than their first month of revenue.

We're building this as a full-stack platform — React frontend, FastAPI backend, MongoDB, Claude Sonnet via the Anthropic API. Hosted on Lovable. It's a real product, not a demo. We've done 50+ customer interviews with actual business owners globally. We've attended Google I/O Extended Bengaluru and the Rajiv Talreja Business Breakthrough Summit. We applied to YC S26 and were rejected. We decided to skip W27 and are now preparing properly for YC S27. We're building in public every day on LinkedIn and Instagram.

The Timeline — How We Got Here

• 1
  2024

  Started an Online Clothing Brand

  Tried to sell online. Hit the tool wall — too expensive, too complex. Cancelled the brand. Kept the lesson.
• 2
  August 2025

  Started ELIXMODE

  Teamed up with Arsh. Decided to build the platform that should have existed when we tried to sell. No investors. No team. Just two 16-year-olds with a real problem and enough stubbornness to solve it.
• 3
  Early 2026

  Customer Discovery — 27 Seller Interviews

  Talked to business owners globally. Validated the pain points: cost, complexity, WhatsApp gap, setup time. Every conversation sharpened what we were building.
• 4
  2026

  Google I/O Extended Bengaluru & Rajiv Talreja BBS

  Attended two major events — one on AI and technology, one on business strategy. Started building in public on LinkedIn and Instagram daily.
• 5
  2026

  YC Startup School + YC S26 Application & Rejection; Preparing for YC S27

  Enrolled in YC Startup School 2026. Submitted YC S26 application and were rejected. Decided to skip W27 to prepare properly for YC S27. Sent 10+ VC applications. Reached 500+ LinkedIn connections in 14 days of building in public.
• 6
  2026

  Building the Full Platform — Live Demo Working

  Real product management, order management, storefront, Razorpay payments, WhatsApp integration, and AI store builder — shipping it all over the next 2 months.
• 7
  Now

  Launched ELIXMODE — 100+ Users, First Revenue

  Launched the updated version of ELIXMODE. Crossed 100+ users. Customers started purchasing membership plans. Generated ₹20,000 (~$235) in early revenue — our first real validation that people will pay for what we're building.

What Drives Me

I grew up reading Paul Graham's essays. The ones that keep coming back to me are about doing things that don't scale, about talking to users, about how the best startup ideas come from founders who live the problem. Every word of that describes what we're doing with ELIXMODE.

I don't come from a tech family. I'm not from IIT. I haven't exited a company. What I have is a genuine problem I've felt, a co-founder I trust completely, and a market that is clearly ready for something better than what exists.

Outside of ELIXMODE, I'm still in Class 10 at Wisdom International School in Bengaluru. I identify as "Salvatore" on social media — a reference that'll make sense to anyone who's watched The Vampire Diaries or Stranger Things. I believe in building in public, documenting every step honestly, and treating the founder journey as something worth sharing — not just the wins, but the uncertainty, the rejections, and the moments where you have absolutely no idea what you're doing but you keep going anyway.

What I'm Good At

Let's Connect

If you're a business owner interested in getting early access to ELIXMODE . If you're a VC or angel interested in the seed round — reach out directly. If you're another young founder figuring things out — let's talk. I'm always open to conversations that go somewhere real.