SAN ANTONIO – During this year’s San Antonio Startup Week, teams of high school students will have the opportunity to pitch their ideas to a wide range of other entrepreneurs, investors and business owners.
“So, over half of our country drinks soda every single day, and they know the terrible effects it leaves,” said the Fizi team from Alamo Heights Business Incubator. “All over the internet, we see that even stevia has negative effects; there (are) terrible things in Coke, Diet Coke. So we wanted that one solution that just had completely clean ingredients.”
Several high school programs, including the Heights Business Incubator at Alamo Heights High School, help students develop their own startup ideas while teaching them how to run a business.
“We would love to keep it going. We’ve obviously created an awesome team that we want to work with for as long as we can," said another member from Fizi.
Fizi, made up of Scarlett Sandoval, Madelyn Fine, Kennedy Veale, Faye Peterson, and Emma Foster, came from wanting to make a healthier soda (that) people can enjoy. They say using natural caffeine, real fruit juice, and healthier sweeteners like agave and allulose will differentiate them from other products on the market.
“People are drinking these ‘healthy’ sodas right now, and we want them to be able to drink things that are actually good for their body,” another member said. “So even if Fizi can start other companies doing similar things, that would be amazing”.
The group has spent the last year in the Heights Business Incubator program, honing their plan with other students. Among 25 other teams, Fizi took second place and was able to receive $9,000 in investment money.
“We’re doing the same thing that Geekdom is doing, same kind of curriculum, but at a younger age,” said lead instructor La Rohn Fields.
“They get to go out there and get their first taste of real world, I’m talking to a stranger and getting feedback. It may feel good, it may not feel good, but they’re going to get the feedback from other people to know if they’re on the right track or if they need to pivot or iterate their idea," he continued. “So it’s always a win-win-win”.
To learn more about the schedule and registration for this year’s Startup Week, you can visit their website here.
More recent San Antonio Startup Week coverage on KSAT: