Inside Fizz: $40m raised for social media

Teddy Solomon dropped out of Stanford at 19 to build Fizz, the anonymous campus social app that's now live on 800 college campuses and closing in on 1,500 by the end of the year. In this episode, Teddy tells Jarrid Tingle the full story: how a COVID-era dorm launch turned into a company that's raised over $40 million, why he personally visited nearly 290 campuses to hand out donuts and win over students one school at a time, and how Fizz recently hit number one overall on Saudi Arabia's App Store, ahead of ChatGPT, Gemini, and TikTok.They get into why Teddy moved his entire team from San Francisco to New York, how Fizz built an ads business without wrecking the user experience, what most companies get wrong about Gen Z, and the one trait Teddy looks for in every hire. This episode is powered by Gunderson Dettmer.Subscribe for more conversations with founders, operators, and investors building what's next.Our podcast is sponsored by Gunderson Dettmer #PoweredByGundersonTimestamps:0:00 Intro1:22 Meet Teddy Solomon, CEO of Fizz1:33 The Origin Story: Building Fizz During COVID4:45 Launch Day at Stanford7:03 Visiting Nearly 300 Campuses (and Getting Chased by Campus Police)10:47 The Moment Fizz Becomes Unstoppable12:23 Finding a Mentor and Handing Over the CEO Role15:33 Should You Drop Out of College to Build a Startup?17:41 Moving the Whole Team From SF to NYC21:29 Building Fizz's Ads Business26:03 Going Global: Hitting #1 in Saudi Arabia30:01 Reputation, Leaderboards, and What Makes Fizz Sticky31:35 What Everyone Gets Wrong About Gen Z34:44 Teddy's Approach to Fundraising37:16 Hiring for Storytelling and Teddy's Superpower40:51 The Long-Term Vision for FizzMore on Teddy:https://www.linkedin.com/in/teddy-solomon-85a183188/More on Jarrid:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarrid-tingle/The Winners Welcome Podcast, by Harlem Capital, brings elite founders and top investors into thoughtful conversations on pushing past possible, sharing the conviction, standards, and lessons behind building generational companies.Harlem Capital is a venture capital firm that backs the next generation of winners. The firm partners with exceptional founders with the irrational motivation to build generational companies. All Winners Welcome.We’d love to hear from you. Share your feedback at info@harlem.capital or DM us @HarlemCapital, and if you’re enjoying the podcast, please subscribe, rate, and review.