Entrepreneur Friday

Entrepreneur Friday: Avitae

Posted by Jean

WHO: Brian Pitzer

WHAT: Avitae – Natural Caffeine + Purified Water.

WHEN: 2009

WHERE: Columbus, Ohio

HOW: I’m the first to admit that it’s often tough for me to make it through the whole day on just my morning cup of joe.  Brian Pitzer felt the same way.  Not a soda drinker, Pitzer knew there had to be a way to mix caffeine and water, without having to add colors and flavors to make it look and taste good. At the time, he was VP of a marketing firm, well aware of the growing health trend around the country – and well aware of the potential this product had in many demographics.

Pronounced “ah-vee-tay,” each bottle contains 45mg of caffeine – the same amount found in most sodas. Unlike soda, however, Avitae is simply water and caffeine, with nothing else added. “We target busy moms, working professionals, athletes, and teens,” says Pitzer. Their attractive packaging combined with their health-conscious marketing make Avitae trendy, with a solid niche in the beverage market.

“There’s no perfect jumping off point, when there’s nothing to worry about and nothing to lose,” says Pitzer, which is what motivated him to leave his job and start a new company. “It was a difficult decision,” says Pitzer, “but you can’t hit a ball you don’t swing at. I didn’t want to say ‘I wish I’d tried it.’” Pitzer’s success in marketing allowed him to build up a savings cushion of $100,000 – all of which he put towards Avitae, so he wouldn’t have to ask friends to invest. “Since it was my idea,” says Pitzer, “I wanted to make sure I was the only one who would lose if this didn’t work out.” After a year and a half of development, Pitzer began to approach investors – and Avitae took off. Today, the product is sold in over 4,000 locations across eight Midwestern states.

This year, the company will turn one. They hope to see a stronger presence throughout the Midwest in 2010, and also hope to turn a profit. “We had a lot of trial and error,” says Pitzer, which cost the company a lot of money. However, Pitzer believes it all comes down to word-of-mouth and education. “The most important thing is to get people talking about the product,” explains Pitzer. “We want them to be aware that drinks with ‘zero calories’ and ‘zero carbs’ aren’t necessarily ‘healthy.’”

HIS ADVICE: “You’re going to run into more negative people than positive people,” says Pitzer, “so you have to always believe in what you’re doing. Listen to the criticism and get the facts – but don’t believe everything that’s said.”

Want to win a four pack of Avitae? Click here, and type AVITAE into the message box!

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