Country of Residence
United States
Age
18
Project title
Icebox
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
Icebox is something Steve Jobs would drink; clean, caffeine-free, crystal clear focus.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
https://glowing-kelpie-5cfff1.netlify.app/, https://www.instagram.com/drink.icebox/
Project Category
My project is an existing project that I started
Project Stage
Growth (We’ve moved past the very first activities and are beginning to have consistent weekly or monthly impact)
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
Icebox began on a walk through the university market with my cofounder, Jiho. I saw a mint yerba mate and wondered why there was no mainstream mint-flavored drink, when mint is so popular in gum and candy. I pitched the idea, and Jiho connected it back to his roots in Brazil, where his friend (now at Harvard) used a mint-scented stick to help him lock in before tests and classes. That was the aha moment: our ideas combined. We’d make a mint-flavored drink that doubles as that mint-scented inhaler for students. That night’s buzz, the two of us repeatedly dapping each other up, was one of the most excited I’ve ever felt. The idea has since iterated away from mint (we realized there’s probably good reason there’s no mint drink). As we interviewed dozens of peers, it moved toward the real problem: the dependence on caffeine to maximize productivity that we’ve personally faced throughout high school and college, and have noticed in many of our peers. That became Icebox. But that walk through the market is when something clicked, and when we first believed we could make a difference.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
The majority of our peers, including us, consume a caffeinated beverage earlier in the day, face an hours-long crash later in the afternoon, and will either complete no work during that crash or consume more caffeine to overcome it. Consequently, that second drink affects their sleep, only to reach for another beverage the next morning; the cycle continues. As one junior told us, “If I have an early class the next morning, I would grab another Celsius.” 24/27 of our interviewees faced challenges with caffeine addiction. Although they were visibly and audibly unsatisfied with their addiction, 23/24 of those interviewees have done nothing to battle it because there is almost no direct solution. Some even likened caffeine to addictive drugs: you’re either addicted or you’re not, no substitutes. This matters to us because we are our product’s own target audience. We’ve lived this cycle, and we watch our friends live it every day. Students require something to overcome the slump and be productive, and right now a caffeinated drink is always the easiest, most accessible option. We want to give our community a better one.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
Icebox is a caffeine-free sparkling energy drink. It uses a natural byproduct of caffeine, paraxanthine (“the active half of caffeine”), together with other supplements to create a continuous, clean wave of focus without the peak-crash cycle, jitters, and sleeplessness. Paraxanthine gives the lift, L-theanine brings the calm, and alpha-GPC, vitamin B12, ginseng, and alpinia galanga support focus and sustained alertness. To develop our ingredient list and dosages, we researched dozens of caffeine-free consumer brands selling products spanning inhalers, powders, shots, and energy drinks. We studied ingredients that repeatedly appeared in formulas, ingredients that were in few formulas, and even potential ingredients that appeared in none. Here’s how it works in action. When we asked students to describe their ideal focused state, 18 of the 22 who answered chose calm and blank over racing and wired, what one student called a “white room.” Icebox is built for that state. A student cracks one before the 1-4pm window that holds their classes and labs, exactly when the crash usually hits, and rides a steady wave of focus through it instead of reaching for a second drink that costs them their sleep. We’re launching with exactly one flavor, modeled on original Coca-Cola: prove the category with one unmistakable product before diversifying. We’ve thoroughly iterated and validated our prototype’s taste and performance via private parties, conducting a controlled experiment and receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback for the product’s effectiveness and taste.
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
In ~20 days, we went from an idea to a tested prototype. We interviewed 27 peers, in-person and virtually, across a wide range of ages and academic backgrounds. We researched dozens of caffeine-free brands to develop our formula, then validated our prototype’s taste and performance via private parties, conducting a controlled experiment and receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback for the product’s effectiveness and taste. Through our social media and in-person pitching, we have gained a following of ~500 and widespread recognition across Hopkins. We’ve launched a preliminary website and spent over $1,000 on ingredients and supplies to prepare for our first public tasting booth. Long-term, impact looks like students breaking the cycle. 23 of the 24 students we interviewed who were stuck in it had done nothing about it, because there was almost nothing they could do. Every student who reaches for Icebox instead of a second Celsius gets their afternoon back, and their night’s sleep with it. We believe it will work because 22/27 of our interviewees told us it makes sense in their mind to have a drink by their side while studying. We aren’t fighting the habit. We’re changing what’s in the cup.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
Every energy drink competitor sells arousal: a bigger jolt, a louder can. Icebox is built for the opposite axis: clarity and reset. Same destination, focus, opposite direction. There are only a few caffeine-free energy drink brands, most notably Update, which can be found at large retailers such as Target. They primarily target middle-aged people through emphasizing health and wellness. After researching their websites, advertisements, and social media, we confirmed these competitors fail to market toward productivity, studying, and university life, which we discovered is the most direct target market. We sharpen our brand identity and demand by emphasizing productive studying within the university lifestyle. We also differ through our formula. Paraxanthine has only recently become possible to extract purely, and few competitors use it. We built our ingredient list from what appeared in many formulas, what appeared in few, and what appeared in none. Most importantly, we’re applying an existing habit in a new way. Students don’t choose energy drinks on specs; they choose on identity and aesthetic. Years of consuming advertisements from giants like Starbucks and Celsius have fused studying with having a drink in hand. Rather than asking students to break that ritual, Icebox keeps the ritual and removes the caffeine. Our clean, minimalist can and social-first marketing are designed so that choosing the healthier option feels like choosing the cooler one. That’s our tagline: the cooler energy drink.
How many people are on your team?
2
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
I bring my experience in running 10+ social media accounts, pitching/interviewing customers, and competitor research. Jiho brings his experience in running an international business exporting poultry goods, online marketing for multiple companies, and running controlled testing for products. Together, we are our product's own target audience, have a broad net of connections, and have the consistent work ethic, detailed roadmap, and genuine vision/desire for the growth and success of our product.
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
In 6-12 months, success looks like getting our first manufacturing order back and selling on-campus and online via our website. Our first step is making Icebox safe and ready to share. We’ll have a formulator review our doses, source food-grade ingredients, and produce a small pilot batch in a licensed kitchen so we can sample publicly on campus. From there, we’ll prove demand. Our website will take preorders, and we’ll run targeted ads to it, tracking how many students reach checkout. At campus tastings, we’ll measure repeat purchases, not just compliments, because the real signal is who comes back for a second one. Along the way, we’ll build the partnerships that get Icebox into students’ hands. We’ll work with Hopkins Dining on what they need to stock Icebox, connect with JHU’s Pava Center for Entrepreneurship, and keep learning from founders who’ve already been through manufacturing. Meanwhile, we’re shortlisting US manufacturers now, so that once we craft a demand-verified formulation, it’s ready to send to manufacturing, which will require $5k-10k+ alone.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
We engage people where they already are: on their phones and on campus. Online, we’ve built a following of ~500 through informational posts, progress updates, and advertisements. Our ads are filmed with fellow students, like “pov: jhu exam week,” a mini movie of a chaotic study session that turns calm after a sip of Icebox. Anyone can join our preorder list through our website. In person, we’ve interviewed 27 peers, pitched across Hopkins, and hosted private tasting and performance testing parties where friends’ feedback shaped every version of our formula. Next up is our first public tasting booth, Tuesday 10/20 at the Breezeway. We turn customers into collaborators. The students who shaped Icebox are the ones who share it. Going forward, we’ll keep growing through public sampling, tasting parties, pitching at competitions, and partnering with student groups during midterms and finals, when the crash hits hardest.
