Spikey: The Teen-Founded Startup Helping You Detect Spiked Drinks Instantly
Entrepreneurship
USA
16 Years
Hi, my name is Abigail Goddard. I’m a high school junior from Nashville and the founder of Spikey, a keychain that discreetly tests drinks for common date rape drugs such as GHB and Ketamine. I launched it this past August and have spent the past nine months growing it.
Spikey’s mission is to help people feel safer in social settings, especially college students. It’s a simple tool, but it has saved thousands of potential victims.
My background is a mix of business, filmmaking, content creation, and activism. I’ve always loved creating things with a purpose, and Spikey came from that same drive. I’ve wanted to be an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember. When I was five, I sold grapefruit from our tree to raise money for my school fundraiser and made over $500 in one weekend. I didn’t know it then, but I was already learning how to be an entrepreneur and saleswoman.
"Safety shouldn’t be a luxury, it should be the standard."
What inspired you to start your own business?
It started with a call I’ll never forget. A loved one, her voice shaking, told me her drink had been spiked and she’d been raped. The thought of her pain and fear haunted me, and I knew I couldn’t stand by.
Growing up with older sisters and an overprotective mother, I’ve always been hyper aware of safety, especially in nightlife environments. One of my sisters went to NYU and told me that certain fraternities were known for spiking drinks and assaulting girls. That stuck with me.
When I researched solutions, I was shocked to find that most drink safety devices were unreliable, unaffordable, or too conspicuous, leaving countless people, especially students, at risk. A scrunchie cover or a plastic lid just wasn’t going to cut it. It didn’t feel protective, it felt like a big arrow sign that said, “I don’t trust you.” I wanted to change that.
I knew that if something small, discreet, and accurate existed, it could make a real difference.
That’s how Spikey started. It’s a keychain that tests for common date-rape drugs in seconds. I partnered with a pharmaceutical company and built partnerships with organizations like Spike Aware UK, College Moxie, and Greek life such as Alpha Omicron Pi to raise awareness. I designed the product, built the website, led a team of students and brand ambassadors, and started hosting pop-ups and safety events. Since our launch less than a year ago, we’ve distributed nearly 14,000 test strips and reached hundreds of thousands through news features and social media.
How did you get your customers?
During the first month of launch, I walked around college campuses with a backpack full of Spikey 1.0 keychains (a crappy prototype). I sold them at a wide range of prices to see which one hit the “sweet spot” for a typical college student or young adult budget. In-person validation was the most valuable part of the first few weeks—I learned a lot about college social culture, Greek life, and what young consumers wanted in a safety product. I realized that no one wanted something that looked like a drug test or obvious safety tool and it had to be visually appealing.
After focusing more on Spikey’s online ecommerce storefront, my team and I began posting on our Instagram @spikeyfirst. I sent about 50 daily cold dm’s to Greek life panhellenics, risk chairs, and universities offering partnerships or wholesale orders. Most DMs went unopened or got me left on read, but the few that answered turned into the milestones that brought Spikey where it is today.
How are you funding your startup?
Spikey is completely bootstrapped. I wanted to retain full ownership, so I focused on securing equity-free funding through business competitions during my junior year of high school. After participating in 8 competitions, including DECA, the Diamond Challenge, and AwardX, I raised $23,000 in equity-free funding for Spikey. Before raising funds through competitions, I took a lean approach. I’d only reinvest profits from sales to fund the next round of inventory, rather than going into debt or overestimating demand. Because of this strategy, Spikey was profitable within the first week of launch and I was able to rapidly refine design based on customer feedback.
What is your average monthly revenue?
In the past 6 months, Spikey has generated $23,000 in funding and about $20,000 in sales from both D2C and B2B orders. Last week, I closed an account with the Sexual Assault Center for 3,000 custom Spikeys which will be distributed to Safe Bar certified nightclubs and bars. In March, I sold 750 keychains to AOII’s biggest chapters at the University of Tennessee Knoxville and the University of Mississippi.
How are you doing today and what plans for the future?
My main goal is to prioritize strategically. There is so much I could be doing to grow Spikey (brand influencer marketing, social media posts, paid ads/SEO, fundraising, etc.) and I’m trying to find the best things to focus on. I learned the hard way that typical cold DMs almost never work–you have to find the specific person who will actually be able to help you and reach out to them. In the beginning, I messaged anyone on the schoolwide Greek panhellenic team when, actually, reaching out to risk chair managers and members turned out to be more effective. Surprisingly, word-of-mouth promotion has resulted in the biggest ROI—even above paid ads and SEO. What I’m most proud of is the network of partnerships and genuine relationships we’ve built within the drink safety industry.
In the future, I envision a Spikey being handed to every incoming freshman at universities across the nation (and other countries as we expand). Safety shouldn’t be a burden, it should be a right. But beyond just selling keychains, I’m trying to drive an awareness movement so drink spiking and date rape doesn’t even happen in the first place.
What advice would you give to budding founders?
1. Begin with something you’re genuinely passionate about and confirm there’s a real demand for it (i.e., people are willing to pay). Don’t mistake interest or Instagram likes for true market validation. Passion matters, but it must address a genuine problem, or no one will buy, no matter how great you think your business is.
2. Be highly selective with your team. One of my biggest regrets was starting with a group of strangers. I didn’t know their work styles and I was way too worried about potentially offending anyone or addressing issues directly. As a result, I tolerated a lot of mediocre work, which just made our dynamic and productivity worse. Eventually I had to downsize the team, which caused conflict I could’ve avoided if I’d just been more open from the start.
3. Don’t assume you'll work well with your best friends. I’ve turned down people from my school who wanted to join the Spikey team just because I knew we wouldn’t mesh when it came to work ethic or goals. Some people are great friends and terrible co-workers, and that’s okay. If you do bring someone on, give them a trial run. See how they do in 1-3 months on spec before making anything official such as titles or equity. I’ve found that once money gets involved, you see people’s true colors.
4. If you're leading a team, speak up. I used to hold back feedback because I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings but it ultimately just slowed everything down. Being honest (and respectful) gets you way further than pretending everything’s fine and feeling overwhelmed inside.
5. Failure sucks but it’s normal. I’ve had late nights, tears, and plenty of rejection. I’m still working on managing burnout and days of not wanting to get out of bed. But each one made me tougher and taught me what not to do. At some point, failure just becomes part of the process. You win some, you lose some.
TLDR: care a lot, be real, choose the right people, and don’t let failure stop you. That’s what it comes down to.
What is your proudest achievement so far?
My proudest achievement is competing in and winning almost every pitch competition I applied to this year, raising $23,000 without investors or VCs. Every competition made the next one a little bit easier and my public speaking confidence grew so much with each public pitch.
Aside from fundraising, my favorite part of Spikey has been the connections and mentors I’ve had along the way. I’ve bonded with many inspiring founders, nonprofit leaders, survivors, and like-minded students and learned so much from them. I’ve loved sharing the experience with my friends and family and I’m excited to see where Spikey takes us in the coming years, especially when I’m in college.
Being on the news a few times was unreal as well.
Where can we find you?
Book Recommendations
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'Radical Candor' by Kim Scott
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'48 Laws of Power' by Robert Greene
