How three 16 year olds started Solvis: Turning an idea into a Climate Solution
Entrepreneurship
USA
16 Years
Last June, Qayn Jaffer, Nikhil Skandan, and I set out on a journey to change the world– we just didn’t know in what way.
After hours of locking ourselves in classrooms trying to find the perfect idea, we had nothing.
No ideas. No direction. Waning motivation.
So, we did what anyone does and took a walk in the nearest park. Upon walking for five minutes, we came across a construction site. Normal at first, we mostly ignored the area; however, out of the corner of our eye, we saw a stream.
Not just a regular stream, but one filled with dirt, woodchips, and metal, flowing right into the large river nearby.
Not thinking much of it at the time, we returned to our space in the Rauch Business Center.
Back in the classroom, we experienced brain fog for hours once again. Just as we were about to wrap up our seemingly meaningless brainstorming for the day, we put in a final push of research.
Perhaps the construction runoff had a deeper complexity?
Indeed, it did. Rather, it had a complexity deeper than our minds could even imagine.
In fact, we found that poorly managed construction projects, like the one that we saw, contributed to 50% of climate change and 40% of water pollution in the United States.
Shocked by this statistic, it was apparent that a solution was needed– so we began to look towards the skills of our team, hoping to pull together something to mitigate the amount of runoff that construction sites secrete.
With our diverse knowledge of CAD, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and financial ecosystems, we began developing Solvis, a company focused on providing proactive solutions to the construction industry’s most significant challenges.
Our Mission: Solvis’ mission is to mitigate the environmental harm that construction creates, while safeguarding construction companies from facing fines imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for exceeding runoff limits instated by the EPA.
Solvis has a clear, simple mission to help transform the construction space from an environmental degrader to an environmental savior, all while empowering companies to avoid lump-sum penalties instituted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for violating environmental runoff limitations. At present, conventional methods for monitoring waste and water runoff—passive filtration and manual regulation—are reactive solutions. The Solvis Pure, however, is a proactive, AI- and ML-based solution that provides real-time environmental compliance reporting. Accordingly, it solves two main issues: increasing ecological degradation and fines faced by construction companies for violating EPA regulations.
With this in mind, we hope to forge a future in which the construction industry is no longer a polluter and no longer faces hefty, daunting penalties. In all, Solvis is investing in a movement that will enable the mitigation of construction’s negative impact on the climate, contributing to a significantly greener earth, and empowering construction companies to keep construction clean.
We co-founded Solvis as juniors in high school, at the mere age of 16 years old.
"We didn’t set out to start our own company - we saw a problem the world can’t ignore."
What inspired you to start your own business?
To be honest, our expedition began as a project meant to compete in high school pitch competitions across the international stage. For most of the early development process, this was our primary motivation – to perform well in the competitions we intended to. However, our perspective was completely altered after beginning preliminary field testing.
At the field where we began testing, rain was pouring hard. The sky was dark. The Solvis Pure was ready to undergo its first test, detecting real-world runoff substances.
Here, we found that just one construction sites was contributing tons of pollution into nearby ecosystems, sewers, and water.
Instantly, our mission shifted from creating a cool solution for high school competitions to forging a tranformation of the construction industry– one where Solvis is at the forefront.
This guiding principle is truly the reason why we started to develop our business further than just a conceptual ideal– into a business that made tangible effect in the world.
How did you turn your idea into a business?
With our central focus rooted:
-
Built MVP, partnered with startup accelerators such as Launchbox
-
Received grant funding
-
Focused on creating partnerships with construction companies– tested demand to ensure that the business was scalable – still working on developing our unique story and path as well as scaling further.
How did you get your customers?
Attraction comes most directly through word of mouth right now– though first connection was through cold outreach – we have begun to channel some of our efforts towards marketing on various social media platforms to most directly gain consumers – building LinkedIn and Facebook presence will be extremely important to do so, as they are targeted towards professionals.
Retention is a metric that still hasn't been directly recorded yet since we have only been in operation for about a year so this will be something that is critical to gauge in order to ensure that we are remaining profitable.
What is your proudest achievement so far?
Milestones that make us proud:
-
International Career Development Conference 1st place winner, Start-Up Business Plan
-
Blue Ocean Competition top 3% of applicants
-
Diamond Challenge Semifinalists
-
Conrad Challenge Innovators
What advice do you have for budding founders?
-
If entrepreneurship is your passion, pursue it– you will never know if something is meant to be unless you try to experience it.
-
Scaling technological solutions requires more than just product differentiation and attribution, but also proper connections and marketing.
Be yourself. Pitch how you believe you will have an impact, and whatever happens, happens. Someone out there will believe in your solution.
