According to TechCrunch, Fizz co-founder and CEO Teddy Solomon detailed his company’s rise during this year’s Disrupt event. The app, which started from pandemic-era group chat frustrations, is now the dominant social platform on college campuses across the United States. Solomon calls it “the biggest college social app since Facebook,” and it’s specifically targeting Gen Z users who are tired of performing their lives on Instagram and TikTok. The platform’s focus is on the 99% of life that doesn’t make a highlight reel, using a hybrid anonymous model and a hyperlocal strategy to capture attention.
Fizz’s bet on real talk
Here’s the thing: Solomon’s core argument is pretty compelling. He thinks social media stopped being social. And when you look at the carefully curated feeds on Instagram or the performative dances on TikTok, it’s hard to disagree. Fizz is betting that there’s a massive appetite for the boring, funny, weird, and authentic stuff that happens between classes or in a dorm. The anonymous layer is key—it removes the pressure to be “on brand” for your personal feed. So you get questions about professors, rants about dining hall food, and genuine campus gossip. It’s messy. But it feels real in a way that other platforms don’t anymore.
The hyperlocal advantage
Now, the hyperlocal focus is their other secret weapon. You’re only talking to people on your specific campus. That creates an incredibly sticky, relevant community. It’s the digital version of the campus quad bulletin board, but alive and buzzing. This is a niche that the big platforms can’t really serve. What’s trending at Stanford is meaningless at Ohio State. By owning individual campuses one by one, Fizz builds these walled gardens of engagement that are very hard to leave. Why would you, when all your friends and the entire social context of your daily life is right there?
Winners, losers, and the feed
So who loses if Fizz wins? Obviously, the attention it steals is coming from somewhere. Instagram and TikTok are the clear targets. But I think it’s also a challenge for broader “town square” apps like X (Twitter). If Gen Z gets used to having these tight-knit, trusted, local digital spaces, will they even want a global feed anymore? The trend seems to be moving away from broadcasting to the world and towards connecting with your actual world. That’s a fundamental shift. Fizz isn’t just another app; it’s a bet on a completely different social paradigm. One that values context and community over clout and creators. Will it work beyond college? That’s the billion-dollar question. But for now, they’ve definitely found a crack in the armor of the social media giants.
Where to listen
You can catch the full conversation between Dominic Madori Davis and Teddy Solomon from TechCrunch Disrupt on their YouTube channel. For more deep dives on startups and tech, check out the Equity podcast on Overcast, Spotify, or follow @EquityPod on X and Threads. Learn more about Fizz at their website, fizz.social.
