Ande Sozzi's Equestrian Startup
Ande Sozzi, a senior at OHS and the Editor here at the Pixel Journal, has a fintech startup centered around her lifelong passion of horseback riding. Contributor Gemma Haney learns more in the interview below.
Pixel Journal: What is your startup?
Ande Sozzi: My startup is called EqTrack, and is a peer-to-peer payment and marketplace app for the equestrian world. Essentially, it makes it easier and more secure to manage transactions with and for patrons, vendors, trainers, shippers, farriers, and competition-management companies (among others), as well as find particular services, or any of the people I just mentioned.
PJ: Why did you start this?
AS: Being in the equestrian world for my nearly whole life, I’ve seen that the industry has some definite faults and areas in which it can improve. The whole industry is full of constant transactions, both big and small scale—buying and selling very expensive horses to getting lunch on the show-grounds—and it can become very complicated to keep track of all of it. On any given weekend, an individual can have dozens of transactions, and I want to make it easier and safer than it is now to do so.
PJ: Where do you see this going?
AS: My hope is that I can expand this app into being a useful tool for a large portion of the community. The equestrian world has so many different disciplines (hunter/jumper, equitation, reining, dressage, and so many more), and EqTrack has applications in every discipline. I hope to implement it into all of these different fields because I truly believe it’s an incredibly useful tool. Down the road, I’d potentially love to start another venture in the horse world.
PJ: You mention another venture. What would that be?
AS: I personally hate seeing opportunities in any form go to waste, and sadly that happens a lot in the horse world. Because the sport is astronomically expensive, many talented riders are unable to continue competing, and that pains me on such a level: I hate when talent is hindered. In order to fix this, there has to be a better way to give a greater number of talented riders, especially juniors (18 and under), horses to compete with. In the future I would love to start an app or company that manages sale horses and matches them with junior riders. It would be mutually beneficial; the horses are shown in the junior ranks (the largest market in the horse world), and the junior rider(s) are able to compete when they might otherwise not have the financial wherewithal to do so. Pairing talented juniors with sale horses is a common practice in the hunter/jumper world (usually known as “catch-riding”), and I think it is something that could and should be harnessed to start getting rid of some of the financial barriers in the sport.
PJ: How has OHS impacted this part of your life?
AS: OHS has been vital in permitting me to pursue things like this. I’m a firm believer that you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with, and at OHS I have been fortunate enough to be surrounded by a community that is constantly achieving and looking for new things to do, learn, and try. OHS wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for people driving forward and trying; OHS itself is a new, one-of-a-kind thing. I think that’s something that is deep within the philosophy of the school now. That is something that has really resonated with me and, as cheesy as it may sound, is something that I try to carry into everything I do.