The greatest products of all time solve a problem. That's how Kara Goldin founded an award-winning flavored water brand, Hint, that has revolutionized the beverage industry, helping people lose weight and actually enjoy water.

Kara Goldin was addicted to Diet Coke. She'd recently left her job at AOL and found herself drinking 8-10 cans of the carbonated stuff a day. All the artificial sugar and caffeine plummeted her energy levels and she found she was 50 pounds heavier than she wanted to be. She started dieting and exercising, but saw no results. That's when she knew that her diet soda habit was the real problem. With her doctor's recommendation, she cut out soda and switched to water. She missed the taste of Coke so much that she couldn't just drink bland water, so she added fruit to give it some flavor. After a few months of replacing diet soda with her fruit-flavored water, she lost 50 pounds.

She had fun experimenting with different fruit water combinations for her family and friends, and that's when she had the idea that she could help other people. "I thought if we could just get people to change their beverage, like what I did, we would actually help people to get healthier faster." Goldin set out to create better tasting water without all the harmful sugars and preservatives that mimicked diet soda.

However, she knew she couldn't just drop an orange in a water bottle and sell it: fruit ferments and even just a little bit wasn't shelf-stable. Other flavored waters use the same chemically derived sugar substitutes as soda, or just pump their beverages full of high-calorie sugar. But, Goldin refused to compromise Hint's purity. Industry experts told her that her vision was impossible, so she set out to change their minds.

After months of trying, she finally discovered Hint's big breakthrough: Boiling the skin of the fruit would pasteurize the product without sacrificing flavor. "It goes back to solving a problem. I would not have developed this company if somebody else was doing it." She became an entrepreneur to get Hint into the homes of people who wish they could enjoy the taste of water.

That's how Hintwas born. Cutting out diet soda can lead to better concentration, a smaller waistline, fewer breakouts, and eliminates blood sugar spikes and dips. Kara's personal obsessions these days are with her watermelon, pineapple, crisp apple, and peach Hint waters. They're easy for grabbing on the go, and Hint has since expanded into more than 35 flavor combinations, including sparkling, caffeinated, and kid-friendly varieties. With the same amount of calories as a glass of water (that's zero!), would-be soda drinkers can guiltlessly knock down blackberry, strawberry-kiwi, and mango-grapefruit creations. With new flavors, like Honeycrisp apple coming out all the time, customers say they're never tempted to return to the sweet soda kick.

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