Ninety-eight lives were lost last June when the Champlain Towers South condominium building collapsed in Surfside, Florida. The tragic event claimed the lives of husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers.
Among those who died that day was Ilan Naibryf, a University of Chicago student studying physics and molecular engineering. His body was recovered on July 7. He died alongside his girlfriend, Deborah Berezdivin, a student at George Washington University. He was 21 years old.
Naibryf had a myriad of interests and was active on campus, playing three years on the school's club soccer team, working as a student employee with the IT Services TechBar, and participating on the UChicago track and field team as a middle-distance runner. But he had another title on his resume: startup founder.
Naibryf was the CEO and co-founder of STIX, a fintech platform that lets you to make payments by using your stocks as cash. He and co-founders Juvencio Maeztu and Ananiya Neeck launched the startup in late 2020 and made it to the finals of the school's College New Venture Challenge in March, finishing in fourth place.
Three months later, tragedy would strike. Maeztu got the call from from a mutual friend who lived in Miami that the condo had collapsed. He and Neeck feared the worst.
"It was just a huge shock," Neeck said. "The worst part was so many weeks of not knowing. You had hope at first, but as the weeks go by, you kind of understand the reality of the situation."
Like with many student startups, STIX's founders didn't just have a business relationship. They were friends, classmates and, in Naibryf and Maeztu's case, even roommates.
"Ilan was definitely a lot more than a co-founder to both of us," Maeztu said. "He was my roommate and my best friend. We did everything together."
At this point, the future of STIX is unclear. In reflecting on their co-founder, both Maeztu and Neeck described Naibryf as friendly and outgoing, with Neeck adding that he was someone who wanted to make an "impact on the world."
"He was the most full-of-life person you could ever come across," Neeck said. "He radiated this positive energy."
Editor's note: This story has been updated from its original publication to reflect the current standing of STIX, according to the company's co-founders and a member of Naibryf's family.
