BuzzBallz was started by a former high school teacher named Merrilee Kick in 2009. She didn't take any outside funding. Instead, she got a loan from a local community bank and maxed out her credit cards to start the business. After selling BuzzBallz cases out of the back of her truck in Texas, she got her business to profitability in year two. By 2019, Kick was doing over $100M in annual sales. Last year, Sazerac acquired a majority stake in BuzzBallz in an all-cash deal for an estimated…