Liquid Death CEO Mike Cessario: How I Turned Canned Water to a $700M Company | E968

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

January 20, 2023

Duration

1h 1m

Channel

The Twenty Minute VC

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Mike Cessario is the Founder and CEO @ Liquid Death, the man hacking the healthy beverage market with the first hilarious water brand. It is working, Liquid Death’s latest valuation was over a staggering $700M and Mike has raised over $200M since founding the company from the likes of Science Inc. Away’s Jen Rubio, Dollar Shave Club’s Michael Dubin, Swedish House Mafia, and Tony Hawk to name a few. Prior to founding Liquid Death, Mike was in the advertising industry at a number of direct firms including VaynerMedia. --------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 1:07 Liquid Death’s Origin Story 8:40 Mike’s Origin Story 14:33 What is “high-performance”? 15:10 What makes a strong brand? 17:00 Liquid Death’s Brand 21:12 Did you ever worry about brand alienation? 23:07 Biggest Mistake at Liquid Death 24:11 Most Common Mistake Founders Make with Brand 28:00 Brand vs. Storytelling 30:57 Why People Love Liquid Death’s Marketing 33:03 Why Today’s Advertisements Suck 35:21 How to Handle the Haters 38:27 How to Pick which Social Channels to Focus On 41:38 How Liquid Death Writes Great Advertisements 46:49 Why Liquid Death is Underrated 49:11 Craziest Thing Mike has Ever Seen 50:09 The Menu on HBO 51:34 Marketing Strategies: HBO vs. Netflix 54:10 How to Make Celebrity Investors Work 56:32 The Most Underrated Brand of All Time: Trader Joe’s 58:42 What would you have done differently? 1:00:37 Liquid Death in 5 Years --------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with Mike Cessario We Discuss: 1.) From Canned Water to $700M Business: How did rockstars’ hydration problems lead to the founding of Liquid Death? How did growing up with guns and heroine needles around him at school, impact how Mike sees the world today? What is he running from? What is he running towards? Everyone said, “canned water, that is a stupid idea”. What does Mike tell to all entrepreneurs who are told their idea is stupid? How does Mike advise on picking your idea? 2.) How to Build a Truly Great Brand: What does the term “brand” mean to Mike? What does he mean when he says, “truly great brand transcends functional value”? What are the single biggest mistakes Mike sees founders make today on branding? Why does Mike believe people will always hate your brand if it is good? What are the biggest brand mistakes Mike has made with Liquid Death? What brand does Mike most respect and admire? Why that brand? 3.) Marketing: The Secret to Reaching Millions of People with Little Budget: How does the Liquid Death team come up with the ideas they have for content? Why does Mike believe the label “storytelling” is kinda BS? Why does Mike believe people will always hate your marketing? What was Mike’s biggest lesson from their Superbowl commercial with kids drinking Liquid Death, looking like beer? How does Mike decide which channel to prioritize? How has the rise of TikTok and short-form video changed their approach to content? How does Mike approach resource allocation for new pieces of content? Do they spend big on a few bits of content or spend little on many and see what works? --------------------------------------------- Subscribe to the Podcast: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/mike-cessario/ Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Mike Cessario on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Cessario Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vc_reels Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok --------------------------------------------- #MikeCessario #LiquidDeath #HarryStebbings #20vc #cannedwater #marketing #brandmarketing

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Mike Cessario

  guest

• Harry Stebbings

  host

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Mike Cessario and Harry Stebbings, Liquid Death CEO Mike Cessario: How I Turned Canned Water to a $700M Company | E968 explores how Liquid Death Turned Punk Humor Into a $700M Beverage Powerhouse Mike Cessario, CEO and founder of Liquid Death, explains how he built a $700M canned water brand by applying irreverent, punk-inspired entertainment marketing to a fundamentally healthy product. He contrasts traditional, functional CPG branding with Liquid Death’s approach of making content people actually want to watch and share, using brand as the true moat rather than ingredients or packaging. Cessario details his unconventional background, the importance of data and early digital traction in defying skeptical investors, and the gritty operational realities of scaling in a distributor‑dominated beverage market. He also discusses evolving social content strategy, celebrity partnerships, and how Liquid Death aims to become a hybrid of beverage company and comedy-driven entertainment brand.

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