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My First Million$2B founder reveals the niches that can make you $$$ (ft. Allison Ellsworth, Poppi)
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At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
How Poppi grew fast: TikTok-first branding, bold spending, smart positioning
- Allison Ellsworth recounts building Poppi from a farmers-market apple cider vinegar drink (Mother Beverage) into a fast-scaling brand that rebranded and launched Poppi in March 2020.
- She attributes major growth to being early on founder-led TikTok and to a “brand first, digital first” operating mindset where brand awareness was the top KPI.
- Ellsworth describes intentional heavy reinvestment—raising significant capital, running TV and creator marketing, and using Super Bowl ads to reposition Poppi as “soda.”
- She explains how beverage distribution constraints and buyer dynamics shaped timing for an acquisition, and why the Pepsi offer (100% purchase and employee outcomes) made the deal straightforward.
- Post-exit, she discusses the emotional shift from losing a decade-long purpose to rebuilding purpose around wellness, relationships, and eventually a new company driven by personal need.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasFounder-led TikTok was a major early growth lever.
She describes Poppi’s early growth as coming from leaning into TikTok when it was still “the Wild Wild West,” using founder-led content to reach customers well beyond the typical coastal “better-for-you” hubs.
Poppi optimized for brand awareness over short-term conversion.
Ellsworth says Poppi prioritized brand awareness as the number-one KPI and made even operational choices (like Costco variety-pack flavors) through a “brand first” lens, including how products look together on-shelf.
Taking time to define positioning before scaling was pivotal.
After Shark Tank, she says they took nine months to rebrand from Mother Beverage to Poppi and clarified who the product was for before pushing distribution—work she believes many brands skip while chasing the next sale.
They chose reinvestment and growth over early profitability.
Ellsworth says Poppi intentionally stayed unprofitable until about the year before the sale because beverage and brand building are expensive, and the company reinvested heavily (including multiple Super Bowl ads).
Super Bowl spend was used to reclassify the product in consumers’ minds.
She explains that Super Bowl costs include production and post-game sustaining media, and that the ad was used to shift perception—saying “soda” repeatedly so consumers would categorize Poppi as soda afterward.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesI'm confident because I've failed and made a total fool of myself for so many years to kind of figure out what works and how, how to be confident.
— Allison Ellsworth
It's expensive to do a beverage. So every step of the way with the board, the senior leadership, the founders, we were intentionally reinvesting back in the brand and raising the entire time, right?
— Allison Ellsworth
I think embarrassment's the most underexplored emotion when it comes to being successful in life.
— Allison Ellsworth
I think there's this ability to live life, not take it so serious.
— Allison Ellsworth
I think somewhere along the way we were taught that being serious equals being successful. And then we f- we were kind of taught that like fun is a distraction, and that if you're serious, you should look serious and act serious and all of these things, and I'm so here to like throw that theory out the window.
— Allison Ellsworth
SPEAKERS
Allison Ellsworth
guestCo-founder of Poppi (prebiotic soda brand) who scaled it from early markets to a reported ~$2B exit.
Shaan Puri
hostCo-host of My First Million and entrepreneur focused on startups, internet business, and e-commerce.
Sam Parr
hostCo-host of My First Million and entrepreneur known for founding and growing media and internet businesses.
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
