Today, I'm joined by Stephen Ellsworth, founder of poppi.

Originally launched at farmers markets as "Mother Beverage," poppi rebranded in 2020 and scaled rapidly before being acquired by PepsiCo for nearly $2B.

In this episode, we discuss cultivating consumer obsession.

We also cover:

• How 2.5 years at farmers markets became the ultimate R&D
• Why the $50M revenue milestone matters
• Landing a deal on Shark Tank

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Website: www.drinkpoppi.com/

Stephen's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephenellsworth_/

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Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:49) Background and poppi origin story

(02:40) Mother Beverage to poppi journey

(04:50) Two-year R&D at farmers market

(06:20) Shark Tank and capital inflection

(08:12) Rebranding decision and strategy

(11:00) 2020 timing and category alignment

(12:40) Intuition-driven product development

(13:40) COVID acceleration

(14:45) $50M inflection point

(16:20) Founder preferences: zero to one vs. scaling

(17:50) Product obsession and team building

(18:40) 15–20% better formula

(20:00) poppi playbook and thinking differently

(21:50) Democratizing better-for-you foods

(25:30) PepsiCo acquisition concerns

(28:45) Large incumbents vs. innovation

(31:00) Post-acquisition emotions

(35:15) Preferment vs. retirement

(37:30) What's next

(39:15) Conclusion