The Big Dawgs: with Manning Sumner podcast

September 04, 2026 The Future of Drinking Is Changing | David Fudge on Building Aplós | EP 99

What happens when you decide to challenge one of the most deeply established industries in the world?

On this episode of The Big Dawgs, Manning Sumner sits down with David Fudge, founder of Aplós, to talk about the changing culture around alcohol, building a premium zero-proof beverage brand from scratch, and what entrepreneurship really looks like behind the scenes.

David’s career took him from MTV during the height of TRL to helping build Bonobos, before eventually betting on himself and entering an industry he knew almost nothing about.

He shares how Aplós went through more than 100 product iterations, why the brand launched direct-to-consumer during 2020, what most functional beverage brands get wrong, and why he refuses to position Aplós as a “mocktail” or consolation prize for people who aren’t drinking.

But this conversation goes much deeper than beverages.

David and Manning get into the pressure of taking investors’ money, the mental weight of entrepreneurship, resilience, leadership, building the right mindset, and why sometimes the difference between the companies that make it and the ones that don’t is simply the willingness to keep going.

They also break down how drinking culture is evolving, why people aren’t necessarily giving up alcohol but are changing their relationship with it, and what that shift could mean for the future of the beverage industry.

In this episode:

• Building Aplós from zero

• Why David believes much of “functional beverage” marketing is BS

• The changing relationship between alcohol, health and socializing

• Why Aplós refuses to call itself a mocktail

• Going from MTV and Esquire to Bonobos and entrepreneurship

• The reality of beverage distribution and retail

• Raising money and carrying the responsibility of investors

• Why entrepreneurs need resilience and resourcefulness

• Manning on why “pressure is a privilege”

• The mindset required to keep building when things go wrong

• Why entrepreneurs might need a little delusion