She Went From Being Ignored at a Farmer’s Market to Selling to PepsiCo for $1.95 Billion: ‘Embarrassment Is the Most Under-Explored Emotion’

Poppi soda founder Allison Ellsworth didn’t got down to attempt to disrupt the soda market; she was simply attempting to really feel higher. 

“I used to be going to medical doctors for seven years attempting to determine what’s happening with me,” she tells Entrepreneur in a brand new interview. “I had tummy issues. My pores and skin was a large number. I used to be drained on a regular basis.”

When conventional medication fell brief, she turned to the Web, found apple cider vinegar and realized, “In the event you learn labels and also you truly have a look at what you’re placing in your physique, you’ll be able to have an effect on the way in which you’re feeling.”

There was only one downside: straight apple cider vinegar was arduous to choke down. Ellsworth determined she had to determine a method to make it style good with out loading it with sugar or components. She began experimenting with totally different recipes in her kitchen, mixing fruit juices with prebiotics and glowing water, and asking individuals to strive her concoctions at native farmers’ markets. 

Inside three weeks of promoting sodas at farmers’ markets, a Entire Meals purchaser got here to her sales space and requested to arrange a gathering. By 2017, Ellsworth was promoting her apple cider vinegar prebiotic soda, then known as Mom Beverage, at Entire Meals. By 2018, the corporate had made about $500,000 in income. 

In 2018, Ellsworth appeared on Shark Tank and secured a $400,000 funding for 25% fairness from visitor Shark Rohan Oza, who is understood for his work with main beverage manufacturers, together with Vita Coco and Vitaminwater. The corporate rebranded to Poppi in 2020, swapping its glass bottles for colourful cans, and grew to $500 million in annual income by 2025. PepsiCo acquired Poppi for $1.95 billion in Might 2025. 

Launching within the worst week — and making it a bonus

Poppi’s nationwide launch landed on March 3, 2020 — the primary week of Covid lockdowns. Ellsworth says that “each conventional advertising play was off the desk.” The staff couldn’t do in-person occasions or sampling in shops. Grocery shops had been extra involved about bathroom paper shortages than they had been about promoting new merchandise. 

As a substitute of freezing, Ellsworth went all-in on TikTok and a digital-first method from day one. 

“I used to be one of many first entrepreneurs to go surfing and inform my story on TikTok,” she says, sharing every part from her well being issues to being “9 months pregnant on Shark Tank.” 

That authenticity paid off: “I hit submit, and that video went completely viral, to the purpose now the place I’ve over three billion views on my face, and one-third of the platform has seen my face over seven instances,” she says. 

The pandemic compelled Poppi to “assume in another way from the start,” and that constraint turned an engine for outsized development.

The Three Cs

Ellsworth says her secrets and techniques to scaling to $500 million in 5 years are the three Cs: tradition, neighborhood and inventive. 

Being digital-first helped Poppi “transfer on the velocity of tradition,” she says. The corporate capitalized on TikTok traits and ran Tremendous Bowl advertisements for 3 years straight to remain related. 

Group wasn’t a buzzword; it was a moat across the model. Poppi followers had been “diehard,” Ellsworth says, pointing to sold-out clothes line drops and Goal collaborations that turned cultural moments of their very own.

Inventive stitched every part collectively — from the rebrand from Mom Beverage to Poppi to reframing the product itself. “We went from apple cider vinegar drink to revolutionizing soda for the following technology,” Ellsworth says. 

Professionalize sooner than feels snug

Ellsworth is blunt which you can’t scale like Poppi and nonetheless behave like a scrappy aspect hustle. “We had been the quickest rising beverage within the historical past of beverage,” she says. “We went from $0 to $500 million in 5 years.”

To assist that, she centered on “course of, platform and folks.” That meant placing in critical processes, professionalizing early and refusing to rent like a typical startup. For instance, she employed HR professionals and a CFO early on. 

One of many largest traps she sees founders fall into is ready too lengthy to degree up and rent sufficient individuals. “A variety of entrepreneurs don’t do [this]… they don’t professionalize and rent quick sufficient,” she says. 

Ellsworth additionally stresses the significance of discovering companions who can sustain with development, from manufacturing to capital. 

“We had good manufacturing companions to have the ability to scale with us that shortly,” she says. “We had good traders to have the ability to again us the complete time.”

Mindset shift for achievement

If there’s a single mindset shift Ellsworth desires founders to embrace, it’s this: “embarrassment is probably the most under-explored emotion for achievement.” She believes you must “go on the market and make a idiot of your self” — posting movies, pitching your thought and standing behind a folding desk asking strangers to strive your drink.

Her framework is easy: “Confidence comes from failing again and again, and you then lastly change into assured. So actually, it begins with embarrassment, then refinement, then readability, then confidence,” she says. 

One instance is these early farmers’ market days. Ellsworth was standing at a sales space for hours, asking individuals to strive her apple cider vinegar beverage. “I used to be like, effectively, that is embarrassing,” she says. 

That second compelled her to refine the message to “do this better-for-you soda,” which resonated with extra individuals. She grew extra assured in her product over time. 

Ellsworth is pissed off by founders who solely dream. Some founders will cease her and ask for a second of her time with simply an thought and no execution behind it. “You’re dreaming, you’re not doing,” she says. “You need to take some danger to start out earlier than individuals will take you severely.”

She is simply as adamant about investing within the model early. To construct a product with Poppi-level impression, she advises hiring a branding company. Too many founders, in her view, get obsessive about returns as a substitute of constructing a strong model. 

A results of her branding-focused method? A product that didn’t even exist on cabinets six years in the past now sits in a devoted “trendy soda” set subsequent to legacy names. 

“There was no such factor as the trendy soda set,” she says. “Now they’ve a five-foot set in each grocery retailer subsequent to the massive boys. That’s one thing I created in my kitchen six years in the past. I made actual change in grocery shops for the American weight loss plan.” 

Poppi soda founder Allison Ellsworth didn’t got down to attempt to disrupt the soda market; she was simply attempting to really feel higher. 

“I used to be going to medical doctors for seven years attempting to determine what’s happening with me,” she tells Entrepreneur in a brand new interview. “I had tummy issues. My pores and skin was a large number. I used to be drained on a regular basis.”

When conventional medication fell brief, she turned to the Web, found apple cider vinegar and realized, “In the event you learn labels and also you truly have a look at what you’re placing in your physique, you’ll be able to have an effect on the way in which you’re feeling.”