347. Stephen Ellsworth, Founder of poppi

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