🤠 “LIVE with Poppi Co-founders Allison & Stephen Ellsworth — Pepsi’s $2B Power Couple

But this couple went on shark tank and then sold their business for billions.

“Last year, we interviewed Allison Ellsworth on creating popping the power pioneer free”

biotic soda of the world. Today, we're bringing her back along with her co-founder Steven. I'm sorry, Jackie Mean, husband, Steven. This interview is part of T-boy hangout and part couples counseling, because Allison and Steven bring pitch decks to their day nice.

They bring product samples to their anniversary, because they years ago, they launched a god-health drink on shark day while Allison was actually nine months pregnant. But Allison didn't get birth to a human. She gave birth to a unicorn, because last year, popping an Austin-based company sold

to PepsiCo for $1.95 billion.

This was so disruptive, they made Pepsi pay off. It was so viral, it made Diet Coke cry. So beloved, they made Alex Earl thirsty for equity. This couple has created three Super Bowl commercials together. I'm sorry, Jackie, this couple has created three keys together.

Please welcome to this day, the god and goddess of the god. The king and queen of crushing cans, the Johnny and Clyde of Bubbles, because tonight, we have both. Allison and Steven else were the co-founder power couple of poppy in the house, and tonight's interview with Steven and Allison is the best one yet, what's it?

Now a quick word from our sponsor. Product placement, hold on. Let's get that label out, she knows, she knows. Would you be upset if I... Oh, we're here.

Honestly, it would make my day. Yeah. I think there isn't.

I believe there was an ASMR option, so you can get it.

“Wait, you have to do it, okay, we can do it, we can do it.”

Come on. I know, it's good. At Nick's summer camp, that was his special talent, he can make that sound. That's kind of iconic. Now we just need some nail tapping.

That's what I was waiting for, and Allison. When we had you last on the show, you said, and I quote, "I hope that you guys come to Austin next year for a live show." I believe Allison manifested everything here. You manifested this.

That's happened. That's all grandfather. It sounds like me. Now that's Steven's here, we want to ask how the mommy and daddy of Poppy celebrated the incredibly successful acquisition with PepsiCo last year.

Take us like into the room what happened when you finally signed and did the deal.

Ooh, that's a great question, because the day we actually signed the deal and we were waiting for the money to hit the bank, I think we actually got into one of the biggest fights ever. Real quick. Yes.

And so we're like, you clear your schedule, let's go to lunch, he could didn't do it. I was like, okay, clear your afternoon. Wait, wait, wait, wait. This is going to happen. We predicted this.

We predicted this. It was, it was a show. We didn't make time for this. And then the next day we were like, that was silly. Our lives are the same.

Let's go to yoga and have a good day and we were like, chill after that, but it's a stressful moment that I think people don't realize going through an exit can be kind of vulnerable. And crazy. Right? And it's emotional because you're also, you're getting something and that's whenever

it's celebrating a pop in the champagne court, but you're also letting go of something. Yeah. But you did celebrate, right? We did. We went to Europe for a month.

It was very iconic. And then we got back and we're like, oh my gosh, now what? Did you bring your kids? Unfortunately, yes. I think we brought maybe too many people on it.

Too many people. We have three boys and they're tough. Did you get one of those seats that has the bass and that? I didn't know that planes had built in bass and that's.

“I think that for that deal, do you guys get a special play?”

That's all play? Okay, don't call this out here. Yeah. Oh, mine. There was a celebration trip.

Okay. Good job. Congratulations. So Allison, when we interviewed you last August, it was shortly after the deal with Pepsi had closed.

And you described your feelings as freedom. Well now we're a little bit further away. It's been almost a year since the deal closed. Has that feeling about the acquisition change from freedom to anything else? So freedom to do whatever I want, right?

Freedom to start another company, freedom to have financial freedom. And you know what? Comes with that is not a lot of purpose.

So for me, it was a very overwhelming feeling of freedom.

But then now that the dust is kind of settled, I'm like, wait, it's not what it's about. It's I think life is about purpose. And so finding the next purpose has kind of been the goal. And does that mean are do you feel more attached and more committed to the brand now than before?

You know, it's kind of like your child's office college. So we both work as advisors, still a poppy and it's like you are cheering them on from afar. You kind of come in like we just helped with our Super Bowl ad and I still go by the office and cheer on the team, but it's like they're a college, like you kind of have to like

“let it thrive on its own, and it's honestly really rewarding to see it just sore the”

way it is. And it's not calling you from college and asking you to send more money to it. No, thank goodness. But so neither of you are day to day, I'm not popping anymore. But Steven, you and peanut butter have a little bit of a story, right?

Yeah, so in December, Steven, you joined Dropout Brands, which is making peanut butter and jelly pouches and breakfast sandwiches, what's the playbook at Dropout? Is it, do you did with Poppy but for a different product? So spoiler alert, I think the cart was before the horse there, I'm actually not officially an operating partner at Dropout, but we are investors and we are helping out significantly

with the brand, which has been really, really great. And the thing that I'm the most excited about is I just believe in providing better for you options for the American consumer, so really excited about the product for the excited about the brand and what they're doing there, but I think as we went through this journey of selling the business and sort of coming out on the other side, I like to operate it,

I don't like to influence. And so I think we're just really excited about setting our sights on the next thing for me and Allison.

“Well, like to use our faces, I think you put it out there a little too soon if that makes”

sense. Well, the Poppy principle exists and Jack and I have seen the Poppy principle, it's this idea that you can have the best of both worlds, you can indulge in a soda, but a soda that's better for you. Exactly.

It says right on the can and it's a part of the delicious, by the way, I feel like I just stole this from you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. For everyone with me.

I'm kindly brought a Poppy for herself and Jack started charging it. This evening, Allison, like, so what do you see? What is the next frontier? Where do you see the Poppy principle going next? Is there a category of food product?

One thing that you really want a Poppy style disrupt? I think what's really cool with Poppy that we're so excited about is the ability to get into more venues. So, for example, I love telling the story. We were the official soda of the lakers, yet we were not allowed to be sold in the stadium.

That is wild to me. So now it's like stadiums, I mean, think about subway, Jersey, Mike, Taco Bell, Starbucks, like all of these places that just were not possible before that now we can see Poppy. I feel like it's like now I go into places like Poppy's like Poppy, Poppy, like pulled the sheets, Poppy's in there.

I can see the distribution of Pepsi's done, so for me it's like we've always been

on a mission to revolutionize soda for the next generation and it's like that is literally happening. It's pretty cool. Jack, that reminds me of actually a takeaway we heard once, which is that first time founders focus on the product, but second time founders focus on the distribution.

And that's what you guys are doing now. Yeah, because every place is either a Pepsi place or a Coca-Cola place. Dr. Pepper can down their way in there too. They try. It's crazy though.

They're actually on a lot of Coca-Cola Pepsi trucks. Yeah. They got a little thing going. That's crazy though that these exclusionary rules can just make competition.

“I mean I probably shouldn't say this, but it's kind of like the mafia, right?”

It's like it's kind of weird if you think about it. The distributors, they control the rails, but you guys finish each other's sentences and you co-founded this company as a couple, right? So I mean, this is a rare interview. We have a co-founder married couple who successfully launched, operated, and exited.

So we have to ask. So our audience is filled with couples that listen to the show together. Yeah. Can we get a little yelp if you're here with your significant other right now? Let's go.

That's 130 percent of the audience.

So what has, what have you learned about marriage from running a company together? Or vice versa? What have you learned about running a company from marriage? We'll let him take this one. I think he just got really hot in here.

Take this jacket off. No, I think one of the great things that's similar in both marriage relationships or building

And I think that really played well into what we were doing in Poppy.

We were both 100 percent committed to each other, and we were both 100 percent committed

to the business. So that's really required as the business goes up and down, as relationships go up and down.

“I think it's so critical that each person comes to the table with that 100 percent.”

Because inevitably, I'm going to fall short. She's going to fall short. And if we're only 50, 50, and we're falling short, we're less than 100 percent. So I think that's the biggest thing that sort of marriage and business is taught us, it's just full on.

Allison, you're not smiling. So for me, it was probably a lot of white wine and, you know, honestly, it was really early on. We decided that we had this common goal for that would change our lives in our kids' lives in our future.

And so it's so fun when you have a common goal to do with someone. And then, by the way, we are so opposite. So I ran our creative and brand. He did our ops and kind of just the boring stuff. He did the product, he did the product, yes, the product, which is iconic.

But I just think that, you know, we know our lanes, stain your lanes, like you guys finish each other's sentences. It's so cute. So I'm not married to Mac, but I can kind of piggyback out of what you said, Stephen.

The one trust that you said, both partners have to be 100 percent in.

I think why that's so powerful is because then you trust the person. Yeah, that's the case. So I, if Nick changes something I suggested for a story, I don't second guess the motives because I know he's 100 percent in on the company of the same growth, as a result. Same goal.

So I think the end result of both sides being 100 percent in is trust. Yeah. That is so powerful. But take us to like one of those random Tuesday nights, like let's go tactical here, like do spreadsheets stay out of the bed sheets kind of a thing.

Like do not bring up work after 9 p.m. or do you feel like it's kind of thing where it's actually better if you're discussing work and it's what you've did with your life. I love a good spreadsheet in the bed sheet. Honestly, it's not just for that to talk to the day. Well, the kids are in bed at that point.

“It's like kind of when you have to get a lot of the work done, right?”

I think early on, it was funny.

We would say like, what are the most important things?

Like our barrier, just good, let's focus on the business and the kids and just know that we're okay. And I think it's crazy when people say like, it's all about balance and you know you have to shut the computer at 7 o'clock. If you're an entrepreneur and you're shutting your computer at 7 o'clock, like what are

you doing? Right? We're all hustling. And so for me, it was just always on, but we were both always on. And so I think that commitment was kind of easy.

Yeah, I think it's like you work a job that you don't like, they call it stress. You work a job that you love, they call it passion. Wow. And like that was that was us. Like we, it was just work life integration and it goes back to that common goal.

We were building something for ourselves, I won't say that we weren't. We're building something for our kids and for our families and ultimately having a lot of fun doing it and getting to work with amazing smart people. And the great thing about the sale of Poppy is 99% of the employees also had equity. And so we changed so many people's lives, they bought homes, they retired, their parents,

they bought cars. It's so incredible to be working with such a motivated and talented group of people. I mentioned equity, you did. So we want to talk your Shark Tank full circle moment. Eight years ago, the two of you were on Shark Tank. You were nine months pregnant, which I still think is just insane.

On Shark Tank. On Shark Tank. Huge. And you were seeing, literally huge. So you received an investment that valued the company at $1.6 million.

Seven years later, the Pepsi acquisition happens.

“Can you please whip out the whiteboard and sprinkle on some context, Jack?”

Well, that sale was for $1.95 billion, which in percentage terms growth. Yes. Can you calculate it this? No. No.

100,000 per cent equity growth. Can you rate a discount for that number? And that 99% of your employees benefited from that growth is incredible. Great return for our Shark. Now, a quick word from our sponsor.

So that success actually earned you an invite back to Shark Tank. From our research, the first ever former Shark Tank contestant to become a Shark Tank. Shark. So we were curious, Allison. You told us when we last spoke with you a year ago that you don't look for business leaders who are CEOs.

You look for brand builders. So, for any brand builders out there, what is it specifically that you look for? When I get on a call with a founder and they start talking about bottom of funnel, row

Oh, this is doomed. I want to be a row as killer. I want us to think about brand awareness, brand building, future disruption, will also have in process, right?

But can't be the first thing out of your mouth.

You want to and need to have to build the brand. And it's really hard to change a founder's mindset when it comes to those things. And then fun fact, when I was talking to you guys last time, I had just film Shark Tank the day before. It was so hard not to tell you. Oh my god, we want to say, it's so hard.

That's so cool. Well, we love watching the episode months later, which is really neat. So to translate what you said, because I don't even know what row as is. But I think you're saying, like, don't be too focused on the profit.

“If your company's really young, you need to focus on getting out there,”

getting the attention of people, winning the attention economy, which is what we're all playing in right now, and growing the top line. It's true. To focus on the brand, think about how are you connecting with your community, not your customer, right?

I think we looked at just like Poppy's community, and that's what built us on TikTok. We have over 3 billion views on TikTok and 1/3 of the platform has seen my face seven times. It's wild, right?

And so I just think that people have focused so much on the stuff that doesn't build long-term brand growth, and they just focus on the numbers. Yeah, I think like when you focus on the numbers, bottom-of-funnel conversion, KACLTV, all of this stuff,

you miss brand building.

And one of the things we always set up Poppy is we always wanted to change

the consumer's purchasing behavior from the head to the heart. And that's what brand building does. You get emotionally connected and invested in that brand. And so how do you take them on that journey and bring them into the community? It really changes how they purchase,

and make the decision are on purchasing the product. Something we learned from Allison in our interview last year, Poppy has an unlimited, free sample budget. Yeah, they just ship stuff to people who will help grow the brand. Like, sororities, I think if anybody posts about Poppy,

you're getting a 12 pack.

“I think that's why I got this free sample budget.”

It's part of the list of the limiteds. But I think that's an example of not focusing on the numbers, right? And as a result of things like giving free samples to anybody who supports your brand in any way, just created this massive army of people who loved Poppy, beyond or reasonable amount.

Yeah, which is what a great brand is. It's beyond the reason. But that revolution, it was a revolution. I guess, I guess the ultimate example of this kind of marketing work, and brand work is the Super Bowl hat, right?

Yeah. So you have had three Super Bowl commercials. Right three consecutive years. Most recently with Charlie XX and Rachel Saturn. But in year one, you purchased the Super Bowl hat on the Wednesday before the Super Bowl,

and then it aired right before Usher went on for the hat. There was like an eBay deal for a Super Bowl hat, basically. In year two, you got Jake Shane and Alex Earl the star. In year three, this month, it's the first time it happened with PepsiCo. Were you involved in the creation of those Super Bowl commercials?

Yes, very involved. Did I think something that was very intentional with this is to not look like a big corporate came in and got Poppy, right? So first year was about storytelling, second year was about soda occasions, and then this year was just kind of a vibe.

And like that's literally what the Super Bowl was. It's like Poppy is a vibe, and it just speaks to us moving at the speed of culture, you know, Rachel and Charlie are just like culture makers. They're the moment, right? And so I just think it was something that was really important for us to just say, hey,

we're still Poppy.

“And do you measure the success of that Super Bowl hat or is it kind of like the success is that it's just aired?”

You know, I think when going in and doing a Super Bowl ad, some people want to get like the ad meter and like get all of the ratings of like,

we've never really cared about that stuff.

For us, it's just how many people can learn about Poppy, fill some emotional connection, it goes back from the head to the heart piece. And for this one, it was just kind of like a vibe. Yeah. Go back and watch it and you'll get why it was the wind, the vibe,

the people like it, the vibe is the vibe. But we also have, you guys are part of Pepsi. And you mentioned like you wanted to show that you still have this level of independence. There is something we work curious to ask you about, which is Pepsi also now is launching a prebiotic soda.

So is that like a sibling rivalry situation? Is that like a frenemy situation that something you think about? It's it's all in the family. But what I would say is like, how flattering is it that Pepsi?

And iconic Cola has is looking to Poppy and saying, hey, this prebiotic thing is pretty cool. Like we created the category, like we want to do that too. And that's beyond us, like Pepsi Cola is a pretty iconic flavor.

“And so I think we have two very different cohorts of consumers that we're that we're going after.”

And I think that there's enough room on the shelf for all of us to play. Yeah, and at the end of the day, it all serves the same purpose. Sometimes business is just not zero or something. And there's probably room to grow the pie. There's just not a limited number of slices.

I'd also be a remiss if I didn't ask you a couple of questions about soda marketing. So zero-shutter soda is so popular right now. It's basically the same as diet soda, right? Why do consumers see it in a so different? That is a great question.

I think it just, there's really this movement.

We always talked about this, in the beginning it was great flavor, but it was high sugar.

And then it went to a great taste, but zero-sugar, slightly artificial. And I think the reason that zero-sugar or low-sugar is working now is because there aren't artificial ingredients in it. And there's all of the scientific studies that say artificial sweeteners actually like promote sugar cravings after the fact of consumption.

“And so I think people are just getting smarter and there's more options out there.”

And so if they can have a zero-sugar soda, and it's all natural, why not? You know, thinking of that Rohan quote, one of their investors, from Shark Tank, about this whole soda sibling situation in launching zero-sugar sodas and prebiotics, do you want to share it? Because Jack loves this quote, he tells it to me all the time. I did find it in Inspiron quote, I've told it through before, but I'll tell again.

Because Rohan said that big consumer package goods companies like Pepsi, like Utilver, like Proctor and Gamble, they've decided to not take the risk of innovation. And instead, they've outsourced innovation to the startup sector. Now, there is that love that Intel so much is that it's inspiring to people who are trying

to build a brand or start something new. You're not competing against the big guys. They're not into taking risks. So if you create something right now and you have the passion and you work on it and answer

emails, there could be an amazing exit at the end because these big corporations are

waiting to see who creates the next big thing. Yeah. Is that still the case you think? I think so.

“And I think sometimes the big guys forget, simply pop as a Coca-Cola brand,”

prebiotic competitor, there's not very good at it. Yeah, so it leaves a door wide open to entrepreneurs like us to create these amazing products and ideas. And if they're great brands as well, they come up and snatch them and change people's lives. I think you forget too, like now that we're on both sides, you kind of, you know,

the curtains pulled back, we have a lot of interaction with the Pepsi team is it's really hard in a big corporation to move really quickly. And so when you're a small startup, you're allowed to move at the speed of culture. You can take more risks and there's more reward, right? If you take a risk and you're a big company and something happens and you get canceled,

like that's really scary. And so for us, I will say they're like looking to us a little bit of like they actually like want poppy to stay poppy and they're like asking like how do we do this? But I don't know if I can name a single brand that they've launched any big company like that like Pepsi or Coke recently that's been successful like a poppy. Yeah, Jack, I don't picture Carol in accounting at Coca-Cola signing off on the

unlimited influencer so-and-a-budget, just send them in a case. Or a super vocal commercial bedding on vibes. Yeah, it's hard to get a vibe. They did sign off on it, they did sign off on it, they did sign off on it, so who does to them? Well guys, before we go, we do have a rapid fire, but we did have one quick final question because we've so many geties here who are building things. You've built something, man.

I mean, is there anything when you think back to that white line and 11pm on a Tuesday before you jump into the spreadsheet, spreadsheets? Is there anything you would have done differently and is there anything you would double down on it? I think the number one thing look poppy was the fastest-garring beverage in the history of beverage. It was absolutely crazy

you know basically like zero to 500 million and like almost five years. Like it's like crazy

how fast we grow, so higher quicker. Like I think entrepreneurs really hold on to this I can do everything mentality and the second you start letting go and not letting your ego get in the way of growth is really where you have real growth and we just like didn't have time to think about it. We had to hire and we had almost higher what we say is like what you're like oh we might need that person in 18 months. We're like we need them now. Right? It's like the growth

that we're having and so that really stretched us as I think founders to when we do it again.

Yeah I would say over I would double down on that over in Vestin talent. I mean team is going to be

your biggest asset that's the way that you can multiply yourself honestly and one of the things is like okay if you're an entrepreneur you have an idea you obviously have a little bit of an ego because you think you can do it better. And maybe you can but you can't do everything better so if you have

“50 or 60 percent trust and somebody else that's literally when you should start to delegate it.”

So like 50 or 60 percent yeah 50 or 60 percent you're like I'm maybe looking at it right

maybe they won't but like that's when you should start to delegate and bring on the team to support you. So in order to grow you have to let go. Yeah so we finish every interview with some rapid fire questions and we already did that with Allison last year. We wrote down her answers. So for this one we're going to do the newlyweds game. Yeah. Steven we're going to ask you what did Allison answer to these questions? Oh my god I'm so excited. Oh my gosh.

So rapid fire question number one. What is the best brand that isn't popping? Remember this isn't you are masking Steven. What did Allison say? The best brand that isn't poppy. Oh my gosh. He's saying on every interview. Do you say skims? Yes, skims and starpins.

“Let's go let's go. That's why we're still married. Question number two. What is Allison's dream”

poppy collab? You can't say skims. Oh my gosh. I don't know this one. Yes, she's maybe we're not going to get hit. It's another thing you wear, but it's on your feet. Oh yeah that was okay

Crocs. Yes there we go. Question number three. The best snack that Allison always has in stock.

Snack or snacks. Either. I like just snack. It's either got to be shrinkies or pickles. I'll give you a half credit because Jenner popcorn. Jenner popcorn? Yeah. Oh, there's no business leader Alice in advice. Chris Jenner? Close. And the greed of skim. Oh yeah okay okay. It's all in the family. And the best restaurant in Austin, Texas. Oh my gosh. The taco place.

“Okay we're getting warm. We're getting warm. We're going. So I think you really like Laucicina.”

But it's the one on the east side. I like this method of stalling. Peacups. Do you guys know? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Stay not out. I've extended pretty darn well. We're going to round up and give you a five out of six on that. Chris Jenner was like one and a half degree of separation from him. Chris Jenner was like one and a half degree separation from everybody in this room. But guys, we're going to do one final thing before you go.

We got to have you ring the bell before you leave the stitch. Yes please. We'll be honest. On the way out. But let's give me a round of applause. Are you guys ready? Are they bringing it in the middle? You got to lift with your legs. Not with your back on this bell. This is 40 pounds. Anybody you know selling sunset? It didn't go cheap on this bell. This is my selling sunset moment. I sold my company.

What are you doing? Thank you so much guys. Thank you. What final applause for another?