How Poppi’s founders built a new soda brand worth $2 billion

What It Covers

Allison and Stephen Ellsworth recount building Poppi from a homemade apple cider vinegar drink sold at a Dallas farmers market into a soda brand acquired by PepsiCo in 2025 for $1.95 billion, covering Shark Tank, a COVID-era digital pivot, TikTok growth, and a last-minute Super Bowl ad buy.

Key Questions Answered

• •Retail entry strategy: Whole Foods' local forager program provides hands-on compliance and packaging guidance for emerging brands. Poppi used this pathway to enter 14 Dallas stores, selling door-to-door with babies strapped to their backs, generating $500,000 in revenue before Shark Tank — proof that hyper-local retail execution builds the credibility needed to scale nationally.
• •Smart money over fast money: When a $200,000 offer with zero industry connections arrived, the founders rejected it and pursued Shark Tank instead, landing Rohan Oza — a beverage-specialist investor with multiple exits. His first directive was a full rebrand. Prioritizing strategic value over capital speed directly enabled the brand's eventual $1.95 billion exit.
• •TikTok authenticity over production: Allison's highest-performing video was filmed with wet hair on a Friday night, simply telling her personal health story. It reached 300 million views and generated $100,000 in Amazon sales overnight. The takeaway: unscripted founder-led content consistently outperforms polished creative, and embarrassment is an underutilized entrepreneurial asset on social platforms.
• •Amazon affiliate traffic loop: Poppi drove TikTok ad traffic to their own website to capture customer emails and phone numbers, then redirected checkout to Amazon via an affiliate link. This simultaneously built a first-party customer database for remarketing and generated affiliate revenue from Amazon — capturing brand data without sacrificing Amazon's fulfillment infrastructure or conversion rates.
• •Super Bowl ad timing and placement: Poppi purchased a floater Super Bowl ad four days before the 2024 game after discovering unsold inventory at a dinner event. The ad aired one minute before halftime during the most-watched Super Bowl in years. Revenue for 2024 exceeded $500 million against a $350 million forecast, attributing the awareness spike directly to that placement.