Podcast Interview: Poppi Co-Founder Allison Ellsworth

Episode Summary

Allison Ellsworth grew up in Wichita Falls, Texas, in an entrepreneurial family, and initially studied dance at the University of North Texas before taking a year off to travel in Spain. She returned, switched her major to sociology, and graduated in four years, a decision she says was driven by a desire to experience life and figure out what independence could offer her. On this episode of Thirty Minute Mentors, Ellsworth joins Adam Mendler to trace the path from that early restlessness to co-founding Poppi, the prebiotic soda brand that PepsiCo acquired for close to $2 billion.

The origin of Poppi, Ellsworth explains, was entirely personal. She had been drinking apple cider vinegar daily for its digestive health benefits but disliked the taste enough that she started experimenting with ways to make it more palatable, eventually landing on a recipe built around quality ingredients and prebiotics. What began as a homemade fix for her own digestive issues turned into a company she launched on March 3, 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning, a timing she candidly discusses as one of the more difficult ways to bring a new consumer brand into the world.

Much of the conversation focuses on how Poppi scaled from a homemade recipe into a brand PepsiCo would eventually acquire for close to $2 billion. Ellsworth describes growing the company from $50 million to $200 million in revenue during its fastest growth year, and taking Poppi from zero to $500 million in sales in just four and a half years while hiring roughly 250 people along the way. She also talks about pitching on Shark Tank while nine months pregnant and securing investment from the show, a moment she treats as emblematic of the larger lesson she shares throughout the episode: that waiting to feel fully ready is usually the wrong strategy. Success, she tells Adam, looks more like starting before you feel legitimate, saying yes while your stomach is in knots, and figuring out the rest later.

Ellsworth speaks at length about building Poppi as a brand rather than chasing short-term metrics, describing decisions like giving free product to influencers as long-term brand investments that could not be tied to an immediate return on investment but paid off over time. She credits an early, authentic presence on TikTok, including posting videos of herself dancing and sharing vulnerable personal stories as a founder, as a major driver of Poppi’s growth at a time when most beverage brands were not yet taking the platform seriously. She frames her approach to marketing around what she calls the three Cs: moving at the speed of culture, staying creatively authentic, and building an actual community rather than just a customer base.

Ellsworth also discusses how she handled feedback and criticism without losing conviction in Poppi’s core mission, including the lessons learned from a root beer flavor that did not land with consumers. She talks about leadership development through reading, coaching, and 360-degree reviews, and about learning to let go of perfectionism in order to empower her team, noting that at one point roughly 65 percent of Poppi’s workforce was female, a group she says understood the brand’s target consumer intimately. She pushes back on the idea that success requires strict work-life balance, telling Adam that when you love what you’re doing, the same 80-hour week that would otherwise cause stress instead becomes fuel. Embarrassment, she adds, is one of the most underexplored emotions tied to success, since the discomfort of putting yourself out there is usually the price of entry for building something meaningful.

For listeners interested in consumer product branding, health and wellness entrepreneurship, or how a founder-led social media strategy can outcompete much larger incumbents, Ellsworth’s conversation with Adam on Thirty Minute Mentors offers a candid, detailed account of building a brand from a personal problem to a multibillion-dollar acquisition.

What You’ll Learn

How Poppi grew from a personal fix for digestive health issues into a company PepsiCo acquired for nearly $2 billion, launched on March 3, 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic began.

The scale of Poppi’s growth: from $50 million to $200 million in revenue in its fastest growth year, and from zero to $500 million in sales in four and a half years while hiring about 250 people.

Why Ellsworth pitched on Shark Tank nine months pregnant and what that moment taught her about starting before you feel fully ready.

The “three Cs” of Poppi’s marketing approach: moving at the speed of culture, staying creatively authentic, and building community rather than just a customer base.

How an early, authentic TikTok presence, including dancing and sharing vulnerable personal stories as a founder, helped Poppi grow faster than larger, established beverage competitors.

Why Ellsworth treats brand investments like free product for influencers as long-term bets rather than short-term, metrics-driven marketing spend.

How to balance conviction with feedback, including the lessons learned from a root beer flavor that didn’t resonate with consumers.

Why embarrassment, not failure, is the emotion Ellsworth believes is most underexplored in conversations about entrepreneurial success.

About Allison Ellsworth

Allison Ellsworth is the co-founder and Chief Brand Officer of Poppi, a prebiotic soda brand she started after developing a better-tasting way to get the digestive health benefits of apple cider vinegar. Poppi grew into one of the fastest-growing beverage brands in the United States, scaling from zero to $500 million in sales in roughly four and a half years, and PepsiCo acquired the company for nearly $2 billion. Ellsworth grew up in Wichita Falls, Texas, and studied dance and later sociology at the University of North Texas. She has continued to be an active voice in entrepreneurship and brand-building since Poppi’s acquisition, including returning to Shark Tank as an investor. (Note for whoever implements this page: verify the current status of Ellsworth’s title and any post-acquisition role at Poppi/PepsiCo, since executive roles and titles can change after an acquisition.)

Related Episodes

Episode 14: Hint Water Founder and CEO Kara Goldin – Like Ellsworth, Goldin built a health-focused beverage brand from a personal need for a better-tasting, healthier drink, and her conversation with Adam covers similar ground on scaling a functional beverage against much larger incumbents.

Episode 278: Uncle Nearest Founder and CEO Fawn Weaver – Weaver’s rapid build of a beverage brand rooted in authentic storytelling offers a direct parallel to Ellsworth’s own emphasis on culture, community, and creative authenticity as growth drivers.

Episode 124: SoulCycle Co-Founder Julie Rice – Rice’s conversation explores building a wellness brand around genuine community rather than just customers, echoing Ellsworth’s own “three Cs” approach to brand-building.

Episode 31: Birchbox Co-Founder and CEO Katia Beauchamp – Beauchamp’s episode covers founder-led brand building and scaling a consumer company through its early, resource-constrained years, a useful complement to Ellsworth’s own scrappy early growth strategy.

Episode 90: #1 NYT Bestselling Author Jay Shetty – Shetty and Adam discuss purpose and passion in depth, themes that run throughout Ellsworth’s own reflections on why loving your work changes how it feels to put in long hours.

For more on building an authentic, founder-led brand, see Adam’s interview with Rachel Parcell on building a brand with authenticity, and visit the Thirty Minute Mentors podcast homepage for more conversations with entrepreneurs and leaders.

If Allison Ellsworth’s story of turning a personal problem into a multibillion-dollar brand resonated with you, book Adam Mendler for your next event to bring these same lessons on entrepreneurship, branding, and purpose-driven leadership to your organization.