Allison Ellsworth

Ellsworth rejects the idea that seriousness equals success, arguing fun is fuel against burnout.

“we were taught that being serious equals being successful. And then we were kind of taught that like fun is a distraction”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 1:11:59

Ellsworth describes a month-long trip with about 20 family members to Tuscany, Lake Como, Montenegro and Scotland and says she would not recommend it.

“We went to Tuscany, Lake Como, Montenegro in Scotland”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 1:11:18

Ellsworth says people who approach her for advice rarely ask an actual question and that she will give advice but not do the work for them.

“I'm always willing to give advice. I'm not willing to do the work for you”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 1:05:26

Ellsworth says losing a ten-year purpose overnight was a real loss, comparable to retiring Olympic athletes.

“I had a 10 year purpose. And then overnight, it was gone. It was a lot of loss for me”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 1:02:04

Ellsworth says her life did not change the day the money arrived; she spent it on Zoom calls.

“I sat on Zoom call the rest of the day. You know, and the next day I woke up, and we still had to be on Zoom calls”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 45:45

Ellsworth relays her financial advisor's view that one never regrets upgrading life earlier, and says taking chips off the table before the sale was important.

“you're never going to regret living the life that you want earlier”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 45:46

Ellsworth says the marketer's goal is to move buying power from the head to the heart by tapping nostalgic emotion rather than listing ingredients.

“how do you get to the consumer and you move the buying power from the head to the heart so they're emotionally connected with your brand”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 37:07

Ellsworth says the best brands are only 10 to 15 percent better than the established norm rather than radically new niche products.

“I think that we make the best brands and the best businesses are 10 to 15% better than the established norm. It's not the niche products”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 36:08

Ellsworth, who says she is severely dyslexic, rejects the idea that business books and meditation routines are necessary and instead follows culture.

“I'm like severely dyslexic. You could not like pay me to read a book”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 25:49

Ellsworth says embarrassment is the most underexplored emotion in achieving success and holds people back from trying.

“I think embarrassment is the most underexplored emotion when it comes to being successful in life”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 24:17

Ellsworth says the Super Bowl ad tripled Poppi's awareness overnight and reclassified the product as a soda by saying so 17 times.

“After the Super Bowl, we said we were a soda 17 times in that Super Bowl ad. Afterwards, everyone calls us a soda”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 15:36

Ellsworth says Poppi's number one KPI was brand awareness and that brand considerations overrode data on decisions like the Costco variety pack.

“our number one KPI was brand awareness. How do we truly build a long-lasting generational brand with every ounce of every decision that we did?”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 3:57

Ellsworth says Poppi reformulated and repackaged its root beer after consumers said it tasted horrible, then publicly posted the negative comments.

“our consumer was telling us it tasted horrible. And we were like, maybe we should listen to them. And we changed the packaging. We changed the entire flavor”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 25:13

Ellsworth says Poppi was never a DTC company and used Amazon from day one primarily as an awareness channel despite poor margins there.

“We were 100% on Amazon from day one, which was a decision we made as a board to do that. And it was such a good decision, but you don't make a lot of money on Amazon as a beverage”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 11:39

Ellsworth says Poppi was intentionally unprofitable until just before the sale, reinvesting all of roughly $70 million raised into brand building.

“I don't think we were profitable until like right before we sold, but it was intentional”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 10:51

Ellsworth attributes her confidence to years of failing and embarrassing herself publicly rather than to innate self-assurance.

“I'm confident because I failed and made a total fool of myself for so many years to kind of figure out what works and how to be confident”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 7:05

Ellsworth says Poppi bought its first Super Bowl slot on the remnant market five days before the game after seeing its evergreen brand film.

“We bought the Super Bowl five days before the Super Bowl. Literally”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 15:59

Ellsworth says a Super Bowl spot costs $6 to $11 million in media alone and requires production and roughly seven follow-up linear exposures plus real distribution to be worth it.

“you hit people at the Super Bowl with a Super Bowl ad. You've got to hit them about seven more times with more linear ads”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 14:57

Ellsworth says PepsiCo offered to buy 100 percent of Poppi and hire its employees, and that nearly all employees held equity.

“they offered to buy 100% of the company”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 54:28

Ellsworth explains Poppi ran 180 separate distributors and needed one of the three big beverage buyers to access stadium, restaurant and international contracts.

“we were the official soda of the Lakers and could not be sold in the stadium because it was a Coke contract”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 52:37

Ellsworth advises founders at $5 to $20 million in revenue to begin estate planning and move shares into trusts well before any exit.

“if you're anywhere between the five to 20 million range of revenue for your company, you should be having these conversations”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 44:24

Ellsworth argues winners in CPG are usually first or second to market and that crowded categories like protein and creatine are hard to enter now.

“usually winners are the first to second to market. It's really hard for like even a third to market to be successful unless you do it different”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 28:19

Ellsworth says Shark Tank genuinely wants founders to get deals and that a good idea with proof of concept will do well on the show.

“they absolutely want people to get deals. They want people to be successful and they have such good intention”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 9:15

Ellsworth argues that being a digital-first brand on TikTok let Poppi reach secondary markets faster than the usual coastal rollout.

“when you're a true digital first brand, you can really break through and go to more places quicker”

My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 3:57