Poppi

Allison EllsworthAmerican entrepreneur, co-founder of the prebiotic soda brand Poppi, which was sold to PepsiCo

• 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