How she grew poppi soda brand to $500 million in 5 years

Poppi-Soda founder Allison Ellsworth didn’t got down to disrupt the soda market; She was just attempting to feel higher.

“I went to doctors for seven years trying to figure out what was wrong with me,” she tells Entrepreneur in a brand new interview. “I had stomach problems. My skin was a mess. I was tired all the time.”

When traditional medicine failed, she turned to the Internet, discovered apple cider vinegar, and realized, “If you read labels and actually pay attention to what you put in your body, you can influence the way you feel.”

There was only one problem: pure apple cider vinegar was difficult to swallow. Ellsworth decided she had to seek out a option to make it taste good without loading it with sugar or additives. She began experimenting with different recipes in her kitchen, mixing fruit juices with prebiotics and sparkling water and asking people at local farmers markets to try her creations.

Three weeks after selling lemonade at farmers markets, a buyer from Whole Foods got here to her stand and asked to establish a gathering. In 2017, Ellsworth sold her prebiotic apple cider vinegar soda, then called Mother Beverage, at Whole Foods. By 2018, the corporate had sales of around $500,000.

In 2018, Ellsworth appeared on Shark Tank and secured a $400,000 investment for 25% equity from guest Shark Rohan Oza known for his work with major beverage brands including Vita Coco and Vitaminwater. The company rebranded as Poppi in 2020, swapped its glass bottles for colourful cans, and grew to $500 million in annual sales by 2025. PepsiCo acquired Poppi for $1.95 billion in May 2025.

Start within the worst week – and switch it into a bonus

Poppi’s nationwide launch took place on March 3, 2020 – the primary week of Covid lockdowns. Ellsworth says that “any traditional marketing push was off the table.” The team was unable to carry in-person events or sample in stores. Grocery stores were more fearful about toilet paper shortages than about selling recent products.

Instead of freezing, Ellsworth embraced TikTok and a digital-first approach from day one.

“I was one of the first entrepreneurs to go online and tell my story on TikTok,” she says, recounting all the things from her health struggles to being “nine months pregnant on Shark Tank.”

That authenticity paid off: “I hit post and the video went absolutely viral, so far my face has now been viewed over three billion times and a third of the platform has seen my face more than seven times,” she says.

The pandemic forced Poppi to “think differently from the start,” and that pressure became the engine for outsized growth.

The three Cs

Ellsworth says her secrets to scaling to $500 million in five years are the three Cs: culture, community and creativity.

Digitalization has helped Poppi “keep up with the speed of culture,” she says. The company took advantage of TikTok trends and ran away Super Bowl industrial for 3 years straight to remain relevant.

Community was not a slogan; there was a moat across the brand. Poppi fans are “die-hard fans,” Ellsworth says, pointing Sold out fashion line drops And Targeted collaborations these became cultural moments in their very own right.

Creative put all of it together – from rebranding Mother Beverage to Poppi to redesigning the product itself. “We’ve evolved from an apple cider vinegar drink to a revolutionary soda for the next generation,” says Ellsworth.

Professionalize faster than it feels comfortable

Ellsworth says bluntly you could’t scale like Poppi and still act like a scrappy sideline. “We were the fastest-growing beverage in beverage history,” she says. “We went from $0 to $500 million in five years.”

To support this, she focused on “process, platform and people.” That meant initiating serious processes, professionalizing early on and refusing to rent recent employees like a typical startup. For example, she hired HR professionals and a CFO early on.

One of the largest traps founders fall into, she says, is waiting too long to scale up and hire enough people. “Many entrepreneurs don’t do that [this]… they don’t professionalize themselves and don’t hire quickly enough,” she says.

Ellsworth also emphasizes the importance of finding partners who can keep pace with growth, from production to capital.

“We had good manufacturing partners to be able to scale with us so quickly,” she says. “We had good investors who could support us at any time.”

Mindset change for achievement

If there’s one mindset shift Ellsworth expects from founders, it’s this: “Embarrassment is the least studied emotion for success.” She believes that you’ve gotten to “go out there and make a fool of yourself” – by posting videos, pitching your idea and standing behind a folding table asking strangers to try your drink.

Her framework is straightforward: “Confidence comes from failing over and over again, and then eventually you become confident. So it really starts with embarrassment, then refinement, then clarity, then confidence,” she says.

An example is the early farmers market days. Ellsworth stood at a stand for hours asking people to try her apple cider vinegar drink. “I thought to myself, this is embarrassing,” she says.

That moment forced her to refine the message: “Try this soda that’s better for you,” which resonated with more people. Over time, their confidence of their product grew.

Ellsworth is frustrated with founders who only dream. Some founders will stop her and ask for a moment of her time regardless that she only has an idea and no execution behind it. “You’re dreaming, you’re not doing this,” she says. “You have to take some risks to get started before people take you seriously.”

She also insists on investing within the brand early on. To develop a product with Poppi-level impact, she recommends hiring a brand agency. In her opinion, too many founders are obsessive about returns relatively than constructing a solid brand.

A results of their brand-focused approach? A product that did not even exist on shelves six years ago now sits alongside old names in a special “modern soda” line.

“There was no such thing as the modern drinks set,” she says. “Now there’s a five-footer in every grocery store next to the big ones. I created that in my kitchen six years ago. I’ve made real changes for the American diet in grocery stores.”

Poppi-Soda founder Allison Ellsworth didn’t got down to disrupt the soda market; She was just attempting to feel higher.

“I went to doctors for seven years trying to figure out what was wrong with me,” she tells Entrepreneur in a brand new interview. “I had stomach problems. My skin was a mess. I was tired all the time.”

When traditional medicine failed, she turned to the Internet, discovered apple cider vinegar, and realized, “If you read labels and actually pay attention to what you put in your body, you can influence the way you feel.”