Poppi co-founder Allison Ellsworth

Summary

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Bloomberg Talks: Allison Ellsworth

Date: June 26, 2026
Host: Bloomberg
Guest: Allison Ellsworth, Co-founder of Poppy

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Episode Overview

This episode features Allison Ellsworth, co-founder of the beverage company Poppy, in a candid conversation at the Uncharted Summit. The hosts explore Allison's entrepreneurial journey—from solving a personal health problem and developing a product in her kitchen, to selling Poppy to PepsiCo for nearly $2 billion. Allison shares insights on navigating the crowded beverage industry, her lessons from scaling and selling Poppy, and her approach to launching her next venture.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Genesis of Poppy: From Personal Problem to National Brand

• Personal Health Drive:
  • Allison describes the origin of Poppy as a response to her own gut health issues and dislike for the taste of apple cider vinegar:
    • “I created it because I had a personal problem. I had some ... gut health problems. I started drinking apple cider vinegar. Hated the taste. And I wanted to create something that tasted better.” (01:21 – Allison Ellsworth)
  • The first version was made in her kitchen and later secured a deal on Shark Tank, opening doors in the beverage industry.

2. Breaking into a Crowded Industry

• Challenges of Shelf Space:
  • “It's a really crowded space and it's hard. I mean, you could walk in into any sort of convenience store or grocery store. ... Just getting the shelf space is difficult.” (01:48 – Host 2)
• Importance of Smart People & Networking:
  • After Shark Tank, Allison stresses the critical role of hiring experts and networking to overcome industry hurdles:
    • “You really want to surround yourself with smart people and the beverage industry is small. So network, network, network.” (02:11 – Allison Ellsworth)

3. Defining “Better-for-You” Beverages & Market Trends

• Functional Beverages and Innovation:
  • “In the beginning, we were calling ourselves soda, we were revolutionizing soda for the next generation. ... They didn't know where to put us ... it was hard.” (02:37 – Allison Ellsworth)
• Balanced Health and Taste:
  • Allison is developing a new product, launching in the fall, and emphasizes that better-for-you doesn’t mean sacrificing taste or accessibility:
    • “It has to be better for you and not so better for you that it's just like… people don't understand. ... America likes flavor. Has to taste good, and that has to be king. Taste is king.” (03:07, 04:08 – Allison Ellsworth)

4. The Cost of Quality Ingredients and Packaging

• Expense of Going Natural:
  • “It's absolutely more expensive.” (05:03 – Allison Ellsworth)
  • The most expensive aspect is not the ingredients but the packaging and shipping:
    • “Really what the most expensive thing is the packaging. The packaging more so than what goes into it. And then the shipping cost.” (05:05 – Allison Ellsworth)

5. Learning from Experience: Scaling Smarter

• Professionalizing the Startup:
  • “Where entrepreneurs fail is they refuse to professionalize their business. ... The first thing we’re starting with this time is an org chart. We’re seeing what can we do to build an incredible team around us. ... You hire 18 months ahead.” (05:49 – Allison Ellsworth)
  • “You don’t let your ego get in the way of growth.” (05:49 – Allison Ellsworth)

6. Life After a Major Exit

• The Emotional Roller Coaster:
  • Selling Poppy was both liberating and challenging:
    • “It was 10 years of my life ... never taking vacations. I had three kids while doing it. ... People don’t talk about the post exit blues. It's a real thing. It's an emotional roller coaster. ... Money gives you freedom ... but it doesn't give you purpose. So find your purpose.” (06:43 – Allison Ellsworth)
  • Allison reflects on the void and her need for purpose, leading her to start building again.

7. Fundraising with Leverage and Purpose

• Strategic Investment Approach:
  • After the exit, Allison finds fundraising much easier but wants only strategic capital:
    • “So many people are like begging to actually invest. But for me, we are only going to take strategic money that can actually make and move. ... It's the network.” (07:37 – Allison Ellsworth)
  • She seeks partners who add value beyond cash—distributors, retailers, influencers, not just investors.

8. Building the Next Big Thing—Deliberately

• Scaling Intentionally:
  • Allison emphasizes controlled growth through select retailers (Whole Foods, Target, Sprouts), not rush expansion:
    • “Be intentional and build the brand small. ... Start in ... better-for-you retailers ... and then really grow versus going so mass so big.” (08:05 – Allison Ellsworth)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Let’s call it 2 billion, right?” (01:04 – Allison Ellsworth, joking about the acquisition price)
• "Where entrepreneurs fail is they refuse to professionalize their business." (05:49 – Allison Ellsworth)
• "Post exit blues ... it's a real thing. It's an emotional roller coaster. ... Money gives you freedom ... but it doesn't give you purpose. So find your purpose." (06:43 – Allison Ellsworth)
• “We are only going to take strategic money that can actually make and move. ... It's the network.” (07:37 – Allison Ellsworth)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:36: Introduction of guest and Poppy’s acquisition
• 01:21: Allison on solving her own health problem and creating Poppy
• 02:03–02:37: Breaking into the beverage industry: challenges and strategies
• 03:07, 03:35, 04:08: Trends in functional beverages and upcoming product launch
• 05:03–05:05: Costs of quality ingredients and packaging
• 05:49–06:23: Lessons from the first startup, importance of professionalization
• 06:43: Selling a business and post-exit emotional impact
• 07:37–08:05: Fundraising with leverage and building the next brand intentionally

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Final Notes

This energetic conversation offers rare honesty about the grit, stress, and fulfillment that come with building (and selling) a consumer brand. Allison Ellsworth’s strategic, humble, and network-driven approach provides actionable insights for founders, operators, and anyone fascinated by the evolving health beverage market. Her optimism and clear-eyed take on “purpose after the exit” make for especially memorable moments in the episode.

Transcript

[Indiana University Announcer]

Indiana University strengthens tomorrow's workforce with practical, real world experience. IU grads make a difference in your community, serving as teachers, nurses and engineers who rise to tomorrow's challenges and meet them. Learn more at iu.edu impact,

[Host 1]

Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio news. A pool behind us, Lots of people around us. There's a lot going on.

[Host 2]

Yeah, a lot of people drinking. Poppy too. Did you see that?

[Host 1]

I did see that.

[Indiana University Announcer]

Yeah.

[Host 2]

Lots of people are drink and poppy, you know, find a problem and fix it. That's the context of talking about this company.

[Host 1]

How many times have we talked to venture capitalists? Like they say, that's what people have to do. That's how you have to think about starting a company. And that's exactly what our next guest has done. And sometimes it's a personal like, problem or situation that leads you to creating an amazing company, one that actually gets bought out by PepsiCo for $1.95 billion. And that happened last year. We're talking about Poppy. Allison Ellsworth is co founder of the company and she joins us here at Uncharted. Welcome, welcome. Nice to have you here with us.

[Allison Ellsworth]

Thank you. And hey, let's call it 2 billion, right? Oh, okay.

[Host 1]

Okay, we'll round up. We're good, we're good.

[Allison Ellsworth]

Around up.

[Host 1]

It's a lot of money. Tell us though. I love the backstories. I watch these guys now. Shark Tank a lot. That was certainly something that played in. But tell us about how you came to create this company.

[Allison Ellsworth]

I think like most great things, I created it because I had a personal problem. I had some guilt problem, gut health problems. I started drinking apple cider vinegar. Hated the taste. And I wanted to create something that tasted better. Have you guys ever taken a shot of apple cider vinegar?

[Host 2]

No, I have not.

[Host 1]

I know lots of people who have though.

[Allison Ellsworth]

Disgusting. So I went to my kitchen and I created the first version of Poppy. Went on to get a deal on Shark Tank. And now we're in every grocery store in the nation. It's wild.

[Host 1]

It is pretty wild.

[Host 2]

It's a really crowded space and it's hard. I mean, you could walk in into any sort of convenience store or grocery store. And those are the companies that have succeeded in getting. Getting the shelf space. Just getting the shelf space is difficult. How did you do that?

[Allison Ellsworth]

In the beginning, we hired really smart people. So after getting a deal on Shark Tank, our network was opened up.

[Host 2]

So that's where everything changed.

[Allison Ellsworth]

You bring in people that know the industry. Beverage is really hard. Someone downstairs just asked Me, they wanted to do a beverage and I said one. It's capital intensive. Even you have to have a lot of money. You're shipping liquid across the US Manufacturing shelf life. There's so many things that go into it and you really want to surround yourself with smart people and the beverage industry small. So network, network, network.

[Host 1]

It's really about who you know in the beverages because you're fighting for shelf space, essentially, Right?

[Allison Ellsworth]

Yeah. And then you're working with the retailers and. And we were, before the time, like we were calling ourselves soda, we were revolutionizing soda for the next generation. And they were like, that's hilarious. You know, and so they didn't know where to put us on the shelf sticks. Like, basically we're in the sparkling water set. We were, you know, in enhanced water. They didn't know what we were. It was hard.

[Host 2]

Well, now the idea of a functional beverage, like everybody kind of knows about that. You guys were early to that. Of course. I'm curious what you see out of the landscape right now that is missing. Like, if you were to develop something right now, what would it be?

[Allison Ellsworth]

Well, I am developing something right now and we're launching the fall to fit that gap. But it's what it is is it has to be better for you and not so better for you that it's just like people don't understand. There's a lot of adaptogens and all of these things. Protein is really big right now, but I don't know. Would you like to drink a carbonated protein drink?

[Host 2]

I've tried a carbonated protein drink. It wasn't easy to drink.

[Allison Ellsworth]

It's tough, I'm telling you. I wouldn't do that. But I will say something that's just a little bit better. And that's what we did at Poppy.

[Host 2]

So have you figured it out?

[Allison Ellsworth]

I have figured out we're launching in the fall and.

[Host 2]

But launching as is right now or do you still have to iterate on the product?

[Allison Ellsworth]

We're loaded, we're hiring, we're going. And it's one of those things that what we have so much we learned at Poppy from building team and scaling that. Like, why would we not do it again?

[Host 2]

Are you raising money for it? Are you bootstrapping it?

[Allison Ellsworth]

A little bit of both. Right now we're going to use our own money for about, you know, 2.5 million or so. And then I would love to de risk and bring in strategic partners that can help really catapult the business.

[Host 1]

What are you learning about the marketplace in terms of products, types of products that people want today.

[Allison Ellsworth]

You know, it's that movement within Maha that we're really seeing no dyes, no artificial ingredients. It, like, actually drives me insane when my kids have Cheetos or Doritos. And Pepsi's changing that. Right. They're taking the dyes out of it. So I think it has to be just 10% better or 30% better. It can't be 100% better for you. People still want full flavor. America likes flavor. Has to taste good, and that has to be king. Taste is king.

[Host 1]

Is it more expensive to do things so expensive? Yeah. And without all these additives or it really is cutting corners.

[Allison Ellsworth]

And people get really confused around the word like natural flavors.

[Host 1]

Natural means nothing.

[Allison Ellsworth]

It's very confusing. And how it's made and what are in the natural flavors. No, it is. But if you think of, like, you're not organic. It's not your non gmo. There's so many things that go into it. So I think it just has to be better for you. I do think non GMO is important, and people are reading labels more than ever.

[Host 1]

Is it more expensive to do, though?

[Allison Ellsworth]

It's absolutely more expensive.

[Host 1]

Okay.

[Allison Ellsworth]

Yeah. Artificial ingredients, all of those things are really cheap. But really what the most expensive thing is the packaging. The packaging more so than what goes into it. And then the shipping cost and all of that. That goes into it.

[Host 2]

We're speaking to Allison Ellsworth, the co founder of Poppy, which she sold for $2 billion to Pepsi.

[Allison Ellsworth]

We'll call it that last year.

[Host 2]

She joins us at the uncharted summit.

[Host 1]

You can round it up.

[Allison Ellsworth]

You.

[Host 1]

You are so right.

[Host 2]

You're doing this for. Essentially, I imagine you learned a ton the first time you did this. What are you doing differently to get this product onto the shelves, to get into the hands of consumers, to get consumer and brand awareness across the country that you didn't necessarily know how to do until you maybe failed at doing this or found the right niche for it with Poppy.

[Allison Ellsworth]

Where entrepreneurs fail a lot of times is they refuse to professionalize their business. So the first thing we're starting with this time is an org chart. We're seeing what can we do to build an incredible team around us. And you hire 18 months ahead. You don't hire for now. And you don't let your ego get in the way of growth. Of like, I need to do. I need to do every job. And that's one of the biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs do is they don't hire people smarter than them because they think they know everything. So for us, that's one of the biggest lessons is professionalize the business, bring in like incredible people and build a platform that can scale.

[Host 1]

What is it like to sell a business that's been, you know, your baby and you created it and it was really personal for you. I've talked to lots of founders. You know, a lot of them have their name on the company and when you let go, you know, initially it's great because it's a lot of work, a lot of hard work and your whole life is the business. But at some point it's like.

[Allison Ellsworth]

It's hard.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Allison Ellsworth]

I mean, essentially it was 10 years of my life never taking vacations. I had three kids while doing it. And then you're gone, right? The business is gone overnight. You're no longer in it 80 hours a week. And people don't talk about the post exit blues. It's a real thing. It's an emotional roller coaster. And look, money gives you freedom to do what you want, when you want, with whomever you want. But it doesn't give you purpose. So find your purpose. And that's what we're doing again, because if you find your purpose, money will come.

[Host 1]

How soon did you have to find your purpose after selling?

[Allison Ellsworth]

I mean, it took us. I played football for like four months and then I was like, okay, I beat my husband a couple times. Times I was like, okay, I'm over this. And you know, we had fun. But I really miss the team. I miss the build. It's just the entrepreneurial ism that people have. That's the craziness. Right. It's why we do it.

[Host 2]

What's it like raising money this time around? Because you don't, I'm guessing you don't really have to be proactive about it. People are knocking down the door after an exit like that.

[Allison Ellsworth]

It's actually like so many people are like begging to actually invest. But for me, we are only going to take strategic money that can actually make and move. And it's. When I say strategic, it's the network. It's how can we network?

[Host 2]

So money from a distributor, money from a company that could potentially.

[Allison Ellsworth]

Retailers, people that can. Celebrities, influencers. Talent is a huge piece of how we scaled Poppy.

[Host 1]

But it matters because you want to be able to drive where you want to go, correct?

[Allison Ellsworth]

Yes. And small, Right. I think I could probably call a lot of retailers and go into them really quickly, but I think you have to be intentional and build the brand small. Start in like those better for you retailers from the Whole Foods to the Targets to the sprouts and then really grow versus going so mass so big, which I think a lot of people could make a mistake.

[Host 1]

Sure you don't want to make the announcement now, Allison?

[Allison Ellsworth]

Oh, I know. Not quite audience. Yes, I know. But yeah, stay tuned.

[Host 1]

Okay. We will come back.

[Allison Ellsworth]

Thank you.

[Host 1]

When you can make the announcement. Allison Ellsworth, she is co founder of Poppy, joining us right here at Uncharted.

[Indiana University Announcer]

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[Host 2]

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