Sep 24, 2025 · 1h 15m · bigdeal
Broke to Billionaire: How to Turn a Side Hustle Into Your Salary | Allison Ellsworth
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In this episode of The Big Deal Podcast, host Codie Sanchez interviews Poppy co-founder Allison Ellsworth, who shares her playbook for transforming a homemade prebiotic tonic into a multi-billion-dollar beverage brand acquired by Pepsi. Ellsworth breaks down her viral social media strategies, operational resilience, and the leadership mindset needed to scale a modern consumer enterprise.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Codie holds 31.4% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Codie as informed peer 4.9 Guest teaching 5.6 Guest disagreement 1.0 Codie pushing back 1.3
speaking balance: gold is Codie, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 13:36 Telling founders to get over fear of social media
Allison forcefully rejects the notion of founder hesitation and anxiety around posting unhinged social content, demanding entrepreneurs prioritize winning over personal embarrassment.
Hardest push from Codie ▶ 5:19 Reframing the coachable founder testCodie challenges the binary of coachability by asserting that winning founders should push back analytically to understand whether packaging changes actually drive increased sales.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 15:10 Educating on linear TV brand awareness over DTC ROIAllison explains how bypassing conventional DTC customer data acquisition in favor of Amazon fulfillment and mass linear TV awareness insulated Poppy from iOS tracking disruptions.
Codie holds their own ▶ 1:06:35 Codie on brand equity generating pricing power and marginCodie demonstrates her private equity and business evaluation experience by articulating how brand valuation differentiates a billion-dollar asset from commodity knockoffs.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Codie as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Codie pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Shark Tank Breakthrough and Evaluating Founder Mindset | 6 | 5 | 1 | 2 | Codie opens with inquiries about Shark Tank deal structuring and adds her own framework for vetting founders. Allison shares her testing method for founder coachability and adaptability. | |
| From Oil and Gas Landman to Farmer's Market Origins | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | Allison recounts her background doing landman research in oil and gas and transitioning into brewing apple cider vinegar sodas. Codie listens attentively, validating the unconventional path with relatable humor. | |
| TikTok Virality, Pandemic Launch, and Brand Awareness Strategy | 5 | 7 | 2 | 1 | Allison explains why Poppy rejected conventional DTC performance marketing metrics in favor of pure brand awareness via TikTok and linear TV. Codie clarifies terms and reinforces the psychological barrier founders face regarding cringe content. | |
| The Billion-Dollar Formula, High-Performing Teams, and 80/20 Planning | 5 | 6 | 1 | 2 | Allison breaks down her 80/20 annual operating plan model and spontaneous Super Bowl ad purchase. Codie engages with a rapid-fire leadership trait assessment, comparing corporate pedigree with street smarts. | |
| Sponsor Message: SoFi Small Business Financing | 5 | 6 | 1 | 2 | Following an ad read, Codie queries Allison on overcoming first-wallet psychological hurdles when raising capital. Allison stresses knowing balance sheet fundamentals, followed by a mutual discussion on spousal business dynamics. | |
| Embracing Intensity, Feminine Leadership, and Celebrity Seeding | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | Allison explains rejecting the conventional work-life balance narrative and details Poppy's aggressive seeding strategy with A-list celebrities. Codie connects on corporate aesthetic expectations versus authentic founder styles. | |
| Internal Conflict, Direct Printing, and the Pepsi Acquisition | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 | Allison reflects on internal manufacturing debates like direct-print cans and explains the strategic logic of selling to Pepsi for distribution scale. Codie underscores the difficulty founders experience communicating authority in male-dominated industries. | |
| Event Promo: Main Street Over Wall Street (M-SOWS) Conference | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | After an event promo, Allison explains conflict resolution in corporate settings, founder burnout, and why DTC models plateau around 250 million dollars. Codie reinforces the mindset shift from anger to proactive problem-solving. | |
| Delegating Control, Creative Culture, and Viral Marketing Tactics | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 | Allison and Codie discuss culture design, hiring unicorns across operational and creative roles, and seizing cultural moments like sorority rush trends. Codie reinforces that brand identity is the ultimate moat against AI commoditization. |
Statements from this episode (23)
Ellsworth: First Shark Tank deal recipient to return as a Shark
“And then, you know, being the first person to have gotten a deal to then be a shark and sitting on both sides and seeing both sides of the curtain, I guess, was really cool.”
Ellsworth: Rohan Oza invested $400,000 for 20% of Mother Beverage
“So we did our deal back in 2000, basically 19, 2018. It was with Brohan Oza. It was 400,000 for 20%.”
Ellsworth tests founder coachability by proposing unwanted product changes
“And so for me, when I'm talking to someone, I'll do a little bit of a test. Sometimes I'll be like, Hey, for your packaging, it's so cute. I love it. But would you be willing to change it? And I tried to see the reaction, even if I don't want to change it.”
Ellsworth: Poppi has accumulated over 3 billion TikTok views
“Poppy has over three billion views on TikTok. One third of the platform has seen my face seven times.”
Ellsworth: Poppi is in one of four US households with 50% awareness
“We've done two Superbowl ads, tripled our awareness overnight with that. Now we're into year five. Brand awareness, like, 50% of America knows Poppy. We're one in four households”
Ellsworth: Poppi Was the Fastest Growing Beverage in Beverage History
“Poppy was the fastest growing beverage in the history of beverage, basically.”
Ellsworth built Poppi into a $2 billion business as a C student
“I was a C student in college and I built my business to be a two billion dollar business, right?”
Ellsworth: Poppi Plans 80% and Leaves 20% for Unplanned Opportunities
“So something that we do at Poppy is we 80% plan and then we leave 20% for crazy or unplanned.”
Ellsworth: Poppi Bought Its Super Bowl Ad the Week of the Game
“We ended up buying the Super Bowl ad like the week of the Superbowl.”
Ellsworth: Poppi had $500K revenue and Whole Foods distribution before rebranding
“We had done about 500,000 in revenue. We were a different company called Mother Beverage, like I said, and We just had a great story. I was very passionate about it. We actually had some traction. We had some sales, right? It wasn't something that wasn't we al…”
Ellsworth: Poppi ships 300,000 sample packages per year
“We send out 300,000 packages a year, like crazy, crazy amount of samples.”
Ellsworth: Olivia Munn was one of Poppi's earliest investors
“She invested really early, like one of the first, and she was such a good partner.”
Ellsworth: Switching to Direct-Printed Cans Saved Poppi $17M in One Year
“And then we finally made the switch, and it saved us, like, seventeen million dollars that year.”
Ellsworth: Large Beverage Brands Have Only Three Potential Acquirers or Must IPO
“So especially in beverage, there's literally three people that can buy you or you can go public.”
Ellsworth is the only female beverage founder with an exit this large
“Especially in beverage, I am the only female founder of an exit of this size ever, right?”
Ellsworth: Beverage Is Capital-Intensive Because Companies Ship Water
“I mean, beverage is a beast. You're literally shipping water and it's a very capital intensive category.”
Ellsworth: DTC Companies Usually Cap Out Around $250 Million
“Something I know I won't want to do is run a DTC company because they usually cap out about two hundred and fifty million, right?”
Ellsworth: Poppy reached a 65% female workforce
“And at one point we were like, 65% female at poppy because it was like part of our DNA from senior leadership down.”
Ellsworth: Poppy received up to 20,000 applications per job posting
“So we would put a, an application up, and we would get, like, 10 1020 thousand applications.”
Ellsworth: Poppy was acquired because of its brand and lifestyle positioning
“It's literally why we were acquired. Is our brand and our core audience of like, we are soda for the next generation and we've built it on a brand and a lifestyle.”
Ellsworth: Grassroots cultural brand initiatives deliver higher ROI than commercials
“That is a brand building initiative that has a higher ROI than doing a commercial, because it's just part of the movement, and a lot of people wouldn't see that trend, they wouldn't invest in the cans and buy the licensing and do all that, but we just see, lik…”
Ellsworth: Skims is the rare billion-dollar brand operating at cultural speed
“The only people that I'm like obsessed with that move at the speed of culture, that they're huge and it's a billion dollar brand because it's really easy for, like, younger brands to, like, do stuff. Be more nimble, but Skims. Somehow, they figure out market i…”