Ben Goodwin
Co-Founder & Executive Chairman, Olipop · 2 appearances on the record.
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Goodwin co-founded prebiotic soda brand Olipop in 2018 alongside David Lester, formulating its low-sugar, fiber-rich recipe and scaling the company past $500 million in annual sales to a $1.85 billion valuation. Prior to Olipop, he developed and co-founded the probiotic soda brand Obi, which the pair sold in 2016.
30statements → 11claims → 5claims resolved → 40%fully supported → 3.87/5average certainty → 1.57/5average debate potential → ≈4.0/5argument clarity, estimated →
2 supported 3 partly supported 0 contradicted 6 not checkable as stated how the 11 claims stand · each chip opens the sources
11 assertions · 11 insights · 8 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 11 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 5 are resolved, and 6 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.
The record, in short
What the tape says about how Ben argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.
Their most notable supported claim
Goodwin: Human Study Shows Olipop Vintage Cola Keeps Blood Sugar Stable
“We just published our first piece of human research on blood sugar stability. And we found that, you know, in that research, Olipop didn't spike people's blood sugar, kept their blood sugar stable. We were studying the vintage cola in that one.”
How they sound: not measured why? →
We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Ben Goodwin on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.
Everything Ben Goodwin said on How I Built This that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →
Goodwin: Hearing Terms Are 'Market' Means Entrepreneurs Should Push Back
“Anytime I hear the quote, something's market, you know, it's like a, and everyone kind of goes, oh, this is kind of what you need to learn how to accept, and I'm kind of like, that, the second you tell me that something is market is the second I know that we h…”
Goodwin: Food Products Must Win Blind Taste Tests Over Health Claims
“So then, you know, number one's always taste, right? So if you quote blind taste tests against all your major competition, especially in your price point, Are you coming out on top? If you basically aren't getting a yes, then the structural argument behind the…”
Goodwin: Rising Food Allergy Rates Are Linked to the Microbiome
“The rate of gluten and general food allergies have gone up precipitously since the seventies. Spoiler. It has a lot to do with the microbiome.”
Goodwin: Raising Equity Is Risky; Founders Should Seek Bank Loans Instead
“Raising equity is really complicated, and it's easy to get screwed, and you have to generate some sort of return, but I would start to go look at small business loans.”
Goodwin: Consumers will not switch beverage habits without leading with flavor
“Good, good luck trying to get a bunch of people to switch their behavior if something doesn't lead with delicious flavor. And when we Talk to our consumers and try to figure out, hey, what's contributed to our kind of growth and the high level of kind of advoc…”
Goodwin: Human Study Shows Olipop Vintage Cola Keeps Blood Sugar Stable
“We just published our first piece of human research on blood sugar stability. And we found that, you know, in that research, Olipop didn't spike people's blood sugar, kept their blood sugar stable. We were studying the vintage cola in that one.”
Goodwin: Olipop Gross Revenue Tops $500M, Targeting $1 Billion
“My target right now in my head is, okay, I need to get to a billion dollars gross revenue. We're well over a half billion and we're chugging towards that line.”
Ben Goodwin: The microbiome produces the majority of human neurotransmitters
“So, we produce the majority of our hormones and our neurotransmitters in our microbiome. Those have a marked impact on how we feel, on how we think, and that's powerful.”
Goodwin: Startup co-founders must share identical, merciless obsession with the mission
“You really do need someone just mercilessly obsessed as you are on, on what's important about what you're doing, right? They can't have a problem rolling their sleeves up. You're co-pilots together in a plane that barely flies that's going a thousand miles an …”
Ben Goodwin: Investors prefer clear founder archetypes like 'mad scientist'
“I think that people really love to create categorizations for other folks, so it allowed people to put me in the, oh yeah, he's the kind of brilliant, mad scientist-y guy, and here's the kind of corporate guy, and they, it allowed them to categorize us in a wa…”
Goodwin: Overfeeding one gut bacteria strain creates microbiome imbalances
“If you are trying to benefit the microbiome, you want to bring up multiple strains of beneficial bacteria simultaneously. If you overfeed One strain. You actually can just create a new imbalance.”
Ben Goodwin: Contradictory branding like 'healthy soda' creates mental stickiness
“That contradiction creates mental stickiness because you look at it and you go like healthy soda. I don't really, Is, yes, no, I don't know. Like, and then, ok, cute packaging though, I'll try it. Oh my god, it tastes great. Oh, I look at the, then I look at t…”
Ben Goodwin: Over-optimizing for natural grocers hurts a brand's mainstream expansion
“Because I think a lot of times brands from a advertising perspective and a flavor profile perspective will Over will over leverage their product to be successful in the natural channel, and then it really struggles to gain traction in mainstream channels.”
Ben Goodwin: Gen Z traditional soda consumption dropped 60% over 10 years
“And over the last 10 years, there's been a 60% reduction in let's call it Gen Z, Gen Alpha traditional soda consumption.”
Ben Goodwin: Olipop has no plans to sell; investors feel no pressure
“What's nice is with the way that we're growing I have no plans to sell the company right now. So I'm fortunate that I don't, we don't feel a lot of pressure from our investors because they're all so up on their money already.”
Goodwin: Olipop Ads Reach Men and Older Demographics Faster
“We're reaching men at a higher rate. We're reaching older demos at a higher rate. It's the most effective advertising put out today.”
Goodwin: Olipop Employs About 280 People, Targeting 300 by Q1
“We're sitting at about two 80 right now, and you know, we might have closer to 300 end of this year, Q one of next year.”
Ben Goodwin: Scaling complex beverage fermentation is like animal husbandry
“Fermentation, especially fermentation that's this complex, is it's more like animal husbandry than anything else. You know, you basically have these different microorganisms, and they've gotta eat correctly, and they've gotta rest correctly, And they've got to…”
Ben Goodwin: Electrostatic guns and Ziploc bags create low-cost bioreactors
“You buy a bunch of Ziploc bags, because they're pre-sterilized. And you get an electrostatic gun, and you run the electrostatic gun over the Ziploc bags to create micro punctures. So all of a sudden you create this sterilized breathable membrane, and then you …”
Goodwin: Formulated Custom Stevia Blend Due to Inadequate Commercial Options
“I developed my own stevia blend to sweeten the drink with, because I didn't like any of the technology that was on the market.”
Goodwin: Soda is a $42B US industry with 97% household penetration
“It's a forty two billion dollar industry with 97% household penetration. It's an absolute legacy product in the United States.”
Ben Goodwin signed non-compete barring him from probiotics after Obi
“I basically signed a document saying I wouldn't go back into probiotics.”
Appearances (2)
| Episode | Date | Speaking time |
|---|---|---|
| Advice Line with Ben Goodwin of Olipop | Sep 3, 2026 | 17m |
| Olipop: Ben Goodwin | Sep 2, 2024 | 41m |