Aug 4, 2026 · 31 min · 12 segments
Join host Justin Forman for a candid conversation with Stephen Ellsworth, co-founder of Poppi, the prebiotic soda brand that went from a Dallas farmers market stand to one of the largest exits in…
Stephen EllsworthGuest
Justin FormanHost
sitting where we are now, a $2 billion exit from a farmer's market stand is just, I mean, it's wild.
It's, it's, uh, you look back and you think, Oh my gosh, that's so linear.
Like farmer's market and shark tank to retail to like investors, the super bowl.
It's an inevitable sequence, right? But no, from the farmer's market, I just look back and I was even with a friend the other night and it's just so funny.
He's like, man, 10 years ago, you're at the farmer's market and look at where you are now.
And I think that that's why I'm so excited to sit here with you today and talk about what this journey has done and some of those doors that were opened and also those doors that were closed that took us from a small mom and pop Dallas farmer's market item that we had created because of Allison's health issues
But all those doors that were open and closed to ultimately take us from the farmer's market where we knew nothing to being sort of leaders in the space with one of the largest exits in beverage in recent history.
So when I think about so much of the conversation about health, strangely I'm reminded of a conversation I think, gosh, probably 15, 20 years ago when there was a lot of – when we were talking about energy-efficient lights.
And I remember reading an article that maybe was – Fast Company or something like that and Walmart CEO at the time was talking about the idea of like hey we knew that this was better like for the environment this was a better idea this was a better solution but when better also met economic viability it was like that's when it caught that's when the lights went off that's when the lights went off before they went back on but like there's that moment where all of a sudden it's like mutual bottom lines align And I think that oftentimes when we look at so much in the health space, everybody has this idea, it's better for you, it's better for you, it's better for you.
But when I look at you guys' story, it feels like it was like, hey, actually, this just tastes good.
sitting where we are now, a $2 billion exit from a farmer's market stand is just, I mean, it's wild.
It's, it's, uh, you look back and you think, Oh my gosh, that's so linear.
Like farmer's market and shark tank to retail to like investors, the super bowl.
It's an inevitable sequence, right? But no, from the farmer's market, I just look back and I was even with a friend the other night and it's just so funny.
He's like, man, 10 years ago, you're at the farmer's market and look at where you are now.
And I think that that's why I'm so excited to sit here with you today and talk about what this journey has done and some of those doors that were opened and also those doors that were closed that took us from a small mom and pop Dallas farmer's market item that we had created because of Allison's health issues
But all those doors that were open and closed to ultimately take us from the farmer's market where we knew nothing to being sort of leaders in the space with one of the largest exits in beverage in recent history.
So when I think about so much of the conversation about health, strangely I'm reminded of a conversation I think, gosh, probably 15, 20 years ago when there was a lot of – when we were talking about energy-efficient lights.
And I remember reading an article that maybe was – Fast Company or something like that and Walmart CEO at the time was talking about the idea of like hey we knew that this was better like for the environment this was a better idea this was a better solution but when better also met economic viability it was like that's when it caught that's when the lights went off that's when the lights went off before they went back on but like there's that moment where all of a sudden it's like mutual bottom lines align And I think that oftentimes when we look at so much in the health space, everybody has this idea, it's better for you, it's better for you, it's better for you.
But when I look at you guys' story, it feels like it was like, hey, actually, this just tastes good.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
