OLIPOP is having fairly per week.
First, they engaged in a snark struggle with rival low-sugar prebiotic soda model, Poppi, through the Tremendous Bowl — and by all accounts got here out the victor.
Poppi reportedly spent $16 million on a one-minute Tremendous Bowl advert that includes well-known content material creators — and despatched 32 fully-stocked merchandising machines to social media superstars. The advertising stunt fizzled out quick. Clients complained on social media that giving wealthy folks free drinks was ludicrous and that the model may have donated the machines to colleges or hospitals, or put these funds towards decreasing the drinks’ costs.
OLIPOP jumped in, fanning the flames with feedback like “32 machines instances $25K per machine yikes” and “we do not have merchandising machines however who needs a jersey !!”
we do not have merchandising machines however who needs a jersey !! https://t.co/FZtTfZc4hU
— OLIPOP (@drinkolipop) February 9, 2025
Second on OLIPOP’s hit parade: the corporate made an announcement that absolutely had many cans popping in celebration.
Simply seven years after its launch, after closing its Sequence C with J.P. Morgan, OLIPOP has hit a $1.85 billion valuation.
For anybody who thought the concept of a more healthy soda would fall flat, apparently prospects had been thirsty for simply that. The model is bought in practically 50,000 shops throughout the U.S., together with Walmart, Goal, Wawa, Complete Meals Market, Kroger, Costco and Starbucks.
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Ben Goodwin, the 39-year-old co-founder of OLIPOP, advised Entrepreneur in 2023 (again when the corporate was solely valued at $200 million) that the enterprise was impressed largely by weight and well being struggles in his early teenagers. He stated he misplaced 50 kilos at age 14, which led to a lifelong obsession with more healthy diets and train.
“After dropping out of school, I grew to become a relentless researcher on the microbiome and product formulation and finally went on to develop the formulation for OLIPOP,” he stated, on the time.
Goodwin additionally shared his recommendation for entrepreneurial thinkers who, like him, have an incredible concept and fervour, however do not know whether or not they’re fairly prepared to begin.
“I feel folks do not essentially must have the total imaginative and prescient of the tip sport after they start,” he suggested, including that market response offers you the suggestions you should know what your product is doing proper, the way it can enhance, and the way your organization can develop.
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And for these looking for funding, he careworn the significance of working with traders who “deal with you with respect, take the time to take heed to your imaginative and prescient, and are concerned with what you are promoting.”
If a possible investor feels the necessity to dominate conversations and acts like they’re the savior of your organization? “Keep away from them,” Goodwin says. “We’ve got a functionality to develop by way of nice imaginative and prescient and energy,” he says. “The longer term will not be mounted, neither is our means to facilitate that change.”
Watch Entrepreneur’s dialog with Ben Goodwin in its entirety right here.
