I recently went one-on-one with Ben Goodwin, co-founder and CEO of OLIPOP.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Ben: I grew up like many people in the U.S. on the Standard American Diet which wasn’t doing me any favors with my health and well-being. I decided at the age of 14 to prioritize my health and what was so interesting was not only did I lose weight and feel better, but I also gained substantial cognitive clarity which surprised me. After dropping out of college, I became infatuated with the gut microbiome and realized that the cognitive clarity I gained was likely a result of the gut-brain axis. This interest led me to link up with a friend that was coincidentally starting a kombucha company. I had always been arbitrarily attracted to beverages and began learning the ins and outs and ups and downs of the industry, as well as beginning my journey as a formulator. After a few failures and unsuccessful exits, I eventually had the idea to take the existing research and literature I had found on prebiotics and create a functional beverage that removed the sugar and chemicals but also gave an added benefit of fiber. I decided that instead of making it into an esoteric drink that wasn’t accessible to the masses, I would turn it into a soda. I knew soda was nearly ubiquitous and had a $40 billion dollar market share, but it wasn’t obvious at the time that people would be willing to try a healthier alternative to their favorite beverage. I was told time after time from friends and family that it was a bad idea, but I believed in my vision. Today, we’re approaching about $500m in sales and achieved profitability in our sixth year since launching. Our largest challenge has been our speed of growth. When you are one of the fastest-growing refrigerated beverage companies in US history, it's easy for processes and staffing to not evolve seamlessly with the needs of the business. Part of our solution to this was having a great executive coach and mentors who called out potential pitfalls in advance. Additionally, building a strong high-trust culture allows you to make critical pivots in time and have enough grace at the team level to operate efficiently despite not having a perfect alignment of your internal structures and processes.

Adam: How did you come up with your business idea? What advice do you have for others on how to come up with great ideas?

Ben: I grew up drinking soda like many Americans, so when I was considering how to make the most impact at scale with a healthier beverage on the market, soda felt like the obvious choice. I wanted to create a healthier soda option that could effectively replace traditional soda options by tasting delicious while having more fiber and less sugar in each can. The biggest key to great ideas is finding ways you can make people’s lives better and filling a real need for something in their lives. We have always been rooted in our mission to positively impact consumers’ health at scale, which I think is important in a business like this because it helps us stay focused and grounded. At the same time - it’s important that you create a product (in my case) that delivers a taste that is absolutely delicious. So while the vision and the idea have to be there - it’s also important to be product-first at the end of the day.

Adam: How did you know your business idea was worth pursuing? What advice do you have on how to best test a business idea?

Ben: At the time, people all around me were telling me not to make a healthier soda, but I felt really passionately about it. While you can look at product-market fit, sometimes a really unique idea might not get the initial validation that something is worth pursuing. If you’re really passionate about something, there comes a point where you have to, as cheesy as it might sound, believe in yourself and your idea to make it happen. Second to that, once you’re in the stage of testing out a product, feedback from real people around you is incredibly valuable. OLIPOP appeals to consumers because it doesn’t compromise on taste and it’s become a no-brainer replacement for traditional soda for many people across the country.

Adam: What are the key steps you have taken to grow your business? What advice do you have for others on how to take their businesses to the next level?

Ben: Growing your business requires having the right people around you. For anyone looking to take their business to the next level, my advice is to find people who are incredible at what they do and bring them onto your team whenever and wherever you can. At the early stages of entrepreneurship, you find yourself wearing many hats and when you’re able to bring in people to help you bring your vision to life or make it even better than you could have imagined, it will help your business grow in ways you probably couldn't have done on your own.

Adam: What are your best sales and marketing tips?

Ben: One of the most impactful marketing strategies for OLIPOP’s growth has been the emphasis on the emotional and social connections that soda fosters. We have recognized that soda is more than just a beverage–it’s a bridge for creating memories and bringing people together. By understanding and leveraging this idea, the brand was able to build a deeper connection with our consumers, offering them a beverage that provides the immediate gratification of nostalgia with friends and family without the health ramifications. Traditional soda was there for you on your 5th birthday (we weren’t) and we want to celebrate that love, instead of shaming it. That idea also speaks to the authentic nature of how we run all marketing through all channels. For instance, we chose to feature Camila Cabello and her family in our first-ever ad campaign because she was truly a fan of the product. We like to carry that philosophy into all our partnerships - from influencers to collabs and especially throughout our social media channels. We’ve seen a lot of success on TikTok in particular and it’s because we are simply creating content that is authentic and entertaining as opposed to being cold and salesy. In this day and age, customers can see right through ads and are simply looking to be entertained and connect with their favorite brands.

Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Ben: Effective leadership begins with a clear vision, empathy, and the ability to set aside personal ego. It’s an evolving journey of personal growth and emotional intelligence and I don’t recommend this path if you are not ready to grow as a person by facing your fears and limitations. There must be a mission that you deeply believe, beyond just making money. This mission should serve as a driving force that keeps you going and inspires others to join you, and you should be flexible enough for necessary pivots. Find the best people for each phase of your business and create a culture that empowers trust and alignment, recognizing that no single person knows everything.

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders?

Ben: Having a mission and a larger pro-social purpose is something that I find extremely valuable. If you are just trying to fill a whitespace or tap into a trend to ride a wave with a product or business - it’s going to be difficult to find your way through challenges that inevitably arise. Build a strong network of people around you who can provide guidance and support. I was lucky to have an incredible mentor in my college years and he played a key role in encouraging me to pursue my passions that led me to founding OLIPOP. Now - I have an amazing executive coach that I rely on and help me navigate the challenges of being a CEO of an extremely fast-growing company. Don’t forget to take care of yourself. Entrepreneurship is tough and has really high highs and really low lows sometimes. Balancing your health, work, and personal life helps maintain the ability to be in it for the long haul. 

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Ben: My mentor shared a quote with me from Edward Lawson, “Most of the things that are truly worth doing seem impossible at the beginning”. It speaks to the idea that there are things that can happen or that we accomplish that exist outside of our current ability to imagine and our capability to grow through great vision and effort.


Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one-on-one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.

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