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How I Built This with Guy Raz
How I Built This with Guy Raz

Advice Line with Ben Goodwin of Olipop

September 03, 2026 • 48m

Summary

⏱️ 6 min read

Overview

Ben Goodwin, co-founder of the $2 billion prebiotic soda brand Olipop, joins Guy Raz to advise three entrepreneurs navigating growth challenges in the food and beverage industry. The episode covers scaling a ghee-based snack brand, building a gluten-free bakery business, and revitalizing a struggling 50-year-old food co-op. Throughout the conversation, Ben emphasizes the importance of taste over education, maintaining mission integrity, and trusting entrepreneurial instincts.

Introduction and Olipop's Recent Rebrand

Ben Goodwin discusses Olipop's new packaging refresh, national ad campaign, and the company's entirely remote organizational structure with 280 employees. He reveals the company is on track to reach $1 billion in gross revenue, already surpassing half a billion, and emphasizes how maintaining the health mission as the company's north star has been key to success. Ben also shares recent human research showing Olipop doesn't spike blood sugar, validating the product's health benefits.

  • Olipop launched a visual identity refresh, sonic identity, and fiber education campaign reaching older demographics more effectively
  • The company operates entirely remotely with about 280 employees, expected to reach 300 by end of year
  • Olipop is well over half a billion in revenue and targeting $1 billion in gross revenue
  • Recent human research showed Olipop vintage cola doesn't spike blood sugar and keeps it stable
" I think one of the things that's made Olipop have the level of success it has is the way that we really hold the impact of the mission as the north star of the business. And so no matter what checks or opportunities show up, I don't want to live in a world where five, 10 years from now, I'm staring at a product that's been delisted or it's been cratered out to the point where it's no longer providing value. "
" The second you tell me that something is market is the second I know that we have to do better than that. So whether it's like terms that you're looking at or, you know, either with investors or with, I don't know, some distribution partners or just anything where you're compromising your standards, you compromise your integrity or you're compromising quality. And somehow that's considered a part of the Faustian bargain that you just need to wrap your head around. You know, I always thoroughly reject that. "

Geelish: Scaling a Ghee-Based Snack Brand

Darren Alpert, founder of Geelish, discusses his organic ghee-based snack brand that launched from his kitchen directly into 4,000 Sprouts stores nationwide. After bootstrapping with credit card points and raising capital from Gary Vaynerchuk, the company grew from $1.8 million in its first full year to a projected $3.5 million this year. The conversation focuses on whether to emphasize educating consumers about ghee or leading with taste and nutritional superiority.

  • Geelish went from kitchen samples to Sprouts nationwide distribution, then raised money from Gary Vaynerchuk and others
  • Company did $1.8 million in first full year (2024) with no D2C or Amazon, projected $3.5 million for 2025
  • Products are 30% lower calorie and 60% lower fat than Skinny Pop while being organic
  • Taste must be the primary driver, not ingredient education - need to win blind taste tests at the price point
" You have to think about the order of operations of consumer motivation. So you'll typically get kind of price at the top-ish, but that's always like a value to dollar ratio. And so that kind of goes to the side. It's about the argument that sits underneath price. So then number one is always taste. "

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