Welcome to Money Making Story,

Today, we’re thrilled to share the story of Ben and David, who turned a $100K investment into Olipop, a prebiotic soda, a $200M soda empire.

In this discussion, we’ll discuss his:

• Top Advice

• Meet the Founders Behind Olipop

• The Foundation of Olipop’s Success

• From Gut Health Enthusiast to Beverage Entrepreneur

• AI Tools for Interview Preparations

• The $100,000 Mistake That Led to Olipop

• The Birth of Olipop: A Two-Year Journey

• Getting Olipop on Store Shelves: A Hustler’s Approach

• Olipop’s Explosive Growth: From $8.6M to $200M

• Going Viral: Social Media and Celebrity Investors

• Competing with Pepsi & Coca-Cola

• The Road to $1 Billion

• Lessons for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

• A Story Worth Reading

Top Advice:

"The success we're having now is really built on the mistakes we've made in the past."

Learn AI in 5 minutes a day

This is the easiest way for a busy person wanting to learn AI in as little time as possible:

1. Sign up for The Rundown AI newsletter

2. They send you 5-minute email updates on the latest AI news and how to use it

3. You learn how to become 2x more productive by leveraging AI

Sign up to start learning.

In the ever-evolving beverage industry, a unique prebiotic soda brand has managed to carve out a significant niche for itself. Olipop, co-founded by Ben Goodwin and David Lester, is a health-conscious alternative to traditional sodas. With a mission to create a drink that is both delicious and beneficial for gut health, the duo set out on a journey that turned their $100,000 investment into a multi-million-dollar enterprise.

Meet the Founders Behind Olipop

For over a decade, Ben Goodwin and David Lester had one mission: create a soda that was delicious, gut-healthy, full of fiber, and low in sugar.

The catch? It had to taste just as good as classic sodas.

In 2018, they launched Olipop, a prebiotic soda packed with plant-based ingredients designed to support digestive and gut health.

Fast forward to today, and Olipop has gone from a small launch in 40 grocery stores to $200 million in projected 2023 sales, shaking up the soda industry alongside giants like Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

The Foundation of Olipop’s Success

Olipop’s explosive growth is built on three key pillars:

1. Identifying a Market Gap – Gut health was an emerging trend, but no one had cracked the code on making a healthy soda that actually tasted good.

2. Trial and Error – Ben and David failed with their first soda brand, learned from their mistakes, and came back stronger.

3. Branding & Distribution Strategy – They created a familiar, nostalgic product with a modern, health-conscious twist and aggressively expanded into national retailers.

From Gut Health Enthusiast to Beverage Entrepreneur

Ben Goodwin’s passion for nutrition came from personal experience. Growing up in San Francisco, he ate what he called the “standard American diet”, leading to weight struggles.

At 14, he made a personal commitment to health and wellness, a decision that would shape his future.

By age 20, he had dropped out of college and helped a friend start a kombucha company.

Meanwhile, David Lester, who had spent nearly a decade working for global spirits giant Diageo, was looking for something more entrepreneurial.

Through a mutual connection, they met for coffee, where Ben presented his prototype soda—handmade in SodaStream bottles and poured into champagne bottles.

David was blown away by Ben’s deep knowledge of gut health and microbiome science, and two weeks later, they became business partners.

Turn Anonymous Website Visitors Into Customers With Our AI BDR

Stop letting anonymous site traffic slip away. Our AI BDR Ava identifies individuals on your website without them providing any contact information and autonomously enrolls them into multi-channel sequences.

She operates within the Artisan platform, which consolidates every tool you need for outbound:

• 300M+ High-Quality B2B Prospects, including E-Commerce and Local Business Leads

• Automated Lead Enrichment With 10+ Data Sources

• Full Email Deliverability Management

• Multi-Channel Outreach Across Email & LinkedIn

• Human-Level Personalization

• Convert warm leads into your next customers.

Hire Ava to slash costs & boost productivity.

AI Tools for Interview Preparations

Their First Failure: The $100,000 Mistake That Led to Olipop

Before Olipop, Ben and David launched a different soda brand called Obi—a probiotic drink with a similar health focus.

But it didn’t gain traction in the way they had hoped.

Rather than give up, they sold Obi in 2016, took their $100,000 in earnings, and reinvested every dollar into a second attempt.

• $70,000 went toward branding.

• $30,000 went into formulating a scalable product.

Most investors told them a “healthy soda” was a terrible idea—but they believed otherwise.

Their goal was to recreate the experience of drinking soda, but with a healthier nutrition label—without sacrificing taste.

The Birth of Olipop: A Two-Year Journey

Ben spent two years perfecting a new formula that mimicked the flavors of classic sodas but included fiber, prebiotics, and plant-based ingredients.

The name Olipop was inspired by:

• “Pop” – A reference to soda, commonly used in the Midwest.

• “Oli” – Short for oligosaccharides, a type of prebiotic fiber.

By late 2018, Olipop was ready for launch—but getting onto store shelves was its own challenge.

Getting Olipop on Store Shelves: A Hustler’s Approach

Olipop needed a distributor—but distributors wouldn’t work with them unless they had confirmed retail placements.

So, Ben and David drove store to store, pitching Olipop to natural grocery stores around the Bay Area.

They needed 100 store pre-orders but only secured 40-50.

With distribution in place, Olipop launched in January 2019 in 40 stores with three flavors:

✅ Ginger Lemon
✅ Strawberry Vanilla
✅ Cinnamon Cola (later rebranded as Vintage Cola)

By the end of the year, Root Beer was added, and Olipop was slowly building momentum.

Today, Olipop has nine flavors, including:

✅ Classic Root Beer
✅ Vintage Cola
✅ Classic Grape
✅ Cherry Vanilla

Each can contains 2-5g of sugar and 9g of fiber, compared to a standard soda’s 39g of sugar.

Olipop’s Explosive Growth: From $8.6M to $200M

Olipop’s revenue skyrocketed:

• 2019: $852,000

• 2020: $8.6 million

• 2021: $29.7 million

• 2022: $73.4 million

• 2023 (Projected): $200 million

As sales grew, Ben continued refining and expanding the flavor lineup, ensuring each product delivered both taste and functional health benefits.

Going Viral: Social Media and Celebrity Investors

One of Olipop’s biggest growth engines? Social media—especially TikTok and Instagram.

Gen Z and millennial users began sharing their love for the brand, posting DIY Olipop mocktail recipes and taste-test videos.

Between December 2022 and January 2023, Google searches for Olipop spiked, leading to record-breaking sales.

This organic hype caught the attention of major investors, and in 2022, Olipop secured $39.7 million in Series B funding from high-profile names like:

🌟 Gwyneth Paltrow
🌟 Mindy Kaling
🌟 The Jonas Brothers

And in 2023, Olipop named singer Camila Cabello as its first celebrity spokesperson and investor.

Competing with Pepsi & Coca-Cola

Olipop is now outselling major soda brands in certain stores:

• At one national retailer, Olipop’s Root Beer outsells A&W.

• In some locations, Olipop is larger than Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and Canada Dry.

With 23,000+ stores carrying Olipop, including Whole Foods, Target, and Kroger, it’s on track to be in 30,000 stores by the end of 2023.

Olipop is proving that soda doesn’t have to be unhealthy—and customers are responding.

The Road to $1 Billion

Olipop’s journey is far from over. The brand is doubling down on:

🚀 Expanding into more national retailers
🚀 Developing new nostalgic flavors
🚀 Tapping into the $21.2 billion prebiotic market

Their ultimate goal? Redefine soda for the next generation.

Despite their massive success, Ben and David remain grounded in their original vision—a soda that delivers health without sacrificing taste.

Lessons for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

• Failure is a Stepping Stone: Their first soda brand, Obi, failed—but they used that experience to create Olipop.

• Hustle is Everything: They personally pitched stores door-to-door before securing a distributor.

• Social Media is a Superpower: TikTok and Instagram helped fuel Olipop’s rapid growth without a massive ad budget.

• Authenticity Wins: Their commitment to real ingredients and transparency resonated with health-conscious consumers.

• Timing Matters: Soda was a declining category, but gut health was on the rise—Olipop positioned itself at the intersection of both.

Learn More About Ben Goodwin & David Lester

From a $100,000 reinvestment to a $200 million company, Olipop’s story is proof that consumer trends, innovation, and persistence can completely disrupt a market.

As they continue scaling, one thing is clear:

Healthy soda isn’t just a niche trend—it’s the future.

Ben and David failed before they succeeded.

They listened to consumer demand, iterated on their formula, and hustled to get their product into stores.

So, what’s stopping you from launching your big idea? 🚀

A Story Worth Reading

We Value Your Feedback

Was this featured story helpful? Rate it, and let us know how we can improve.