Office Hours: Poppi Co-Founder Allison Ellsworth on Creating a Healthy Soda Alternative
Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 75 companies and is incubating several more.
On today's episode of "Office Hours." we talk with Allison Ellsworth, co-founder of Poppi, a soda alternative that promotes gut health. Her company picked up distribution from Whole Foods and made a splash on ABC's “Shark Tank."
Ellsworth grew up in a family of entrepreneurs — her father worked in oil and started his own company; her grandparents and sister were entrepreneurs as well. She was familiar with risk, opportunity and the need to be tenacious in growing her business. She’d also seen her family members fail at one venture -- and get back on their feet.
"It's interesting to see those things where you see someone [who is] really, really successful fail – and then be successful again, and it gives a lot of hope,” Ellsworth told Office Hours host Spencer Rascoff. “You know, success can be scary -- but it doesn't have to be."
She added that both she and her husband left behind their jobs in the oil and gas industry to make a bet on their idea: a health-based soda alternative they initially intended to brand as Mother Beverage. This was Ellsworth’s brainchild; she suffers from a sensitive stomach and had been looking for a beverage that was good for her gut health.
She discovered apple cider vinegar, a 400-year-old tonic that helps with gut health, but Ellsworth felt it tasted awful. She started experimenting with new flavors, while staying focused on creating something healthy. FInally, with the help of friends and family, she landed on the right formula.
“It tasted amazing. And so we really feel like we cracked the code,” she said.
The real vote of confidence came when, after just three weeks testing out their idea at a booth in a farmer’s market, the two were approached by Whole Foods.
“[They] said, ‘this is fantastic. You guys have to be in Whole Foods’,” Ellsworth said.
The couple sought the help of friends and family to take their business to the next level.
"Mind you, we just bought a house. I was three months pregnant. I was convincing him: ‘Let's quit our job. This is how much I really believed in this’," said Ellsworth.
Two years later, their company had expanded into multiple grocery stores, and Ellsworth realized they needed additional investor funding to grow. The duo pitched their idea to investors on “Shark Tank” and landed a deal with marketing veteran and former Coca-Cola executive Rohan Oza.
With the help of Oza, the company renamed itself Poppi.
Launching right as the pandemic took hold, Poppi found success by creating a new category of healthy soda alternatives. Ellsworth added that if the company didn’t find its roots in Dallas, Texas, it might not be where it is today.
She added, "I've always said this and truly believe it: If we would have started anywhere else, I don't know if we'd be so successful because Texans love Texas products, and they rally and they get behind and they love local.”
Want to hear more episodes? Subscribe to Office Hours on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts.
dot.LA Engagement Intern Joshua Letona contributed to this post.
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Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 75 companies and is incubating several more.
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‘Completely Unacceptable’: Latino Founders Only Accounted for 2% of All Venture Funding Last Year
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He previously covered technology and entertainment for TheWrap and reported on the SoCal startup scene for the Los Angeles Business Journal. Samson is also a proud member of the Transgender Journalists Association. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter at @Samsonamore. Pronouns: he/him
VCFamilia, a group of 250 Latino venture investors, issued a statement Wednesday responding to a new Wired report highlighting the ongoing challenges that Latino founders face in raising capital. The report noted a study by investment firm Bain Capital that found that less than 1% of the top 500 venture and private equity deals in 2020 involved a Latino founder. It also cited Crunchbase data indicating that Latino founders accounted for only 2.1% of all venture funding in 2021, and that Latinos’ share of early-stage startup funding has actually decreased since 2018.
“The reasons for this disparity are nothing new: our community is not part of the networks that give founders access to significant capital, and there is a lack of opportunity to demonstrate that we are fully capable of building and scaling large enterprises,” VCFamilia’s Cheryl Campos, who heads venture growth and partnerships at New York-based venture funding platform Republic, wrote in the statement.
VCFamilia took particular aim at the decline in early-stage funding for Latino-led startups, noting that stage as “the most critical in any startup’s journey.” Inadequate funding made it “more difficult for Latinx founders to keep their businesses alive during the pandemic,” Campos said—even as Latinos continue to account for an ever-increasing percentage of the U.S.’s labor force and small business growth.
“The Latinx community is a key economic driver of America’s future, but we are still being left behind even as we help push the country forward,” she wrote. “By overlooking companies built by the U.S. Latinx community, venture capitalists and their limited partners are leaving an opportunity for capturing growing economic power and returns on the table,” Campos said.
The statement called on VC investors and limited partners (LPs) to commit to “meaningful change” by building “a diverse network that includes Latinx funders and founders,” with the goal of “increas[ing] investing in early-stage U.S. Latinx founders.”
VCFamila noted that its response to the Wired article was spearheaded by Alejandro Guerrero, general partner at Los Angeles-based VC firm Act One Ventures. Guerrero circulated the group’s statement on Twitter and described the data as “completely unacceptable.”
“We are calling on all Latinx founders, funders, directors, & all of our allies who support the advancement of diversity in venture & tech, to please read this, reshare it, & help bring attention to this,” he wrote. “We will not accept this treatment & we will continue to fight for the change we deserve.
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Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He previously covered technology and entertainment for TheWrap and reported on the SoCal startup scene for the Los Angeles Business Journal. Samson is also a proud member of the Transgender Journalists Association. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter at @Samsonamore. Pronouns: he/him
As It Ramps Up in LA, Superpedestrian’s LINK Looks to Chart a Different Path for E-Scooters
Zac Estrada is a reporter covering transportation, technology and policy. A former reporter for The Verge and Jalopnik, his work has also appeared in Automobile Magazine, Autoweek, Pacific Standard, Boston.com and BLAC Detroit. A native of Southern California, he is a graduate of Northeastern University in Boston. You can find him on Twitter at @zacestrada.
While the electric scooter market might appear flooded based on how many of the vehicles are scattered along sidewalks in major U.S. cities, there is yet another company on the block trying to make the case for alternative mobility solutions across the country, including here in Los Angeles.
Founded in Cambridge, Mass., in 2013, transportation robotics startup Superpedestrian launched its LINK e-scooter network in its hometown (which is also home to Harvard and MIT) in early 2020—just as the coronavirus pandemic put the brakes on demand for shared services like ride-sharing, bike-sharing and, of course, e-scooters.
That may have helped LINK gain a footing in L.A. and other locales, however, as Superpedestrian has now expanded the service to nearly 50 cities around the world.
“At the beginning of the pandemic there were a lot of people who went out and bought their own cars because they thought it would be a safer way to get around,” Superpedestrian policy and business development manager Sharon Zhang told dot.LA. “But now they’re seeing how much it costs to own a car.”
Superpedestrian’s LINK scooters arrived in L.A. in August 2021 through a program with the city’s Department of Transportation. There are currently about 3,500 of the company’s electric scooters dotted around the city—from Downtown to the San Fernando Valley and in neighborhoods like Koreatown, Eagle Rock and Highland Park—and LINK plans to ramp up to 5,000 scooters on city streets this year. Superpedestrian has also parked some of the scooters around USC and UCLA, in the hopes of building ridership among college students.
Superpedestrian deployed its first vehicles in neighborhoods that it identified as either popular for other e-scooter companies, or as having less-than-adequate bus or light-rail service and ripe for micromobility solutions. While LINK initially appealed to recreational riders, it’s increasingly being used by riders to commute to work and school or to connect with other transportation options, according to Zhang. LINK says the average scooter ride in the city is 1.4 miles and less than 15 minutes long. (Rides cost $1 to unlock the scooter, plus 39 cents per minute.) So far, the company has attracted more than 400,000 rides in L.A. covering over 540,000 miles.
Of course, LINK has to compete in a crowded e-scooter market that has exploded in popularity since the mid-2010s. The L.A. area is dominated by Santa Monica-based Bird, which went public through an SPAC deal last year, and San Francisco-based Lime. Ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft have also stepped into the market—though Ford-backed Spin announced this month that it was “beginning to exit nearly all open permit markets globally” in a bid for profitability. There are also various bike-sharing services to account for, like the one run through L.A.’s Metro system.
“We’ve been asked in other markets why we’d want to be there when there were 6 or 7 other [e-scooter] companies,” Zhang said.
The ace up LINK’s sleeve, she noted, is that Superpedestrian designed and manufactured its own scooters, rather than outsourcing to a third-party company as some of its competitors do. Superpedestrian engineered the LINK scooters to be larger and heavier than some competing models; that makes them more stable on pothole-stricken streets and allows for a larger battery than other scooters, with an estimated 61-mile range in typical conditions.
Zhang said the reinforced chassis on the scooters not only provides stability but also lowers the costs of deploying them. Superpedestrian uses its own staff to charge and service the scooters—rather than employing contract or gig workers—at two L.A.-area facilities. That staff, part of a roughly 55-person team that the company employs in the area, can swap out different parts that might be damaged, rather than scrapping the whole scooter. And while the scooters are expected to last for several years on the streets, their batteries are expected to outlive other hardware pieces and can be reused with new scooters.
Vandalism is still the largest threat to LINK’s scooter fleet. Superpedestrian said they’ve received reports of the vehicles being recovered from across state lines and, in some cases, after being thrown into water; in the latter instance, some of the scooters were able to dry out and still function.
Superpedestrian also leans on its “vehicle intelligence” technology to run more than 1,000 system checks on individual scooters, which can inform technicians whether there’s a low charge level or power delivery and braking problems. Its system can also determine if a scooter is left in an unsafe location—such as blocking a sidewalk or access point—or if it’s entering an area where e-scooters are banned, in which case it will flash lights on its handlebars before eventually coming to a stop.
Later this year, Superpedestrian plans to incorporate a pedestrian defense system, which it says can determine if riders are on the sidewalk when they shouldn’t be or violating other traffic laws based on regulations. The scooters, which can reach speeds of up to 20 miles per hour, are regulated to a 15-mile-per-hour maximum, and are slowed even more when the scooter’s sensors detect it is entering a no-ride zone, such as Dodger Stadium.
Zhang said Superpedestrian is encouraged by the inroads LINK has made in L.A. and is looking to expand to other markets. In California, LINK also operates in San Diego and Bay Area cities including Oakland and San Jose.
But with e-scooters having rubbed many local communities the wrong way, Zhang added that LINK and other micromobility operators need more buy-in from stakeholders beyond city government officials. That includes not just city councils and local transportation departments, but also neighborhood councils and colleges and universities.
“Our goal is to continue to expand,” Zhang said. “L.A. is an open market for e-scooter permits, though—and the whole area can be like swiss cheese in terms of regulations.”
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Zac Estrada is a reporter covering transportation, technology and policy. A former reporter for The Verge and Jalopnik, his work has also appeared in Automobile Magazine, Autoweek, Pacific Standard, Boston.com and BLAC Detroit. A native of Southern California, he is a graduate of Northeastern University in Boston. You can find him on Twitter at @zacestrada.
Snapchat Rolls Out Updates to Its AR Shopping Feature For Both Consumers and Brands
Snap is upping its game when it comes to both augmented reality and ecommerce.
The Santa Monica-based social media giant has launched a series of updates to its Snapchat app’s AR shopping experience, including easier-to-use features for consumers and real-time analytics for brands and retail partners, as reported by Techcrunch and Adweek.
The updates to Snapchat’s AR Shopping Lenses—which deploys AR technology to allow shoppers to virtually try on clothing, makeup, jewelry and accessories—will provide users with enhanced product information such as real-time prices and item descriptions, as well as direct links to purchase items via the shopping tool’s Lens Product Cards.
The upgraded shopping experience benefits brands and retailers, too, by offering real-time analytics linked directly to companies’ product catalogs. Brands and retailers can now access instant data on what products resonate with users the most—specifically with Snapchat’s younger, online shopping-focused population. Brands can then develop ad-targeting strategies and future products based on this data.
As TechCrunch reports, Snap beta-tested its new AR Shopping Lens features with more than 30 brands, with Snapchat users “trying on” products over 250 million times. The features appeared to test quite well; cosmetics brand Ulta Beauty reported $6 million in incremental purchases through Snapchat and 30 million virtual try-ons within a two-week period. Likewise, MAC Cosmetics reported 1.3 million try-ons and an increase in purchases among women, brand awareness and purchase intent.
Snap has looked to make shopping an integral part of its app. Last year, Snapchat upgraded a feature that allows users to “scan” an item, such as a friend’s jacket, using their Snap Camera, which then populates recommendations from hundreds of brands. Snap also updated their Lens Web Builder, which will allow brands to upload products onto AR Shopping Lenses in a matter of minutes, according to the company.
“Augmented reality is changing the way we shop, play and learn, and transforming how businesses tell their stories and sell their products,” Snap chief business officer Jeremi Gorman told TechCrunch. Gorman added that the revamped AR Shopping Lenses will enable brands to better sense “which products resonate with Gen Z and millennial audiences.”
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