How I sold my company to Pepsi for $2B | Rohan Oza

- May 5, 2026 (8 days ago) • 01:03:27

Transcript

Start Time	Speaker	Text
00:00	Rohan Oza	"Every deal on Shark Tank that's a beverage, I know they're looking at me."
00:03	Shaan Puri	Nobody wins the lottery seven times. You've got sharks spitting out the product, you've got a terrible brand name, and you pick up 25% of that company—sold for $1.5 billion.
00:13	Sam Parr	Is this just art, or is there some science behind it?
00:16	Rohan Oza	One of Robert Woodruff's biggest lines was: "He wanted Coke to be within an arm's reach of desire." A brand is creating that desire. One in ten Americans influence the other nine.
00:27	Sam Parr	The goal is to spot that one. Can you teach us more about how it's done? </FormattedResponse>
00:30	Rohan Oza	It's actually three things. One is spotting stuff early. One is building the brands. And the other is actually...
00:42	Shaan Puri	You are — you're the "brand father." You have been crushing it in the beverage space. I was reading the research on you the last couple of days. I knew about Poppy; I knew about Vitaminwater, but I didn't know the extent of it. Can you—can you brag for a second? Give me a shout-out to some of the brands that you've been involved with.
01:01	Rohan Oza	I actually haven't started any of them. I only cofounded one, which is Poppy, and I'll tell you that story. The rest I either bought early or I bonded with the founders. I think it was things like Vitaminwater, Smartwater — they were tiny — and Vita Coco. Even some companies I lost money on were well known, like Popchips, Vital Proteins, One Bar, and Bulletproof. I lost money but they're still well known. We also have Farmer's Dog and Once Upon a Farm. And then, probably, Poppy is my most famous one.
01:31	Shaan Puri	"That's an insane, insane roster."
01:34	Rohan Oza	It was funny, actually. One of our founders — a guy called Glores, who's the co‑founder of Gymkhana Fine Foods — was at an LP conference we had. We're so focused on the brands, the teams, and growing stuff that sometimes you bury yourself in the weeds and don't ladder up. But he's about growth. When you look at the sheet of brands on Carvu — which is the fund I have, sort of the masthead — it's insane, the ecosystem you've created. I think you need to do a better job of almost leveraging that ecosystem. The light bulb went off because he's a founder, right? He's growing an incredible brand. Part of it is I focus on individuals, and sometimes we've got to bring the whole gang in to realize the strength of what we have.
02:23	Sam Parr	It's sort of amazing because when a lot of people say the word "brand," it's sort of related to taste. Both of those can be pretty nebulous. But you are sort of like Paul McCartney or John Lennon— you've made enough hits that you're like, "Okay, is this just art, or is there some science behind it?"
02:40	Rohan Oza	It
02:40	Shaan Puri	No—nobody wins the lottery seven times.
02:42	Rohan Oza	Yeah, I mean — that's quite a high accolade: to be in any conversation that uses the Beatles' name. But there's always luck, guys. It's not like... you can't.
02:52	Sam Parr	You gotta.
02:52	Rohan Oza	The dice has got to roll your way a little bit, but if you have a game plan — which I've sort of honed over time — the odds flow in your favor. So I've created some mantras and some principles, and so on and so forth. I actually created them after the fact. You don't go in and say, "All right, guys, I've got five mantras." You're almost like, you have a few hits and you're like, How did this happen? Then I rewind and go, "Okay, this is kind of how it happened." </FormattedResponse>
03:18	Shaan Puri	Give us one. What's one of the first ones you realize, like, "Alright—this is one that matters; we've got to make that concrete"?
03:24	Rohan Oza	A couple of big ones. One is "influence the influencer." You've got a pot of money — one of them $100, $1,000,000, $100,000,000 — whatever you ought to spend on your marketing budget. Who do I get to? I can't get to everyone. It's not possible unless Amazon has the budget to get to everyone. Most people who start a company don't. From my perspective, it's one in 10 Americans. I say America because 100% of my career, in terms of success, has been in America. This is the greatest country in the world to be an entrepreneur — I say that everywhere I go and I truly believe it. In America, one in 10 Americans influence the other nine. The goal is to spot that one. That approach has evolved over time. When I first started doing this — honestly, and I'm aging myself here — some of the biggest influencers back in the day were radio DJs. Now radio is dead and you guys are the heroes online. But before the podcast kings came along, it was radio DJs. One time in Vegas I picked out an annual award show and I would fly in the top 25 cities and the top two DJs from every city. So you had 50 people coming in. Every single artist that came to that award show would want to go to this place because you could hit 20 cities in two hours. It was almost like the cities came to you versus you traveling. Back then, when you were releasing an album or a new product, you were right there. I did that back in the day on a brand called Sprite — it was a corporate brand, we did something cool. Then I did that with Vitaminwater, where I took on all the DJs in the local markets. I hired people on my team who felt that vibe, because in order to bond with a DJ, if you're a dork it's not going to work. So I hired people who, which is my next mantra, lived the brand. They didn't market the brand — they lived Vitaminwater. That was their vibe. That has now evolved to people like the Alex Earls of the world, or, in music, 50 Cent who is having an amazing resurgence. Today it's digital social media influencers who were the early DJs. The key is to spot that one in 10. That has been a big, overarching philosophy with every company we go into: who is that one in 10?
05:44	Shaan Puri	Hey, I want to tell you about something pretty cool. We have a database of all of the unsexy business ideas that have been discussed on this podcast—hundreds of episodes. The team at HubSpot went through and pulled out all the unsexy ideas: not the super high-tech ones, but the simple, relatable, interesting, profitable ideas that we have brainstormed. They are all available to download for free. Just click the link in the description below. Thank you to our friends at HubSpot for sponsoring this podcast and putting together this free resource for you. Back to the show.
06:14	Sam Parr	"Can you define what a brand even is?"
06:16	Rohan Oza	I think a brand is something that allows a consumer to have an emotional connection with a product. So, this is just a can — a generic product. I drink it; I like the product, the liquid's great. But I've got to create an emotional bond with people so they request a pop, they reach for a pop. I worked for Coke back in the day, and one of the biggest lines — Robert Woodruff, one of the godfathers of making Coke what it is today — was: "I wanted Coke to be within an arm's reach of desire." A brand is creating that desire.
06:58	Shaan Puri	Right, and then the distribution is putting it within arm's reach.
07:00	Rohan Oza	Arm's reach. You nailed it exactly.
07:02	Shaan Puri	Sam sent me a clip this morning of when Poppy walked into Shark Tank. At the time they weren't called Poppy; they were called "Mother" or "Mothers" or something like that. They're not a soda that tastes good—it's like a prebiotic, apple cider vinegar. It's amazing because it's like those documentaries where the guy followed Kanye around ten years before he became famous. You're like, "I can't believe we're so lucky that this guy happened to follow that young artist in Chicago who went on to become Kanye West." There's this moment where you see them coming to Shark Tank. I think they had something like $250,000 in revenue—somewhere between $200,000 and $400,000 of annual revenue at the time. Different brand, different drink, no revenue. All the other Sharks go out, so you're in a bidding war with no one.
07:50	Sam Parr	Nobody. They go, "All right, Sharks, taste this healthy drink," and they make people take a shot of apple cider vinegar. People are like, "This is horrible." And the response is, "Yeah, it is horrible, but it's great for you." Now, what if it could be great for you and also taste good? That's our product — which was a really good pitch, actually. </FormattedResponse>
08:08	Shaan Puri	Yeah, the title of the video is "Sharks Disgusted." Yeah, they were by the poppy, like...
08:16	Rohan Oza	They were thinking Kevin may have spit it out. I can't remember.
08:19	Shaan Puri	So you got—you started spitting out the product. You've got a terrible brand name: Mother's Incursive, and it looks like an old sparkling wine or something like that. Totally different formulation, and you pick up 25% of that company. I think Poppy sold for $1.5 billion or something like that.
08:38	Rohan Oza	No, no. Come on—north of two, buddy. Oh... north of...
08:40	Shaan Puri	Two. Okay—unbelievable exit. What happens? It's amazing that the whole thing was captured. What happens between the time you see it? What are you thinking then? And then, what were the things that actually transformed that business? Because I think that's a perfect case study.
08:54	Rohan Oza	Yeah, let's call it phase one. These guys come out—like every deal on Shark Tank that's a beverage or food—but really beverage. I can do the range, but beverage is kind of my wheelhouse. I don't know if it's DNA-gifted or not. Beverage comes out and I'm like... I know they're looking at me: Cuban's a bigger name than me, Kevin's a bigger name than me, Lori's the queen of digital and QVC. But beverage—look at me. Then these guys come out and it's like, "here we go again," because I'm not three seasons in and I'm thinking someone's going to hit me up with some nonsense beverage. We had some real dumb ones along the way. Then this really good-looking couple comes out—husband and wife, like straight out of central casting. They look like Sam, you know? Like this chiseled, good-looking white boy.
09:40	Sam Parr	I'm friends with Steven. We became friends because I DM'd him and I just said, "We look alike." Yeah — "What, are we friends?" I swear to God.
09:47	Shaan Puri	But he does look a lot like Steven. Are you kidding?
09:50	Rohan Oza	So these bloody two good-looking guys come out — a guy and a lady. She's, like, I don't know, eight months pregnant; she could deliver any second. Immediately I'm like, "they've got hustle." One of them then pitches the product and I'm like, "horrible packaging; I don't like the brand name." You know, I like the word mother, but everyone has a mother — you can't trademark it. It's not really a trademarkable thing, but let's try it. So that's the train running on that track. On a separate track in my head, I'm a soda kid. I've been looking for soda. I grew up in Zambia, Africa. In Zambia we had three beverages: Coke, Sprite, and Fanta — that's it. But I came off sodas because sodas have a ton of sugar; they're not good for you. They're "no vamp" [unclear]. In the back of my head I've always been looking for a soda I can feel good about, but I didn't go into the show thinking that. In the back of my head, that's the running track. I try this — actually it was the orange one — and for me that... it's still my top two. Orange is my favorite and cream soda is my second. It's funny: those are the two flavors I drank when I was a kid. It's amazing — forty years later it's throwing me back to the nine- or ten-year-old me. So I try the orange one and I'm like, "Oh my God, this is Fanta meets Orangina," if you guys ever... This liquid, in my head, takes me back. This is my modern soda. I don't get too excited because I know it's mine; I get excited — these guys get excited.
11:21	Shaan Puri	And so, I think you were the last one to talk, at least in the edit. I don't know if that's actually how it was, but I thought that was incredible patience—to let the other "sharks" play out before you chimed in, because obviously you would influence them.
11:33	Rohan Oza	Exactly right. I did not. I specifically remained mute because the minute I seemed vaguely excited— and, by the way, even then Cuban and Bethany both turned to me and said, "Rose, should we split this?" —and I'm like, kind of in a nice way, "No." Because if this works, which it did, why would I want to split it? And if it doesn't work, I'm fine to lose it. But in the end I'm betting on myself. Right, right. I liked them, like Steve and Alice, but that's a very short... like, you know, we go for dinner the next day and I'm like, "Oh God, they're horrible." The first thing I did when we became partners was I shut it down — I shut down Mother. It was a tough conversation. Then basically Steve and Alice and me and a lady on my team called Stevie — we basically co‑founded Poppy. There was no Poppy, and in my mind I wasn't focused on an apple cider vinegar beverage. I was focused on making this modern soda for today's youth. So I'm like, "Okay, if I love soda and everyone else loves soda, this is modern soda." We kind of created the whole modern soda category, but I wasn't thinking apple cider vinegar. So we shut Mother down. Stevie, Alice, Steve and I took charge of the packaging design. We then all debated which was the best one to go with. We voted on it, and that's where Poppy came into play.
12:54	Shaan Puri	What about the name? We had David Plastic — come on, who named Blackberry and Swiffer? He gave us a master class on naming products. "Poppy" is an incredible name, right, for a soda-pop brand. It's super easy to say, recognizable, and fun. It almost feels bubbly in the name. </FormattedResponse>
13:13	Rohan Oza	"Yeah, so here's the thing: I'm strategically creative, right, Stevie, and my team is what I call tactically creative."
13:20	Shaan Puri	"That sounds like something I would say when I don't want to do work. That's exactly the math. Yeah — she works."
13:24	Rohan Oza	Much harder. Yeah, good one. So it's a triangle offense, right? Allison and Steven had created the product. It's a great product, but their insight was: apple cider vinegar as a healthy beverage. My insight was, "I want soda." What's America's word for soda? "Pop," right? So that's the... in England it translates less, or "Poppy"—"Poppy" is exploding in the UK now. And Stevie's goal was: how does she take what they had created—what my strategic game plan was—and create a name that rolls off the tongue? We had a bunch of them. I even liked "Mom and Pop" because it was a throwback to mom-and-pop stores and all that. People told me it was stupid, and they were right. But then when they came out with "Poppy" and Stevie presented it, I was like, "Okay—right."
14:10	Sam Parr	Can we—alright, let's go back. You only invested, I think, $250,000 or $400,000 into Poppy, so it was really a small business. You shut it down at half a million in revenue ($500,000), and you rebranded it and restarted it as Poppy. Do you remember what the revenue growth was up until you exited for $2,000,000,000? </FormattedResponse>
14:29	Rohan Oza	Yeah, so—give Alice and Stephen full credit, because Mother was their baby. To go to a founder and say, "Hey—good news, bad news... good news: I'm your partner. Bad news: we're shutting down Mother; we're now co‑founding Poppy together"—that takes a lot of faith on their part. We launched in March 2020. Right—we're all set. I said, "Guys, I don't want plastic because plastic's bad. We can't do glass because it's inconvenient. We've got to go back to cans." OG [unclear phrase: "telegraphs soda"]—that's what I drank. I'm sitting here drinking out of a can. We launch March 2020. What happens in April?
15:07	Shaan Puri	COVID.
15:07	Rohan Oza	The world shut down. So we had started to be a more digital company because that's just the nature of where life was, but we turbocharged that because suddenly all retail was dead and everything became digital. In our first year, we did a couple million dollars—only because the world shut down, which is still incredible. But then we went from a couple million to over half a billion dollars in the next four years. So from 2021 to 2025, we exploded.
15:41	Shaan Puri	And did you put more money in at the beginning to push marketing, or did you guys raise? What did you guys do?
15:48	Rohan Oza	Yeah, we kept raising. I mean, beverages are expensive, by the way. I put more money in. Kavu came in. So my business partner Brett was like, "Look, I believe in you. I don't get beverages early. If you get it, Kavu's going to back it." So everyone went in, right? We kept backing it and raised a chunk of money, but everyone got a great return because of the exit number. It's not really what you get in at—it's what you get out at.
16:13	Sam Parr	How much did you raise in sum?
16:15	Rohan Oza	"I mean, all in."
16:18	Sam Parr	Forty, maybe. Wow — would that be? That's amazing, too.
16:22	Rohan Oza	Go is.
16:22	Shaan Puri	That some.
16:22	Sam Parr	I didn't realize you guys were that new. So "'20" — roughly 2021 to 2025. "20 '6 0 to $2 billion exit." [The last segment is unclear in the recording; exact numbers and phrasing may be different.]
16:32	Shaan Puri	Yeah — what was the most satisfying win you had? Was it Poppy, or was it something earlier? Was there something where, even if it wasn't as big financially, you were just proud of the way you made it work?
16:44	Rohan Oza	No — Poppy, hands down. Poppy. Everything else: I went there and someone else had a product that I built. Here, Steve and Allison had created Mother, and it was brilliant. Without the liquid that they had created, we wouldn't be anywhere, right? But I got in early enough to basically cofound Poppy with Stevie, add it to Alison and Steven, and it was amazing. I think that was satisfying because I had the vision from the beginning. I had a great team with Steve, Allison, and Stevie. Then we brought in a CEO because, at some point, I'm not an operator. Alison and Steven are super smart but also realized they weren't operators. So once we got to like $3,040,000,000, we brought a guy called Chris Hallin, and "that guy is a legend." I think one of the other lessons you have to learn as an entrepreneur is that having a founder and creator mind doesn't always align with having an operator mind.
17:44	Sam Parr	More often, it probably doesn't.
17:46	Rohan Oza	One guy who was really good at it was Kurt from Vital Proteins. I don't know if you know him—Kurt founded Vital Proteins; we partnered with him as well. That guy was actually a rocket scientist—like, legit. So he was a founder and a brilliant operator. That's a rare combination. But in this case we brought in Chris Wall. Chris ran Sparkling Ice. I had to spend a lot of time coaching, begging, and convincing—a combination of all of the above—to get him over. He was a game changer because you need someone who can operate, and he helped take it from 50 to 500.
18:21	Sam Parr	Man, it's still amazing how good you are at this, and I think we should talk about that. There's a handful of skill sets that—what I call ATM skills—where you just become like a moneymaker. You can create an audience; you're probably a moneymaker. If you can sell, you're probably a moneymaker. If you can do good branding, you're probably a moneymaker. And you've done it many times in a row. Where did you learn how to do this? I know you worked for Mars, you worked for Coke—was that where you learned how to do this? Can you teach us more about how it's done?
18:52	Rohan Oza	Actually, it's interesting you bring that up. Actually, three things: one is spotting stuff early, one is building the brands, and the other is actually how to sell them. People forget the last part because there's a big graveyard of brands that got built, got to scale, but never fully exited. There's an even bigger graveyard of those that just didn't go anywhere. I think part of it—take my learnings. My learnings at Mars were less about the consumer-facing stuff because I was in manufacturing and operations. My learning there was almost the importance of supply chain, operations, and gross margin—the boring stuff. People forget that if you don't have good gross margins, you cannot make money. If you can't make money, you go bankrupt. By the way, I've still made that mistake. I had an incredible product called Chef's Cut. It was a jerky—before Chomps. My buddy invested in Chomps; he and I would joke because we were neck and neck and Chef's came out first. I just didn't have great gross margins and I should have focused more on that. Chef's Cut shut down or got sold for nothing, and Chomps became a juggernaut, so he keeps laughing at me. So I think from that perspective I learned from Mars a little bit, you know. And you still make mistakes. With Coke, I learned how to do disruptive marketing and branding because I was lucky—I was in Sprite back in the heyday when we signed Missy Elliott and Kobe Bryant. I did a bunch of hip-hop stuff and it was really cool. Then I was in Powerade, where Coke didn't care about it, so they said, "Do whatever you want." I learned creative disruption early, even though I was in a corporate environment. Then they fired me because I was a little too disruptive. I went to Vitaminwater, and that's where I really started to learn how to—well, that's my second mantra: how to make brands part of pop culture. A lot of guys report the news; very few people make the news. For me, with Vitaminwater (and Smartwater), I started by making the news, and those brands became part of pop culture.
20:55	Shaan Puri	"That sounds cool, but what does that mean—make the news? I don't know. I'm too dumb to understand that."
21:00	Rohan Oza	So, make the news. The first influencer / mega-influencer ownership deal I did... because remember, everything before 50 was very much a sponsorship deal, right? You sign a celebrity, they get in—that's the deal. Equity ownership—I believe Michael did it in a different way with Nike. That came up later and it wasn't really well known then. With 50, I didn't have the money to pay 50. He was huge at the time, right? So I met with Viv and his manager, Chris Leidy. Actually, there were two guys I was looking at for Vitaminwater, because Vitaminwater is a great brand. It was kind of a little upper East Side, New York, preppy brand; it wasn't nationwide cool.
21:40	Sam Parr	It wasn't getting shot in the face at nighttime.
21:42	Rohan Oza	It wasn't getting shot in the face. Cool.
21:43	Sam Parr	"A rap about..."
21:44	Rohan Oza	It—yeah, exactly. Although it was only eight times because one bullet went through twice. But anyway.
21:49	Sam Parr	Of course. Sorry.
21:50	Rohan Oza	So I wanted hip hop, and the two biggest names in the world at the time were Curtis Jackson and the other — Jay‑Z. Those were the two guys who were the biggest names. So I called my buddy Seth Rotsky and I said, "Seth, you're more connected in this world than I am — who can I get to?" Seth could have got to both, but he had a much better relationship with Chris Lighty, 50 Cent's manager. So he put me on text with 50 Cent's manager. A lot of this, also for artists, it's their managers getting it. So Chris got it straight away. He got the product; he got 50 Cent. He said, "We've not done a deal. We're about to do a deal with Reebok, but I'll kill that deal — I'll do this with you." That's how I got connected. And 50, as we see today, is clearly an entrepreneur. Also, don't mess with him — he will come after you with a vengeance. So I think he got it. I said, "I don't have money, but I can give you a skin in the game." He immediately said, "Okay, I'm in." I thought I was going to make him x... I kind of — he made 10x because I did the math wrong, basically.
22:52	Shaan Puri	He... he got, what, like 12%—something like that in the company.
22:55	Rohan Oza	I can't tell you exactly what he got, because we have a deal: I don't give the exact number and he doesn't kick the shit out of me. But he made a lot, because honestly I gave him enough equity for him to make good money if we sold the company for $400–$500 million. That was our goal for Itemwater. I remember Michael Bolley was the co‑founder of Itemwater. He was like, "Bro, put it up as born [unclear]. If we get to this, this, this, we're gonna get to $150,000,000 in revenue, we're gonna sell for $4.50."
23:23	Sam Parr	Without you, you can't reveal it because Curtis Jackson—well, Curtis Jackson... you. But yes. Will he... is it, like, would it be crazy to give someone 10% of a company like that?
23:31	Rohan Oza	"Yep, 10% would be too high."
23:34	Sam Parr	Got it.
23:34	Rohan Oza	But we sold the 4 billion, so you can do the math on what he would have made.
23:40	Shaan Puri	It seems like the whole influence and influencer thing obviously works — it makes sense — but it also obviously goes wrong sometimes, right? For example: this podcast was bought by HubSpot. HubSpot was like, "Yo, we want to reach entrepreneurs; we want them to use our software." So they came to us because we influence a lot of entrepreneurs. If we influence a million entrepreneurs, we're valuable to them and to many other brands. But many people get that partnership wrong. Celebrities are busy, they're divas, they don't really care, maybe you didn't make the incentive enough, and it's hard to claw back. So... I guess how confident were you, and what made it go right versus go wrong?
24:19	Rohan Oza	I think what makes it go right... It happened with 50, it happened with Jennifer Aniston on Smartwater, and I think it happened most recently for me with Alex Earl on Poppy. The connective tissue that 50, Jennifer, and Alex all share is belief in the brand, creative/cultural connectivity, and going above and beyond. They believed in the brand. They creatively connected with it — they got the brand and found culturally relevant ways to express it. And they went above and beyond. Those are the three things. Consumers are smart... that's the real deal. Alex loves Poppy — I see the cool shit she's doing with it. She's probably the smartest 24‑year‑old I've ever met. She knows her brand, knows her DNA. It makes me feel old. She is on it. Love of the brand, cultural/creative connectivity, and then going above and beyond.
25:10	Sam Parr	When you're looking at these deals, what would you say are the traits that the winners have in common? And what would you say the traits are of the losers? So, for example, we had this guy named Chad who started Grooms On...
25:24	Rohan Oza	And he sold it.
25:25	Sam Parr	Yeah, so he sold it for $2 billion — I think $1.2 billion — in thirty-five months or something. Insane. > "I called my shot. I worked at a PE firm and I realized that the TAM needs to be big. My CAC to LTV needs to be one to three." He said he "kind of had it down to a little bit of a science." He didn't say it that way, but that's how I interpreted it. What's the science in your head — not for investing, but for building a winning product?
25:54	Rohan Oza	Yeah, it's similar. I mean—let's start with the big categories, right? At Carvu, our game plan is: we're basically trying to, in a nutshell, upgrade the products that everyday Americans are using with better quality. I'm not recreating the wheel—I'm just giving you a better wheel, if that makes sense. So take the biggest tabs in food, in beverage, in beauty, and in [unclear phrase: "pep at a cabo"]. We're like, okay—well, soda, maybe a Coke or a fountain, is not good for you. We're going to upgrade you to a poppy. Do you like pet food—burnt, extruded kibble that has very low nutrient value? That's not good. We're going to give you Farmer's Dog. Right. The goal is: how do you give Americans what they're used to but elevate it so they can feel better about themselves?
26:48	Shaan Puri	"What are the big TAMs that are left, where you're like, we still haven't found the winning kind of brand or product in a certain category? Like, if I go to that grocery shop or I go to the supermarket, where do you see the opportunities right now—which aisle?" [TAMs = total addressable markets]
27:02	Rohan Oza	Everywhere — let me explain why. Go down every aisle next time you go by the grocery store. My wife gets super pissed with me because she sends me out to get stuff at the grocery store and two hours later she's like, "Where the hell have you been?" I tell her, "Honey, this is my business." I'm wandering around the grocery store figuring out what's broken. But that's the scenario: go down and ask, "Would I buy all these products?" My guess is if you go to a traditional grocery store where most Americans shop today, you'll probably say, "No, no, no, no, yes." So you have seven no's before you get to a yes. Go down the candy aisle. Okay — I have an investment in a brand called Skinnydip. Have you heard of it? Yeah.
27:40	Shaan Puri	I love this. Yeah, these are so addictive, right?
27:44	Rohan Oza	But, mother, the almond tam is... is okay. Wait — so it's chocolate? Is this tam — is this big? Creating sweet treats that don't have guilt, right? Is this big? So skinny haired chocolate-covered almonds... The brilliance of the founder was that after X number of years she said, "This shit ain't working. It's doing fine, but my tams aren't big enough." [unclear: "tams" — possibly "treats"] She pivoted. She created peanut butter cups, coconut bites, and wafers. You want to name me the three products that do that: Reese's, Almond Joy, and Kit Kat. By the way, all three of these products are under two grams of sugar. So now I can — and I do — have a coconut bite every day with my coffee or after dinner, because I need a sweet fix but zero shit's given because it's two grams of sugar. You don't care if it's two grams of sugar. If you give your kid — you'll have it: ten grams, twenty grams... your mind starts clicking a little bit.
28:41	Sam Parr	Is it possible to be even more specific? When you're walking around the aisle, is there a spot where you're like, "This product should be right here on this shelf," and it's...
28:49	Rohan Oza	So, go to the confection shelf and say, "What will I eat?" I look down and I'm like—almost nothing. Everything is fully loaded with sugar and it's really highly processed. Now, take the processing down. There's a lot of good stuff that's less processed, with better ingredients—can we agree on that? There is; however, the sugar content is still high. So, I've evolved from horrible stuff to maybe, like, an "alter-ego" chocolate or a huge chocolate. They're great, but they still have a high sugar content. You ask me what I do. I go sit at the entire confection shelf, put my arms up like this, and look around: "What would I eat?" The only thing I can eat is Skinny and maybe one other product, because I feel good about it.
29:31	Shaan Puri	So let me ask you a question. You had this great line where you said, "the shelf space is the original algorithm." The same way that content creators are constantly trying to figure out how to get on the YouTube shelf or the Instagram shelf — how to get discovered there — shelf space is the retail equivalent. It's even harder, arguably, because there are very mafia-like business practices that occur behind the scenes of these shelf spaces. I've walked through one of our events [store walks we run with brand teams] where guys who have brands at Target or Safeway walk through the aisles and explain everything. For example, MrBeast will explain how the candy aisle works. He'll explain Mars and Hershey's and the tactics they use: how they color-block your section, etc. You get this sort of PhD in each aisle. I think his market is a little bit different. So, you know, you sell, let's say, Skinny Dip — a little higher price — and "better for you" is the bigger angle. Whereas, you know, he's — I think — one of the fastest-growing brands in Walmart, and so his price...
30:29	Shaan Puri	Has to be a big constraint, so he has to play a slightly different game. But he's doing a lot of stuff where his “better for you” isn't in the ingredients—it's in the business practices. For example: "we don't use child labor on the cocoa farms," and things like that. He cares, and he's trying to get everyone to care. Will it change people's purchasing decisions? I think that's a question. But the thought process is: how do you get the shelf space? [shelf space in retail stores]
30:52	Rohan Oza	Well, I think so. I'll reverse-engineer one of the advantages I bring to the mix. We talked a lot about influencers, and so on and so forth. The second influencer—and probably as important—is retail buyers. I have now established—because I've brought a run of great products, exits, and scale—that I have great connections with top people at Walmart, Target, Albertsons, Kroger, etc. Maintaining those relationships is key. When I bring a product that I've invested in, or that Carvoo has invested in, they will give us shelf space. I think that's why a lot of entrepreneurs come to us: they're like, "Okay, great. I can do x, y, and z, but if I just get one meeting with the top guy at Walmart, that could inflect my business in a way that's unique." So I have the relationships now. However, retailers are smart, and they are actually closer to the consumer than big corporations. They are seeking the products of tomorrow while maintaining what I call the brands of yesterday, because you can't eliminate the brands of yesterday—too much money, too much revenue. At the same time, you then also have to bridge to the brands of tomorrow and sam to your [unclear]. </FormattedResponse>
32:06	Rohan Oza	I mean, take Poppy. A regular soda is probably a buck for a can, right? Poppy is probably $1.60, $1.70, $1.80—depending where you buy it—maybe $1.90. Would you pay the extra $0.50, $0.60, $0.90? Probably. It's not like I'm buying a BMW versus a Toyota; that's a $20,000–$30,000 difference. Here it's a $0.30, $0.60, $0.90 difference. A big part of what I do when I go to retail is that, while the product might be premium, I still want to appeal to a large number of Americans and make the product attainable. I think retailers are looking for slightly premium, attainable brands—they're the future brands.
32:58	Shaan Puri	You said something earlier that was kind of important. The third thing I do is how to sell it. There's a huge value swing at the end. When Sam and I sold our companies, it's kind of amazing: he works six years, seven years, eight years, and then 50% of the value is going to be how good you are at this M&A thing (mergers and acquisitions). It's the crazy part you've never done before, but it's the biggest deal of your life. I've seen firsthand how important that is and how it is a separate skill set for an entrepreneur. You have very low repetitions, so it's hard to even get good at it.
33:26	Sam Parr	Yeah, it's a really unfair advantage, because a reputable buyer has done this many times. It doesn't necessarily matter to them if it fails — they'll just get fired, worst-case scenario. But for you, it changes your life completely.
33:39	Shaan Puri	Yeah, so... how do you get Coke to buy a company for $2 billion? What do you do? How do those conversations happen? How do you negotiate those deals, and why do they pay so much?
33:50	Rohan Oza	So that's why. I mean, I've established— I don't have relationships everywhere, but I have relationships with a lot of big CPGs: Coke, Pepsi, Hershey, Mondelez, KDP. I've developed those over time. Many of these people I've either worked for or worked with because I've been in this industry now for twenty-five years — maybe longer. Relationships with the top guys are critical. With One Bar, for example, I walked them in, back in the day, to Hershey — to the CEO of Hershey at the time. I didn't negotiate the Vitaminwater deal; the founder of Vitaminwater, Darius, did that brilliantly, and I learned from him. I was on the sidelines watching this guy go to town. I brought Coke to the table. I called Coke because I used to work for them. Sandy Douglas, a mentor of mine, brought the CEO — he was the president — and they negotiated with Darius. I saw what he did, and I learned from that.
34:47	Shaan Puri	"Out of that negotiation, what was one thing you picked up? If you have a great brand..."
34:52	Rohan Oza	It's okay to be slightly unhinged on your expectation. For example, when he said, "the number starts with a four," I almost fell off my chair. I'm like, "Did he just say 'four'?" I thought Four B and Coke came back at 4.1. I'm like, "Alright, guy..." You know, I... I sometimes get nervous because there's a fine line.
35:11	Sam Parr	Guys.
35:11	Rohan Oza	This is Sean. You made such a great... You spend anywhere from four to ten, fifteen years building your baby, and then the finish line is where the money is made. So sometimes you get scared, because if you overreach—which I've also done—and you fail, you might be catching a falling knife. But if you underreach, then you keep kicking yourself over how much you left on the table.
35:35	Sam Parr	"Dial in on that. That's interesting, because knowing if you have a great brain is actually a bit challenging. But overreaching and underreaching—that is also very nuanced. Is there... some more specific details that you can give on how you know? For example, do you look at comps and say, 'We're just going to be the top quartile'? What do you do?"
35:54	Rohan Oza	Yeah, it's a very good question. Timing is everything, by the way. Poppy sold for half of what Vitaminwater did, except Poppy grew faster and is a bigger-scale brand than Vitaminwater ever was. But timing was different. At that time there was a willingness to pay more; liquidity was greater and risks were different. I think the same applies to tech valuations. People were investing in 2021 at bonkers valuations, then it slowed down, and now AI is also nuts. There’s a timing mechanism. You should have belief and faith in who you are, but do not always benchmark against the biggest number you've seen — that's a danger entrepreneurs have. They're like, “Oh, this company sold for seven times revenue; I'm going for seven, and if I don't get it I'm out.” I'm like, bro, take it easy. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When you're ready, you're going to have a certain number of beholders, and if they say your beauty is 600,000,000, that's your beauty. Now you can take the risk and pass and wait for a bigger number, and that's okay. But the groups that pass and wait for a bigger number are few and far between, and they don't always work out. Some do.
37:08	Sam Parr	"I also think that there's definitely, like, a je ne sais quoi—there's a... there's a showmanship that is involved here. It's very... yeah. I've only—I've known you now for 57 minutes. You have it. You have a likability, a charisma, whatever it is you want to call it. Are you in the room negotiating these deals?"
37:26	Rohan Oza	In some ways, I'm so with Poppy. We brought a banker — it's also good to have a banker; bankers have done this, right? So get a good banker. Get good reps. We had Goldman Sachs with Poppy. I built a great relationship with them. They actually brought Pepsi to the table initially, and without getting into it, the number and the offer were inadequate. So I did what I said was a risky move: I walked, because I didn't like the construct of the deal. Then someone else came to the table. I also walked because I didn't like the construct of the deal. If you speak to Steve and Alison, they were probably getting nervous about this, because I was blessed to have had exits before and they hadn't had any. Even Stevie was losing it at one point, because they were like, "This is life-changing money that Roe is saying no to." But I just didn't like the construct because it wasn't a full buyout — there were earn-outs. So third time's a charm. When Pepsi came back, I ended up negotiating that directly with them.
38:29	Sam Parr	"Did it change your life, too?"
38:31	Rohan Oza	"Yeah, when you have a massive win like this, you always have to step back and realize how blessed you are. Don't take it for granted. See what you could do for others and those around you. A good thing for me was I let a lot of people into the deal, so it wasn't just me. I had family, friends—one of my closest childhood friends was in the deal. When you affect other people beyond yourself, that's..."
38:56	Sam Parr	You know...
38:57	Shaan Puri	You said a bunch of things earlier that I want to ask you — the same question but with a different caveat. Sometimes I'll be like, "Hey, how do you sell this company?"
39:08	Rohan Oza	Like... well.
39:08	Shaan Puri	"Called the guy. I know him. How do you get on the shelf? Well, they know me and I know them. That's true and great — an extreme advantage today. But two problems. One: you didn't wake up with that. You weren't born with that; you earned it somehow. And second: it's not—most entrepreneurs don't have that advantage. If they don't partner with you, just in general, people have to figure out how to survive. No one's gonna come save you. Do you have an insane hustle story from the beginning? That's what gets me excited. After this I'm gonna go work, and nothing fires me up more than a good hustle story."
39:39	Rohan Oza	You have to have hustle at every stage, by the way. I'll give you a Poppy story. I've had a bunch of exits, but I'm still hustling because, guess what, people change out of roles in corporations. So when I say I know people historically, I've used bankers, I've used brokers, I've used people in the industry — which you have to use as an entrepreneur. You've got to build a relationship with everybody so that they get you in the room, and then when you get your shot you make it work. I'll give a shout-out to my buddy Danny Stepper. You know Danny — he's kind of a legend of the beverage industry. I went to The Beverage Forum, which just finished yesterday. It's probably the best beverage conference; any beverage entrepreneur should be there. It's the best beverage conference in America. I went there two years ago and Danny said, "Ro, would you speak?" I said, "Yes, I'll speak, but there's a button in this thing: I need a Walmart and a Target meeting while I'm at your conference." He had some of the lead guys from Walmart and Target. They didn't know me — like know me. They knew of me, but it's not like just because I walk in they're going to welcome me. They're still Walmart; they're like, "gross, screw you, we're Walmart." So I went in and I danced — me, Alison, Chris Hall (the CEO) — and I danced. I danced the modern soda dance because we were sucking wind at Walmart. We were doing everything else, and this was my one shot. I came in and I painted the vision. I said, "Guys, this is not prebiotic soda. This is modern soda for tomorrow's generation." I made a full story, and the light bulb went off at Walmart's end. [unclear phrase] believed in the vision and got behind it. His boss, Melanie, was a rock star at Walmart — she accelerated it from 2025 into '24 — and Poppy went into explosive growth mode. I was doing the hustle, I was doing the dance. By the way, I've been very successful, but if you come in with an ego and you're not willing to dance with retailers regardless who you are, they
41:44	Sam Parr	Don't I— I know that Kavu is incredibly successful now. I believe you have many billion-dollar funds and you've had multibillion-dollar exits. I know that you started, like, in the Mars factory— I think you said counting M&M's, Twix. My— sorry, Twix. The show is called "My First Million." I don't know, like, the middle ground: what did you do to make your first million? Was it investing your own money in brands? Was it because you got equity in Vitaminwater?
42:14	Rohan Oza	I got fired from Coke — "too creative, disruptive." I went to this no-name company called Vitaminwater. I sent a bunch of product to my friends and they didn't even drink it. That's the Polar brand, by the way. They didn't drink it. Two years later the same jackasses called me, "Bro, Vitaminwater is huge and my kids love it." I'm like, "Dude, I sent that to you two years ago; you never said shit to me." So I put my own money in. I borrowed from my dad — I was broke as a joke — and I got equity. I went from, you know, fumes on my bank account because I was basically spending everything I was making to the Vitaminwater exit. That was my first million, or more than that. It was putting everything that I had. And I think that's honestly where you make a big bet: you put everything into it, and if it works out... that's kind of where you...
43:05	Sam Parr	Get your biggest paydays. Did you raise money for a fund right after that? You're like, "No—this..."
43:10	Rohan Oza	I did Vitaminwater and Smartwater. I exited. I had my own money. So what's the phrase they say—"you invest off your balance sheet"—some bullshit finance phrase. So anyway, yes, I invested off my balance sheet. Meaning I went in solo; Rohan into Vita Coco; I bought into Popchips. Stevie was my right-hand wing woman in this case. She learned marketing from me. We did it together, and now she's the head of marketing for Carvun. </FormattedResponse>
43:37	Sam Parr	"That's really interesting. What I'm asking is really personal, so you can avoid it or give as much information as you want. I find that to be cool, and there's a lot of people listening who are like, 'I would like to lick a little bit of money and spend a little bit of money doing what this guy's doing — that's badass. I don't want to start a fund yet.' Are you able to give any type of numbers as to what you had when you started investing in Popchip and all these companies?"
43:55	Rohan Oza	Yeah, I can give you a range. I was investing anywhere from probably half a million to two million.
44:02	Sam Parr	"That's a shitload for an angel investment."
44:04	Rohan Oza	"Yeah, I wasn't that smart, dude. I was a little bit unhinged. In the long term, it worked out great. I don't advocate that you go that heavy." "Were you really rich?" "No. I was... I think I bet on myself a little too much. So yeah, I had a lot more money than that, but I think you have to be willing to lose if you're gonna win."
44:25	Shaan Puri	"Did you tell yourself, 'Okay, I'm willing to lose $10 million, but I'm going to bet on myself and make a few concentrated bets'? Did you sort of mentally partition this as losable money, or were you just going and not even thinking about it?"
44:38	Rohan Oza	There's a lot of stress. So basically I was kind of doing the math. I'm like, "Okay—I'm in for this, I'm in for this, I'm in for this." And then, you know, [X years later] I'm like, "Well, you know, I'm in for 10, but I've made ten times that, so I think I'm good. You know what I'm saying?" So it's like... it was organic, like, you...
44:57	Shaan Puri	I know math. I like it.
44:59	Sam Parr	What percent — for the principal, not the markups — of your liquid net worth was in private deals? </FormattedResponse>
45:05	Rohan Oza	Yeah, a lot. I also—I really should have done a better job with my publics [public companies]. I was very, like, into my privates [private companies] because I had made my money on private, so... far too.
45:15	Sam Parr	"High percentage — was it like all?"
45:17	Rohan Oza	"No, no. It's probably about a third, though. I mean, I guess. Okay, okay. I don't know — I don't know why. It was a decent amount; I can't remember exactly. I was rolling heavy. I was in my thirties, and Popchips was a great brand, and I bet on that, but I didn't understand the importance of a prep stack then. So you were just like..."
45:34	Sam Parr	Making bets and then going out and hustling on your behalf. You're like, "Hey, I'm going to the Beverage Forum, and I'm just going to figure out how to wheel and deal a little bit." </FormattedResponse>
45:40	Rohan Oza	Yeah, I was working with these companies. I would help the Popchips guys with influencers, with marketing, or with the team — I'd bring in the head of sales, the head of marketing, or...
45:50	Sam Parr	"You were a free hire a little."</FormattedResponse>
45:51	Rohan Oza	"A bit. I was, yeah—like, 'let me in; I'll help you out.' Sometimes I got equity for helping. So the good news is my hits in Vita Coco [the coconut water], Vital Proteins, and Poppy far outstripped whatever." </FormattedResponse>
46:09	Sam Parr	And lost. So the order of winners was Vitamin Water. You did that with—you did it with SmartWater. And then what was the order of the next five deals?
46:18	Rohan Oza	I did "Vitamin Smart," "dieted," and "Vita Coco" — the coconut water, which is great. Curbin's an incredible operator.
46:25	Sam Parr	Did that exit?
46:26	Rohan Oza	Shit. The guy's gone with the company's worth: $2.5 billion in public stock on the stock market.
46:30	Sam Parr	Oh, wow. Didn't know that. Okay.
46:32	Shaan Puri	Wow — a thing like coconut water, right? My business partner, Ben, has been trying to get me to drink freaking banana water. He's like, "Oh, banana water," and I did. It's nasty. I can't believe he likes it. But he's like, "Banana water — that's the next coconut water." I'm like, "I don't think it is." How do you spot the real trends versus the false trends? Are you just trusting your own taste buds, or is it some research you're doing? Are you watching what high schoolers are doing? What are you doing to figure out real trends versus fizzle-out trends?
46:57	Rohan Oza	Yeah—TAM: coconut water wasn't a "coconut water" TAM; it was a "hydration" TAM, right? Taste buds... Maybe it's bad because I'm of Indian origin—I like coconut water. But look, let's be honest: I got in early and I got out at a $700 million valuation. I got in at, I don't know, $30 million, so I made 20 times my money. The thing's now worth north of $2 billion. I didn't have the vision that Mike has—the CEO/founder—that this could be north of a $2 billion public company. No chance I had that vision. To me, the TAM was limited by the taste of coconut water in America. Sometimes it's "knowing when to hold 'em, knowing when to fold 'em." So I got out. I made good money. I will never begrudge the money that I could have made, but I got it, so I was out on that one. But then, you know, I got into Buy and I rode Buy all the way. The founder Ben is super smart, and I got him introduced to KDP. He built a brilliant relationship with the CEO of KDP and then sold that for $1.7 billion.
48:03	Shaan Puri	I think one of the great tests of marketing is: can you sell water? How do you sell water, right? There's a marketing genius in figuring out how to sell water — and not just once, but many times and in many different ways. And so, I've...
48:19	Rohan Oza	I've only done one water, by the way. I've done many beverages, but only one water.
48:22	Shaan Puri	Okay, well, so vitamin water is not a water.
48:24	Rohan Oza	Yeah, Vitaminwater is flavored, right? Poppies are flavored, Vita Coco — they're all flavored. When you drink just straight water... I still don't know how the hell I did that, but I'll take a crack. The founder, Darius, created Smartwater with a really good story. It's vapor-distilled water — it's how water is made in the world, right? Water evaporates from the ocean, goes up, hydrogen and oxygen separate, all the impurities fall out. It comes back to earth: that first drop of rainwater before it hits the ground — that's pure water. So that was the initial vision behind Smartwater. The packaging was not great; it was invisible, so I redid the package. The current package was me and my team, and it sits on the shelf today. Then we did the influencer strategy. I felt that Evian was the only player in America that was in premium water, but it's a French company and it was in plastic being shipped across the ocean — it didn't make sense. Neither did Fiji being shipped from Fiji. Like, why can't we have a premium American water? The thing is, your water is a badge when you walk around with it. More than anything else, it's a little reflection of you. At home, who cares — you buy the case packs at Costco, 24-packs for like $2. But when you're walking around, you want a different badge. I think with the team I had, Jennifer Aniston became the face of the brand. New packaging, influencer strategy — Smartwater became this go-to accessory, particularly for women, and the brand took off. And I think when Coca-Cola bought Vitaminwater, if you ask them today, the brand that has worked out for them is Smartwater, not Vitaminwater.
50:05	Shaan Puri	And is there something to this idea of placement? I remember when Beats by Dre came out — it was a headphone brand just like many others, Bose and others. But instead of going for audiophiles, everywhere you saw it was basically hip-hop artists and athletes walking into the stadium. It became synonymous with the pregame lock-in and associated with the coolest athletes and artists. They created billions of dollars of value by that association — by that placement of the pregame or the walk-in, at least for me. I think I've read stories about Grey Goose and some liquor brands where they would put it in the limousines of the after-parties of the Oscars. Where it was seen was almost just as important as the story of how it was triple-filtered and distilled, because nobody actually ends up knowing that — they just see where it's seen. Did you ever use that tactic, or what is that?
50:57	Rohan Oza	That was huge for me back in the day. Now this strategy is executed primarily through social and digital channels. Digital influencers—when the top sororities are running around posting Poppy and serving it at their kickoff parties—I had an army of amazing college ambassadors. Poppy became the number one drink on college campuses.
51:19	Shaan Puri	Modern-day, like, Red Bull playbook, basically.</FormattedResponse>
51:21	Rohan Oza	Yeah, but it's kind of a better-for-you, feel-good vibe — and definitely what's better for women, you know, from a connection standpoint. Back in the day I did this with the Oscars and with the Golden Globes. Smartwater was the first water on the table at the Golden Globes, before they were pouring out of... just the — and so I did a deal with them. Suddenly, every table you go to, you're seeing a Smartwater there. And then Vitaminwater — I used to sponsor them mainly because I wanted to go to the parties. So Patrick Weitzel... I've heard of Patrick; he's too big-time now. But Patrick in Denver — he ran the coolest post‑Oscar, VMA, and Golden Globe parties in LA. So just for me to get access to those things, I would sponsor them. But the good news is... I remember going to one, and it was back in what I call "round one" of J.Lo and Affleck dating [Ben Affleck]. I was at the party, and J.Lo and Affleck were there and everyone's drinking Vitaminwater. Back then this was 2003, 2004. So I think you're dead right: in the early days, especially with products, they've got to appear in people's lifestyle areas — both physically and digitally.
52:33	Sam Parr	"You're a hustler. I didn't realize how big of a hustler you are."
52:36	Rohan Oza	If you lose your hustle, you lose your edge. Like the guy Sean and I know, Gulrez, who is the CEO of Jim Carner Fine Foods — he's like, "Bro, you are bloody intense." When I get into sessions with him, he's like, "I thought you would chill down. You're a father. You're successful." I'm like, "Bro, it's go time. We're building your empire. There's no—you gotta have a hustle mode." I think also founders respect that.
52:58	Sam Parr	So I want to ask you a slightly different question. I'm obsessed with brands that last a long time, and I'm also a massive American history buff. Some of the best brands in America have been around for over a century: Coke, Snickers, M&M's — brands you've worked with. I think Mars is a $50 billion‑per‑year business that's family‑owned. Hershey's is, I think, run by a family trust and does something like $10 or $20 billion a year in revenue. Everyone talks about getting healthy, but Reese's probably isn't going away for the next 50 years. No, Coke is probably not going away for 100 years. You've also worked with startups. Is there anything that I, Sean, or the listener can learn from these old, big companies that have been around for 100+ years?
53:41	Rohan Oza	Yeah, look — they do a very good job of two things. They're managing their installed base, so they have a fantastic retail presence. They also do, in my opinion, great marketing to maintain relevance for their brands. I wasn't shocked by how well they do it in a world where, technically, you shouldn't be eating or drinking any of those products. However, where they are smart — and I give Pepsi credit for this — is they go out and buy the future as well. For example, Pepsi bought Poppi, not because it's an apple-cider-vinegar beverage, but because they're seeing the vision: this could be right up there. They told me, "Between Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Poppi — that should be their soda lineup. Choose what you want. If you feel like having a Pepsi, great." "The growth is all coming, Sam, from their zero-sugar products." So it's not coming from core Coke or core Pepsi — it's Pepsi Zero. Pepsi Zero is crushing it; Coke Zero is crushing it. Poppi fits into that realm. They see that you still maintain your legacy, but you have to make sure you pick up the future; otherwise you will get left behind. I think you're seeing it: Unilever bought [unclear transcription: "your boy Groons"] — they're buying the future. There's a lot of M&A. Hershey just bought [unclear transcription: "lesser revo"] — they are buying the future. And I think they're getting a little savvier and a little wiser in how they do it. Before, they'd get brands that I don't think were built to last, and now...
55:12	Rohan Oza	Sam, I think they're trying to find brands that are built to last. For me, if we look at all the exits we've been a part of—whether those brands continue growing 40% or just maintain a good scale—Vitamin Smart, Poppy, Vital Proteins, Buy Farmer's Dog—like, all these are still there. Once Upon a Farm—we IPO'd that brand. They're all still there, and they will be here, if managed right, for the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years.
55:39	Sam Parr	Sean had a good question that he told me he had for you, but I'm going to ask it. He has a guy—he has a guy, too.
55:46	Shaan Puri	"He's the kind of guy I am."
55:47	Sam Parr	He has a guy to do it.
55:48	Rohan Oza	He's a—he's a gifter.</FormattedResponse>
55:50	Sam Parr	Yeah. I'm gonna steal it from him. It was basically: if a young guy were to go and shadow you, what would they be surprised about—how you spend your time?
55:58	Shaan Puri	Shadow you for a day or a week, yeah.
56:01	Rohan Oza	Sam, that's a great question. A few things: First, I think people will be a little surprised by how I can change lanes so rapidly. Part of my success—and part of my failures—comes from my ADD. I can go from five different company conversations with different founders to then figuring out the plumbing problem in my house to dealing with the new house I'm trying to buy but getting screwed on with the price. I can change lanes and gears very rapidly and be fully engaged. By the end of it I'm exhausted; my brain shuts off and then I have to watch TV to calm it down. Second, even though I personally don't operate at a very detailed level, people will be surprised how detailed I get with the brands and founders I partner with. I have great recall of information. Sometimes founders think I've forgotten something from a month ago when I ask them about it. You can ask Ulrez—he's a classic. I'm like, "Three weeks ago we spoke about this; where are you on this?" He's like, "Shit, how did you remember that?" He thought that because I forgot to come back, he could ignore me. My ability to recall and retain information matters because you have to go deep with founders. If you go shallow, you're not helping them; it has to be meaningful stuff that impacts their business. Third, I'm blessed to be living a great lifestyle. I'm living the American dream—I came here as an immigrant and did well. I'm able to do high and low: from where I eat (I go to the taco stand) to where I do the grocery shopping. I'm not sending someone—I am there, picking stuff up. If you don't live in reality, you can't operate in reality. You kind of end up in this 1% world, which doesn't help when you're dealing with products for all Americans.
58:07	Shaan Puri	I was talking to a buddy of ours who's a brilliant marketer — he's probably sold $1 billion of products online. I opened up my laptop, he saw that I had an ad blocker on, and he's like, "How?"
58:18	Rohan Oza	Could you?
58:19	Shaan Puri	He's like, "You're a marketer." He's like, "You have to study your craft through every ad." He logged into Facebook, and another guy logged into his Facebook. On Facebook, he's a woman—his profile is his, but he told Facebook, "I'm a woman," because he's like, "I wanna see what they're marketing to."
58:34	Rohan Oza	Right. Brilliant. A 40.
58:35	Shaan Puri	Year-old woman in America.
58:36	Rohan Oza	That's.
58:36	Shaan Puri	Yeah, that's the prime target. I need to see who's—what's the messaging? And I was like, "There's levels to this game of intensity and detail."
58:44	Sam Parr	What do you stink at? Where's your weakness in business?
58:47	Rohan Oza	I think sometimes I may have too much belief. When you love a product, you kind of have faith that blinds you a little bit — whether it's the founder you think is amazing or because you love the product. You're not overly focused on the gross margins. I'm a big "Field of Dreams" guy: "Build it and they will come," but if you don't build it correctly, I feel the dream won't come. Sometimes when I love something a lot, I end up ignoring some of the red flags. I think passion is a super important element, but passion at all costs can be dangerous.
59:29	Shaan Puri	Let's leave it with this: while we're in the business of stealing questions, Patrick O'Shaughnessy has this great question he asks guests at the end of every one of his Invest Like the Best episodes [podcast]. He asks: "What's the kindest thing anyone's ever done for you in your career?" I'm just curious — what comes to mind when I say that? What's the kindest thing anyone's ever done for you?
59:49	Rohan Oza	Kindest thing anyone's done for me. I should have shouted out to a guy—there's probably two of them. I've been adopted a couple of times. One time was at Coca-Cola, when I was about to leave because they gave me a brand called Box—you know that? Remember I told you I have a few mantras. One of my mantras is influenced the influencer, the other has become a part of pop culture, and the third one is live the brand. Well, I can't live Boxwood Beer. I don't understand it. I grew up in Zambia. I bloody hate root beer, so I was on Sprite. Someone demoted me and I ran Box, and I was about to leave. My career would have been toast because I was going to some travel.com bullshit site that ended up folding. Two guys—a guy called Todd Putman and a guy called Darryl Cobyn—kind of heard that I was leaving, saved me, and said, "We'll give you something different. Don't leave." They put me on Powerade, and that changed the trajectory of my career. Then, when I got to Vitaminwater, I was doing great. I took over all the marketing, but the founder and I kind of had different visions on how to market. I don't think he liked my approach, but I was what was bringing the heat to the brand, and I think he wanted to fire me at one point.
01:01:10	Rohan Oza	And so Mike Ripoli, who was the president of the company, changed the reporting structure and put me under him. Because he and I got along great, he said, "Look, take your ego aside: either you want to report to the CEO and get fired, or report to me and I got you, because now you're my guy." So I said, "I want money and I want ego." I reported to Mike and I still ran marketing, but he had defined and clarified me [my role]. I was an employee at will. That would have also changed the trajectory of my career. </FormattedResponse>
01:01:39	Sam Parr	So, this is only the second podcast you've done. Is that right?
01:01:42	Shaan Puri	Yeah, correct, dude — thanks for coming on. Where should people go to find you if they want to follow more or get more of what you're doing?
01:01:50	Rohan Oza	"You know what? It's—it's a really good question, and it's a horrible answer: you actually can't go anywhere yet other than you guys."
01:01:57	Sam Parr	"And wait—so you don't have social media?"
01:01:59	Shaan Puri	Subscribe to this podcast if you want to see him again. The last one that was like that was Brian Johnson. He came on.
01:02:06	Rohan Oza	Oh, he—wow.
01:02:07	Shaan Puri	He was just hacking on his own body in the privacy of his own home. Then he came on this podcast. And so now, maybe you have a Netflix—maybe better soon; I don't know.
01:02:15	Rohan Oza	"Maybe I can reverse my age by 20 years. My wife would love that."
01:02:19	Sam Parr	We were his first podcast. Sean, I don't know if I ever told you this: he called me last year and said, "Hey, I just wanted to thank you because you were the first podcast that I ever did, and you guys asked me a lot of really hard questions that I never even — I never even thought about." So, a) I'm thankful to you for doing that, and b) when I saw the response I was like, "Oh, I should do media." </FormattedResponse>
01:02:40	Rohan Oza	Right.
01:02:40	Sam Parr	And I should go hard. This works.
01:02:42	Rohan Oza	"It's crazy—look what he's done. See, you guys are the influence on us. Remember the one-in-ten? You are the one-in-ten, guys."
01:02:48	Shaan Puri	My contrarian belief about Brian Johnson is that Brian Johnson is the greatest marketer alive right now. I think he understands social media at a level that I don't know anybody else does.
01:03:00	Rohan Oza	Jake Paul, maybe, but yeah.
01:03:02	Shaan Puri	"Yeah, exactly."
01:03:03	Sam Parr	Well, thanks for coming on. You're awesome.
01:03:05	Rohan Oza	Pleasure. Thanks for taking the time.
01:03:06	Sam Parr	Alright, that's it. That's a pod.

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How I sold my company to Pepsi for $2B | Rohan Oza

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