Poppi cofounder maxed out credit cards and sold her car to fund the company—now, she’s a multimillionaire after a $1.95 billion sale

For many entrepreneurs, building a unicorn means betting their own finances long before any massive payday is within sight. Poppi cofounder Allison Ellsworth became a mega-millionaire after selling her prebiotic soda brand to PepsiCo for $1.95 billion—but just one decade ago, she and her husband were maxing out credit cards to get the business off the ground.

“I remember the first time we realized we had a business,” Ellsworth recently told The Wall Street Journal. “We were at a farmer’s market. We had just bought a house, I was three months pregnant with my first kid, and I said ‘We need to go all in.’”

“My husband told me I was absolutely crazy, but he trusted the vision,” the cofounder continued. “So we maxed out our credit cards, sold one of our cars to buy bottles, [and] opened our own manufacturing facility.”

The 39-year-old entrepreneur said she and her husband, cofounder Stephen Ellsworth, invested about $90,000 into the business in its first year. And not only did it require them to sacrifice their possessions and financial stability, but also their time and energy. Ellsworth said that her husband briefly worked as a waiter before he landed a gig working nights and weekends to cover their mortgage. And their side-hustle grind—alongside running the business at the farmer’s market—eventually paid off. Within 18 months, their better-for-you........

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