Social Currency with Sammi Cohen

Seth Goldman built one of the most iconic beverage brands of the last two decades… only to watch it get discontinued by Coca-Cola. In this episode, Seth tells Sammi the full story: bootstrapping Honest Tea in the late ’90s when the category didn’t exist, educating consumers one sample at a time, and eventually partnering with Coca-Cola to scale what he believed could become a billion-dollar brand. Then came the gut punch: years after the acquisition, Coca-Cola made the decision to shut Honest Tea down. Instead of walking away, Seth did something few founders would do— he started over. He shares how he launched Just Ice Tea, rebuilt his supply chain using decades-old relationships, and scaled faster the second time around. Sammi and Seth also get into what it really takes to build a sustainable CPG brand, why most beverage startups fail, and the one mistake founders make before they even launch: focusing on branding before validating taste. Plus, Seth shares his long-term perspective from his work with Beyond Meat—and why he still believes the biggest consumer shifts take decades, not years. Follow Sammi Cohen on Instagram  Subscribe to the Social Currency newsletter  Check out Just Ice Tea Here’s what Sammi covers with Seth:00:00 Seth Goldman’s Social Currency 00:50 Building Honest Tea Before The Market Existed 03:03 Creating Demand Through Sampling 05:00 Bootstrapping And Staying Scrappy 06:06 The Coca-Cola Investment Story 09:26 Inside The Coca-Cola Acquisition 10:48 Culture Clash With A Corporate Giant 11:00 The Day Honest Tea Was Discontinued 12:10 Why Seth Decided To Start Again 15:26 Why Beverage Is The Hardest Category 19:29 Launching Just Ice Tea Differently 20:53 The Mission Behind “Just Ice Tea” 23:17 What Makes The Product Different 25:00 From Eat The Change To Just Ice Tea 26:46 Betting Early On Beyond Meat 28:05 The Rise, Fall, And Rebuild Of Alt Meat 35:05 What It Takes To Build A CPG Brand 36:45 The Power Of Relationships And Karma 37:00 Would Seth Sell Again? 39:11 Seth’s Daily System For Clarity 40:03 The Future Of Food 41:18 The #1 Thing Founders Must Validate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nayeema Raza, creator of Smart Girl Dumb Questions and former New York Times reporter with Harvard and Stanford degrees, joins to talk media as startup. They discuss how podcasting feels like the new TV. They unpack the rise and tactics of the manosphere and what controversial creators get right. They also cover the real work, economics, and launch decisions behind starting a podcast.

This episode is a little different. Instead of a deep dive, Sammi turns the mic around and answers your questions—from career risks and leaving corporate to building a business, growing an audience, and figuring out what to keep private in a “build in public” world. She shares the unconventional bet that changed her career (starting on TikTok when people thought it was a “teen dancing app”), why she believes the best way to escape the corporate rat race is to test ideas on the side, and the fears that held her back longer than she wishes. Sammi also breaks down how to actually grow on social media (without burning out), what people don’t tell you about running a podcast, and the surprising lesson she learned after interviewing the founder of Juicero—and why every business story has more than one side. Follow Sammi Cohen on Instagram  Subscribe to the Social Currency newsletter  Here’s what Sammi covers today: 00:00 A Different Kind of Episode 01:29 How to Escape Corporate 04:39 The Fear that Kept Sammi in Corporate Too Long 05:29 How to Grow on Instagram 07:23 What Nobody Tells You About Podcasting 09:23 A Found Story That Changed Sammi’s Perspective 10:49 What to Keep Private When Building In Public 12:00 The Question Sammi Can’t Answer Yet 12:36 Sammi’s Plan B 13:11 Is USC Worth It? 14:07 Dream Podcast Guests Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reid Hoffman, entrepreneur, investor, and LinkedIn co-founder now leading AI work, discusses AI as a “humanity elevator” that expands human agency. He covers digital twins, multi-agent workflows, and AI’s role in healthcare and creators. He talks risks like biosecurity, career pivots, and the three AI skills to prioritize now.

e.l.f. Beauty started as the makeup brand retailers thought was too cheap to trust: one-dollar products, white-label formulas, and no major retail partner willing to take the bet. Today, it’s one of the most culturally agile companies in consumer products, and one of the few beauty brands that consistently moves at internet speed. Today, Sammi unpacks how e.l.f. built that machine: from landing early credibility through magazine editors before influencer marketing even existed, to using TikTok before legacy beauty brands understood what the platform could do. She breaks down how CEO Tarang Amin helped transform the company by improving product quality while keeping prices low, aligning every employee around stock ownership, and building a culture that rewards speed. Then she gets into the campaigns that made e.l.f. impossible to ignore: the three-week Super Bowl ad starring Jennifer Coolidge, the provocative “So Many Dicks” Wall Street takeover, the backlash from a partnership misstep, and why the brand’s newest Melissa McCarthy campaign shows how precisely they read culture before they spend against it. Follow Sammi Cohen on Instagram  Subscribe to the Social Currency newsletter  Here’s what Sammi covers today: 0:00 - Intro: How e.l.f. Became a Cultural Powerhouse 1:00 - The Origin Story: $1 Makeup Nobody Wanted to Carry 2:40 - Tarang Amin's CEO Playbook & Giving Equity to Everyone 4:00 - Marketing Move #1: Early Adoption of TikTok 4:40 - Marketing Move #2: The Jennifer Coolidge Super Bowl Ad 6:20 - Marketing Move #3: "So Many Dicks" Wall Street Takeover 7:20 - Marketing Move #4: The Matt Rife Misstep & What It Revealed 8:40 - Marketing Move #5: Melisa – The Telenovela Super Bowl Campaign 9:20 - The Takeaway: Moving at the Speed of Culture 10:40 - Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When her father died of a heart attack, Julie Smolyansky became the youngest female CEO of a publicly traded company. Then, she helped turn kefir from a niche probiotic drink into a mainstream wellness product found in major retailers across the country. Today, Julie tells Sammi how she scaled an unfamiliar category by teaching consumers what kefir even was before they were ready to buy it, why family businesses can become some of the hardest companies to lead, and how a public company changes when legacy, control, and outside pressure collide. She also opens up about the recent takeover fight involving Danone, what she believes was at stake for Lifeway, and why category leadership matters more than ever as GLP-1 trends reshape how food companies position protein, digestion, and health. Follow Sammi Cohen on Instagram  Subscribe to the Social Currency newsletter Follow Julie’s story here Here’s what Sammi covers with Julie: :00:00 - Cold Open 01:00 - Introduction 02:20 - From Soviet Refugees to American Entrepreneurs 05:00 - The Lightbulb Moment: Discovering Kefir in Germany 08:20 - Building the Brand from the Basement Up 10:40 - Taking Lifeway Public in 1988 14:00 - Kefir vs. Yogurt: Understanding the Category 19:40 - Joining the Family Business 24:00 - Becoming CEO at 27 After Her Father's Death 29:20 - The Early Years of Leadership 32:00 - Marketing on a Zero Budget: Social Media as a Secret Weapon 37:00 - Scaling from Niche to Mainstream 40:40 - Entering the Cultural Zeitgeist (Wordle, Jeopardy) 43:40 - The Danone Takeover Attempt 48:00 - The Future: GLP-1s, Protein, and Food as Medicine 51:40 - Social Currency Corner: Would Lifeway Ever Do a Super Bowl Ad? 53:20 - Listener Question: Advice for Educating Consumers on New Categories 55:40 - ClosingHere's what Sammi covers with Julie: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Months into interviewing founders for this podcast, Sammi noticed something surprising: the most successful women were often practicing the same habits, but almost none of them were the things people usually talk about in founder profiles. Today, Sammi breaks down six patterns she has seen repeatedly across standout founders. The examples come directly from conversations with founders like Amy Liu (Tower 28), Maria Davidson (Kojo), Julia Hartz (Eventbrite), Babba Rivera (Ceremonia), Dianna Cohen (nm) Jenn Hyman (Rent the Runway), and others who built category-defining companies under very different circumstances—but often with strikingly similar instincts. Sammi also shares where she is still actively learning these lessons herself: leaving Amazon, building her own media business, overcommitting early, tying performance too closely to outcomes, and learning in real time what sustainable ambition actually looks like.  Follow Sammi Cohen on Instagram  Subscribe to the Social Currency newsletter Here are the full episodes Sammi mentions today: Amy Liu, CEO of Tower 28  Maria Davidson, Founder of Kojo Julia Hartz, CEO of Eventbrite  Babba Rivera, CEO of Ceremonia  Dianna Cohen, CEO of Crown Affair  Jenn Hyman, CEO of Rent the Runway Here’s what Sammi covers today: 00:00 The Founder Strategies Nobody Says Out Loud 01:19 Why Great Founders Build Networks Early 03:22 Launching Before You Feel Ready 05:00 Your Calendar Like a Financial Document 06:38 Self-Advocacy and Defending Your Vision 08:20 Hiring For Your Weaknesses 09:20 Separating Identity from Outcomes 11:15 One Habit to Start this Month Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laura Meyer, co-founder and CEO of Envision Horizons, helps brands navigate Amazon, TikTok Shop, retail media, and AI-driven shopping. She explains the “invisible tax on attention” from rising acquisition costs. She explores how AI and ChatGPT-style recommendations reshape discovery and brand switching. She compares platform economics, logistics moats, and why TikTok Shop and live shopping face different risks.

Julian Reis has built businesses across hedge funds, beauty clinics, China e-commerce, creator monetization, and now TikTok Shop infrastructure, but the throughline is the same: spotting where consumer behavior is headed before most people do. In this episode, Julian tells Sammi how he went from trading at JPMorgan Chase to founding Skin Laundry, pricing mistakes that almost hurt the business, and the lessons that came from building a beauty concept globally. Then he explains why moving to Shanghai in 2018 changed everything: watching creators sell inside China’s super-app ecosystem convinced him that American retail was years behind and that social commerce would eventually reshape how Americans shop. Julian breaks down how his company SuperOrdinary scaled from zero to 350 employees in China, helped brands like Drunk Elephant and Olaplex grow in Asia, and why TikTok Shop is creating a new kind of retail where creators function more like digital storefronts than influencers. He also shares why affiliate data matters more than follower counts, what kinds of products actually work on TikTok, why he believes creators may eventually IPO themselves, and how micro dramas could become the next major content-to-commerce engine. Follow Sammi Cohen on Instagram  Subscribe to the Social Currency newsletter Learn More about SuperOrdinary Here’s what Sammi covers with Julian:00:00 Julian Reis’ Social Currency04:07 The Finance Chapter11:18 Why Skin Laundry Almost Failed19:37 Moving to Shanghai23:19 Building Brands in China31:00 Why China’s KOL Economy Changed Everything34:49 TikTok Shop’s Massive U.S. Opportunity39:00 What Brands Need To Win TikTok45:14 Fanfix, Micro Dramas, and Creator Monetization51:43 Could Creators Become Public Companies? 53:03 Social Currency Corner54:31 The Future of AI Twins and Creator IP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A deep dive into how a pioneer of live shopping perfected on-screen selling yet stumbled by investing in the wrong platforms. The story follows major acquisitions, missed shifts to mobile and streaming, and a massive debt spiral. It closes by tracing a late pivot to short-form video and the high-stakes restructuring facing the company.