Due to My Role

Stephen Ellsworth, co-founder of Poppi, joins Due To My Role to break down what actually goes into building — and exiting — a modern consumer brand.

Poppi started as a scrappy apple-cider-vinegar drink sold at farmers markets, became a breakout Shark Tank success story, and ultimately sold to Pepsi for $1.95 billion. But the real story isn’t the TV moment — it’s the decade-long grind between launch and liquidity.

Stephen walks through the realities founders don’t post on LinkedIn: maxed-out credit cards, Medicaid coverage, payroll panic, and watching friends live comfortably while you bet everything on belief. He explains why the beverage category is one of the hardest in consumer, how branding only works when it carries founder DNA, and why distribution—not hype—is what finally breaks a brand open.

They dig into what life looks like after the exit: confidence earned (not imagined), choosing what to work on next, and why creative problem-solving is the real addiction founders never quit.

This episode is for founders, operators, and investors who want the truth behind consumer exits, Shark Tank mythology, and what it actually takes to sell a brand at scale.

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Billy McFarland joins Due To My Role to walk through his most aggressive idea yet... a live-streamed jet-ski expedition from Utila, Honduras to Venezuela, departing shortly after the Super Bowl and expected to take 17 days coast-to-coast.

The plan is simple and insane: beat Wall Street to Margarita Island by jet ski, acquire beachfront land before institutional capital arrives, host a high-profile “freedom concert,” drive attention and value, then sell the land at a premium. Three seats are offered at $250,000 each, with a 58-foot chase boat, medical crew, and film team following the entire journey, all streamed live.

PE Guy presses McFarland on the obvious questions: risk, legality, safety, and whether this is vision or repetition. McFarland doesn’t dodge it. He openly acknowledges pirates, narcos, rogue governments, and the fact that his safety “is not guaranteed” — arguing that risk is the leverage.

Beyond Venezuela, the conversation goes deeper. McFarland talks candidly about serving four years in prison, joking that parts of it felt like a “forced vacation”, a rare pause from work while also explaining how incarceration reshaped his tolerance for fear, reputation damage, and public opinion.

Most importantly, he outlines a clear pivot away from nightlife and one-off festivals. Festivals, he says, are marketing tools not the endgame. The real ambition is hospitality: permanent hotels in places like Utila or Venezuela, smaller curated groups, and productizing his ability to connect brands with talent at scale. He also discusses efforts to buy back the Fyre brand and reframe it around owned assets instead of spectacle.

This episode isn’t about rewriting history. It’s about what happens after the penalty box — when reputation is damaged, capital is skeptical, and the only way forward is risk, attention, and relentless motion.

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Wonton Don didn’t follow a plan — he followed curiosity.

In Episode 008 of Due To My Role, Johnny Hilbrant sits down with Barstool Sports’ Foreign Correspondent, Wonton Don, to break down how 8 years living in China, a willingness to lean into weird ideas, and zero interest in a traditional career turned into one of the most durable roles in modern media.

They unpack how Barstool actually works behind the scenes, why creative freedom only exists if you earn it, and how Don built multiple travel and culture franchises without chasing trends or permission. From Drop A Pin to Bald Stool, this conversation explores what it really takes to stay relevant when algorithms shift, audiences fragment, and most creators burn out.

This episode is about leverage, trust, and building formats that compound — not viral moments that disappear.

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