Did You Go? Our second BRAND POPUP brought investors, creative heavyweights, emerging brands, and an office-favorite soda together. This was the one that made us feel we’d arrived.
Our first BRAND POPUP came with nerves. Our second came with 400 registrations and a feeling that we were onto something.
PepsiCo. Stars + Honey. OLIPOP. Creative leaders whose careers have taken them through Nike, UNIQLO, Theory, Calvin Klein, lululemon, and Arc’teryx.
All part of the same evening.
For us, this was the event that put BRAND POPUP on the CPG map. Established names and emerging brands shared the spotlight, and people came ready to discover, listen, and connect. The Summer Drop lineup brought together the different pieces of building a consumer business: finding investment, reaching customers, creating products, and giving people a reason to care.
And somewhere between all those conversations, you could actually try something.
That’s our kind of evening.
Backing Brands: What Makes a Business Worth Supporting?
We started with Backing Brands, featuring Lawrence Hsu of Misfit Venture Partners and Jenn Byrne of Grit Capital Partners. Lawrence is Misfit’s cofounder and managing partner; Jenn is a general partner at Grit with experience spanning venture investing, media, technology, and financial services. They brought different backgrounds to a question every founder eventually faces: What makes someone believe this business is worth backing?
Our takeaway started with the people.
Do they have the grit? Will they do the grind? Can they keep learning and building when the excitement of launching gives way to the everyday demands of running a company?
Then comes the product. What problem does it solve? How does it solve it? And what makes the business difficult to copy?
That last question is the moat. It’s also where a founder needs an answer that goes deeper than great packaging and enthusiasm.
For anyone building something, it was a useful place to begin the evening. You don’t need to have everything figured out. You do need to understand what you’re working toward and why your team can get there.
TikTok Shop: Turning Attention Into a Business
From there, we moved to a place where discovery can become a purchase before you’ve even finished scrolling: TikTok Shop.
Katherine McKinley of PepsiCo and Jasmine Mobley of Stars + Honey brought the perspectives of an established consumer giant and an emerging brand to the conversation about social commerce. Same channel, different starting points.
That pairing was part of the appeal. Even a company with decades of history has to keep learning how people shop. And a younger brand has to figure out how to turn attention into a business that lasts.
The momentum behind TikTok Shop is real. In June 2025, TikTok reported that its U.S. Shop sales had increased 120% compared with the same period a year earlier. That’s the company’s own reporting, but it gives some scale to the opportunity brands are exploring. TikTok’s growth update
You open the app for a little distraction. Suddenly, you’re considering a protein bar.
An efficient use of screen time? We’ll let you decide.
Stars + Honey added useful context as a growing consumer business. The collagen protein bar company announced a growth investment led by VMG Partners in June 2026 to support expansion, product development, and manufacturing. Its social commerce journey sits within the bigger challenge of building a brand that can deliver as demand grows. Stars + Honey’s announcement
Shu Hung: Building Brands Across Business and Culture
Then came Shu Hung, whose career gives you plenty of reasons to put your phone down.
Shu has worked on marketing and digital strategy for Nike Women and Nike Sportswear, served as Global Creative Director at UNIQLO, and led the creative team at Everlane. AKQA subsequently appointed her Executive Creative Director in Los Angeles and later named her among its global chief creative officers. AKQA’s career overview · AKQA’s leadership announcement
That is a serious education in how brands move through culture.
Think about the range: athletic performance, everyday clothing, retail, storytelling, and creative leadership. Different businesses, different audiences, and the ongoing responsibility of making the work feel relevant to the people it’s meant for.
Having that experience on our stage was a reminder of why we started doing this. Emerging founders deserve access to people who have spent years making those decisions.
Sometimes hearing how someone else approaches the work helps you see your own more clearly.
Ben Stubbington: Finding the Soul of a Product
Ben Stubbington brought the conversation back to the product itself.
His career includes leadership roles at Calvin Klein, eight years as Creative Director at Theory, nearly seven years leading design for lululemon’s men’s and Lab businesses, and creative direction at Veilance, part of Arc’teryx. His own design philosophy places the wearer at the center and describes a “soul-first” approach to the work. Ben’s career and philosophy
That idea stayed with us: understanding the soul of a product.
What is it here to do? How should it feel? Why would somebody make it part of their life?
Those questions travel well beyond apparel. A beverage, a snack, a jacket, or a skincare product all have to earn their place in someone’s routine.
Ben’s perspective offered an encouraging challenge to anyone creating something: spend time with the details. Understand the person using it. Give every decision a reason.
Steven Vigilante: Building a Modern Beverage Brand
We also welcomed Steven Vigilante, a founding team member of OLIPOP, which happens to be a favorite in our office.
We were already fans of what was in the can. We wanted to hear about the work behind it.
Steven helped OLIPOP’s cofounders launch the business in Los Angeles in 2018. His experience includes media and partnerships across sports, music, entertainment, and social channels—an especially relevant perspective for a beverage brand trying to become part of people’s lives. Steven’s background
And the stakes in that category are substantial. PepsiCo completed its acquisition of Poppi in May 2025 for $1.95 billion, including anticipated tax benefits that brought the stated net purchase price to $1.65 billion, with an additional performance-based earnout. PepsiCo’s acquisition announcement
That deal helps explain the attention on modern soda brands. There’s room to rethink a familiar product, and there’s serious competition for the customer who decides to try it.
Steven’s conversation brought us into that world through someone who had been involved from the beginning.
Looking back, what made our second event special was how much of the brand-building journey fit into one evening.
The investors asked what made a business worth backing. The social commerce conversation explored how customers discover and buy. Shu brought creative leadership across global brands. Ben focused on the purpose inside the product. Steven brought experience helping an emerging beverage business grow.
Around those conversations were brands people could meet and sample for themselves.
That’s the BRAND POPUP we want to keep building. Our version of SXSW for consumer brands: a place where knowledge, discovery, and a good conversation can lead you somewhere unexpected.
Four hundred people registered for this one. That gave us a lot of motivation to keep going.
If you were there, thank you for being part of it.
If you missed it, the next room might have the person, product, or idea you’ve been looking for.
Come curious. Bring your questions.
And leave a little room for samples.