Social Currency with Sammi Cohen

Doug Evans didn’t just build a juicer… he built one of Silicon Valley’s most debated startups. As the founder of Juicero, Doug raised more than $100 million to bring cold-pressed juice into people’s homes, only to watch the company crumble after a viral Bloomberg article questioned whether the machine was even necessary. In this episode, Doug tells Sammi his side of the story.  He shares what Juicero was actually trying to solve, the power of a takedown piece, and the surprising role geography played in the company’s fate. He opens up about stepping down as CEO, the shock of watching the company shut down with capital still in the bank, and the fallout that followed. Doug sets the record straight and shares what never made it into the takedown pieces.  Then comes the reinvention. Doug shares how he retreated to the Mojave Desert, wrote a national bestselling book on sprouting, and launched a new direct-to-consumer company built around countertop food production.  Follow Sammi Cohen on Instagram  Subscribe to the Social Currency newsletter  Follow Doug and The Sprouting Company Here’s what Sammi covers today with Doug: 00:00 Doug Evans’ Social Currency 02:55 The “Genetically Cursed” Mindset Shift 04:23 Building Organic Avenue Before Juice Was Cool 09:37 Why Juicero Had to Exist 14:52 The Bloomberg Squeeze Story 17:53 The Media Pile-On and Fallout 25:34 Lessons on Leadership and Investor Alignment 27:38 Going Reclusive After Juicero 33:51 Mojave Desert Reinvention 37:37 The Science Behind Sprouts 41:15 Writing The Sprout Book 46:23 Pitching Sprouts on Shark Tank 51:45 From Trauma to Confidence 56:39 Making Sprouting Mainstream 01:12:12 Social Currency Corner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 You can now get a discount on your Botox or Brow lift at… Erewhon? The latest partnership between Erewhon and med spa startup Ject isn’t just a publicity stunt. It’s a bigger signal: medical aesthetics has gone fully mainstream. In this episode, Sammi unpacks how Botox went from cosmetic approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration just 14 years ago to a $17B industry with more than 10,000 med spas across the U.S. She breaks down the forces behind the boom like loosened regulations, cash-pay margins, social media normalization, and why private equity is racing to roll up the space. But when the product is commoditized, what’s the real moat? Sammi’s takeaway: the brand is not the competitive advantage, it’s something else hiding in plain sight.  Follow Sammi Cohen on Instagram  Subscribe to the Social Currency newsletter  Here’s what Sammi covers today: 00:00 Grocery Store Botox  01:15 How Med Spas Took Off  02:04 Insane Growth By The Numbers  02:55 Regulatory Changes  03:36 Social Media’s Impact on the Landscape 04:28 Private Equity Moves In  05:43 The Rollup Playbook  06:48 HIV Outbreaks, Safety And Oversight Risks  08:24 The Real Differentiator  10:55 Who Wins Next Decade  11:11 How to Show Social Currency Some Love Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jesse Draper has heard it all: “nepo baby,” “charity fund,” “too niche”—and she turned every jab into fuel. After getting laughed out of rooms while raising her first fund, Jesse built Halogen Ventures into one of the earliest venture capital funds explicitly focused on backing female founders, now with 85+ portfolio companies and multiple unicorns. In this episode, Jesse breaks down how she actually evaluates startups when they’re early (and sometimes barely making their first dollar), the metrics she thinks founders overhype, and the green flags that make her lean in, like radical transparency and founders who are obsessed enough to “check QuickBooks” mid-question. She also tells the wild story of why she’ll never invest off Zoom again, how social media has changed consumer investing, and what the DEI rollback is starting to look like inside venture. Follow Sammi Cohen on Instagram  Subscribe to the Social Currency newsletter  Jesse’s epic interview with Elon MuskFollow Jesse’s work at Halogen Ventures Here’s what Sammi covers with Jesse 00:00 Jesse Draper’s Social Currency 00:50 Meet Jesse Draper 03:00 The Reality of Being Fourth Generation VC 06:13 The Valley Girl Show and the Elon Musk Interview 16:36 From Entertainment to Entrepreneurship 18:25 Getting Laughed Out of Pitches and Championing Female Founders 25:36 Crazy Pitch Stories 27:25 The Wild Con Artist Story 30:29 Never Invest Based on Zoom Meetings 34:03 The Viral “Investing In Women Is Not a F*cking Charity” Essay 37:16 Data That Investing in Women Works 38:09 What Founders Should Know About Conversations with VCs  41:43 Red Flags and Green Flags 46:44 How Social Media Has Changed VCs 53:00 Future of Equity in VC 59:12 Investing in Alabama 01:07:56 Social Currency Corner 01:09:57 How to Show Social Currency Some Love Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Starbucks didn’t lose to a cooler coffee chain. It lost to itself. Today, Sammi unpacks how one of the most dominant brands in modern retail engineered its own slide and what new CEO Brian Niccol is doing to fix it. From nixing pickup-only stores and cutting a quarter of the menu to investing $150K per location and betting on traffic before margins, Starbucks is attempting something rare: looking backwards to move forward. Sammi breaks down the latest numbers showing U.S. traffic rising for the first time in nearly two years, the massive menu and bakery overhaul, the revamped Rewards program, and the viral Bearista cups that reveal a deeper cultural strategy. Then, she shares what entrepreneurs can take away from the Starbucks turnaround — and why this comeback proves that even iconic brands don’t need reinvention, they need ruthless clarity about who they are and the discipline to execute on it. Follow Sammi Cohen on Instagram  Subscribe to the Social Currency newsletter  Here’s what Sammi covers today: 00:00 The “Third Place” Promise — and the Self-Sabotage 01:30 From 17 Stores to a $78B Empire 02:33 When the App Took Over 03:28 Strikes, Boycotts & Inflation 04:42 The Cooler, Cheaper Competition 05:27 The Chipotle Fixer Enters 06:36 Traffic Is Finally Up 07:39 Cut the Menu, Then Rebuild It 08:58 Viral Merch and the Gen Z Play 09:54 The Founder Rule: Subtract First 11:12 How to Show Social Currency Some Love Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gregg Renfrew didn’t just build a beauty brand; she helped create an entire category. Long before “clean beauty” became a marketing buzzword, Gregg was lobbying Congress, reformulating products, and turning a mission-driven idea into Beautycounter, a billion-dollar company acquired by private equity. But the story didn’t end with the sale. Months after the $1B deal closed, Gregg was pushed out of the company she founded. What followed was a cascade of leadership changes, falling sales, and one of the most dramatic founder reversals in modern consumer business. In this episode, Gregg tells Sammi the full story—what founders misunderstand about selling, how investor dynamics really work behind the scenes, and what it feels like to watch your life’s work unravel from the outside. Then she shares the unexpected next chapter: the 48-hour scramble to buy the company out of foreclosure, the painful shutdown year that followed, and the decision to rebuild under a new name, Counter. Plus, Gregg opens up about walking away from private equity (for now), what she’s learned about resilience and second chances, and why starting over after a very public fall can become the most powerful chapter of all. Follow Sammi Cohen on Instagram  Subscribe to the Social Currency newsletter  Follow Counter 00:00 Gregg Renfrew’s Social Currency 00:57 The Beautycounter Origin Story 02:32 Early Entrepreneurial Lessons 04:19 Inside Martha Stewart Living 08:22 Getting Fired and Starting Again 11:04 Why Clean Beauty Mattered 14:58 Building the First Products 18:56 Lobbying for Industry Reform 21:02 The Problem With “Clean” 27:24 The Sales Model Explained 35:25 Community, Women, and Work 38:35 The $1B Deal 39:31 Why Founders Sell 41:04 Investor Power Dynamics 44:15 Private Equity Reality Check 46:04 Post-Sale Fallout 47:32 Getting Pushed Out 48:52 Watching the Decline 50:28 The Brief Return 53:09 Buying It Back 55:55 The Shutdown Year 58:18 Rebuilding as Counter 01:00:51 Advice for Starting Over 01:04:42 No More Private Equity 01:10:08 Industry Shakeups 01:12:12 Social Currency Corner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices