On this episode, we’re joined by Sierra Thomas, Founder and CEO of Tropink - the Hawaiian-inspired, functional beverage brand made with real tropical fruit, vitamin D, broad spectrum hemp (no THC), and a little bit of carbonation.
Sierra spent a decade in media and music before going alcohol-free in 2010. She’s bootstrapped Tropink thus far, scaling into premier retail locations across her home state of Oregon.
We dive into Sierra’s formulation journey, why she chose broad-spectrum hemp over isolate, and how she navigates compliance and food safety. She unpacks packaging choices (and a sustainability miss she fixed), go-to-market strategy, and retail tactics that actually move cases. We also get into upcoming SKUs, fundraising strategy, and the trends she’s watching.
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Episode Highlights:
🧪 From bench-top trials to co-packed, tunnel-pasteurized runs
🌿 Broad-spectrum hemp vs. isolate and how dosing/COAs build trust
🧂Alternative sweeteners
🎨 Brand identity that “feels like a sunset” and why it matters on shelf
♻️ Shrink sleeves vs. digitally printed cans: a sustainability pivot
📣 Turning the Super Bowl into a rebrand launchpad
🛒 Oregon-first saturation, menus, and placements that fit the audience
📈 Velocity levers & independent retailers
🧭 New SKUs, no-THC stance, bootstrapping, and the NA wave ahead
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Table of Contents:
00:30:03 – Origin story
05:38:11 – R&D, formulation
11:48:19 – Hemp extract: broad spectrum vs isolate
15:36:14 – Sweeteners
17:27:07 – Brand identity and packaging design
23:03:18 – A packaging learning lesson
25:48:06 – Leveraging the Super Bowl for a rebrand launch
27:42:25 – Go-to-market
30:44:06 – Retail tactics
36:25:20 – New SKUs around the corner
40:01:01 – Hemp THC?
41:01:04 – Fundraising (or not)
42:07:10 – Trends Sierra is watching
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Links:
Tropink -https://tropinkdrink.com/
Follow Sierra Thomas on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-collins-4a200216/
Follow me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/
For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out KitPrint.
