Jason Kane

The Finnish Long Drink tripled in size since 2022 while the broader RTD category hit a wall. Today Mark Anthony Brands acquired it for $325 million. The story of how Evan Burns and his co-founders built a brand worth buying in the hardest environment the category has ever faced is one every RTD founder should read carefully.

Most CPG brands grow by adding products. AG1 grew by refusing to. One product, one price, one channel, $600 million in revenue. The strategic logic behind that decision is one of the most instructive frameworks available to any founder building a functional brand today.

The beverage alcohol industry spent a decade building for demand that no longer exists in the form it was projected. Now it is sitting on $22 billion in unsold inventory, pulling vines from the ground, and pausing distillery production. Here is what the correction actually means for every brand watching.