Ben Weiss started Bai in the basement of his Princeton, New Jersey home in 2009 with no outside funding and no playbook — just a bet that the better-for-you beverage category was underserved. Eight years later, that bet paid off: Dr Pepper Snapple Group acquired Bai for $1.7 billion in 2017, in one of the beverage industry's most notable exits.

Rather than step back, Weiss kept building. He went on to found Crook & Marker, a USDA Organic, zero-sugar beverage company built to challenge convention the same way Bai did. Under that umbrella, he's launched Crooked Tea and Crooked Pop — both built on Crook & Marker's proprietary OSAVA™ fermentation process, bringing real innovation to categories that haven't seen much in decades.

Weiss has also become a voice for the next generation of founders. His book, Basementality, chronicles the unglamorous reality of building Bai from the ground up, and what it actually takes to go from scrappy startup to billion-dollar exit. He brought that same perspective to Billion Dollar Idea on Fox Business Network, where he mentored and invested in emerging entrepreneurs on-air.

A regular presence in business and beverage media, Weiss speaks frequently on entrepreneurship, category disruption, and what founders get wrong about building a brand. His work continues to shape how beverage companies think about flavor, health, and growth.