#248: Mike Cessario, Founder and CEO of Liquid Death – Disrupt with discipline

How Leaders Lead with David Novak

David Novak Leadership

Entrepreneurship, Business, Management

4.8 • 596 Ratings

🗓️ 17 July 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

They sold a $300 coffin. They made a candle with Ozzy Osbourne’s DNA. And built a $1.4B beverage brand doing it. Mike Cessario, founder and CEO of Liquid Death, has turned irreverent ideas into a marketing juggernaut. But behind the stunts is a seriously disciplined approach to brand, strategy, and execution. If you're building a challenger brand—or just trying to make people actually notice your product—don’t miss this episode. You’ll also learn: How to earn attention, even on a tiny budget The kind of “unsafe” marketing ideas that break through the noise What challenger brands can do to beat the big guys Why you should market to the customers everyone else ignores Take your learning further. Get proven leadership advice from these (free!) resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The How Leaders Lead App⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: A vast library of 90-second leadership lessons to stay sharp on the go ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daily Insight Emails⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: One small (but powerful!) leadership principle to focus on each day Whichever you choose, you can be sure you’ll get the trusted leadership advice you need to advance your career, develop your team, and grow your business.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Almost all truly innovative ideas are almost laughable at first.
0:06.1	Because anything that's truly new and never been done before almost seems ridiculous.
0:12.8	If a new idea seems like, oh, this makes perfect sense to most people, it means there's probably
0:18.9	already 10 companies who have been working on this for five
0:21.6	years already.
0:30.0	They made a candle with Ozzy Osbourne's DNA.
0:34.4	They sold a coffin-shaped cooler.
0:41.7	They produced a horror film. And believe it or not, they're a healthy beverage company. Welcome to How Leaders Lead. I'm David Novak. And every week, I have
0:47.4	conversations with the very best leaders in the world to help you become the best leader that
0:52.2	you can be. Today I'm talking with Mike Cesario. He's the
0:56.0	founder and CEO of Liquid Death. It started out as an irreverent water company and now it's a
1:02.8	healthy beverage company and he has built this business from scratch to $1.4 billion. And he's done it in an industry dominated by giants.
1:14.2	Let me tell you, this is a brand you simply can't ignore. The packaging really breaks through the
1:18.9	clutter and is unlike any you've ever seen, even though they're selling water. The liquid
1:24.1	death approach may seem pretty wild, but as you'll see today, there's a whole
1:28.2	lot of discipline behind the scenes.
1:30.6	Mike is super thoughtful about everything from product rollouts to ads bin to team culture.
1:36.6	And if you ask me, his thinking on all those fronts is so impressive to go along with his
1:42.5	marketing acumen.
1:43.8	If you want to see what it looks like to disrupt with discipline,
1:47.5	this is the episode to watch.
1:49.8	So here's my conversation with my good friend and soon to be yours, Mike Cesario.
	...

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