How to Turn Rock Bottom Into Rocket Fuel with Suzy Batiz
A Real Life Entrepreneurial Phoenix
January 21st, 2025 • 6 min read
Twice bankrupt, Suzy Young (Batiz) could have just walked away from business altogether. Instead, she built ~Pourri into a $300M empire that’s available at 50,000+ retail locations worldwide - without taking a single dollar of outside investment. Named to Forbes’ 50 Over 50 List, Suzy has turned intuition, transformation, and fearless reinvention into the cornerstones of her success.
At FounderMade’s Innovation Show LA, she took the stage to share what it really takes to build a disruptive, consumer-loved brand - and why the marketing playbook as we know it is broken.
Breaking Down to Break Through
Suzy’s journey didn’t follow a traditional trajectory. Raised in poverty in Arkansas, she learned early on that if you didn’t have something, you made it. That maker’s mindset shaped her entrepreneurial instincts, but it wasn’t an easy path.
“I was married, bankrupt, and divorced by the time I was 20 years old,” she shared. Her second bankruptcy at 38 pushed her into deep depression, but it also became the turning point for her greatest success.
"I had zero interest in making money - I just wanted peace," she recalled. It was then that she experienced what she calls the ‘luxury of losing everything’, a shift that led her to trust intuition over conventional wisdom.
A few months later, at a dinner party, the one and only bathroom was, let’s just say, rendered unusable. That awkward moment sparked a question in her mind: What if there was a way to stop bathroom odor before it started?
With her background in essential oils, she knew that oil floats on water…could that same principle trap odor beneath the surface? After 9 months of perfecting, ~Poo Pourri was born.
Breaking the Internet & Breaking the Rules
Creating a product people needed was one thing. Getting them to talk about it was another.
With a taboo topic and zero outside funding, Suzy knew traditional marketing wouldn’t cut it. Instead, she focused on storytelling, humor, and unforgettable brand experiences.
In 2013, Suzy Batiz and her team launched the audacious "Girls Don't Poop" video. Within a week of its release, the video garnered 6 million views and boosted the company's Facebook following by 354%. It also drove significant traffic to their website, with a reported 13,000% increase following the video's release!
While humor put ~Pourri on the map, Suzy’s next big move is all about gamification and immersive engagement.
At SXSW, ~Pourri’s activation saw over 20,000 people register and play just to gain access to an exclusive event. Instead of relying on traditional advertising, Suzy is betting on interactive, gamified brand experiences that turn casual customers into engaged fans.
"We put an NFC chip where you can tap your phone, and you go into a gamified portal... 86% of people say they’ll buy more of our products after playing!"
By inviting consumers to play instead of just pushing a product, Suzy is proving (once again) that the best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing at all.
Hiring for Vision, Not Just a Job
Another game-changer? Building a team that evolves with the brand.
"I think the biggest lesson... is you should hire people that support your vision, not just to do a job [because]as a Visionary your vision changes right? So they're not going to move with you." Suzy shared.
Entrepreneurs often hire based on immediate needs, only to realize later that as the company grows, their team isn’t aligned with the bigger mission. Suzy’s approach? Hire people who believe in your vision, so they grow with you, not against you.
Suzy also has an advertising and branding agency and a tech company, “both those agencies are just running by themselves, because they know the vision”.
Final Takeaway: Build What Matters
Suzy’s journey proves that true success isn’t just about making money, it’s about making an impact.
"We don’t need any more products in the world. If you don’t have something that’s changing our lives—stop it!"
Her success proves that the best brands aren’t just selling - they’re serving. The real question isn’t ‘How do I market this?’ But ‘Is it worth talking about?’
Experience Pourri’s Funk Factory - the "loyalty program on steroids" - for yourself!
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