Latest / Startup Stories with Fexingo: Conversations About Founders, Funding, and Building Companies from Zero / How Liquid Death Turned Water Into a Punk Rock Empire
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- Lucas: So there's a company that sells canned water with a skull on it, calls itself Liquid Death, and its tagline is 'Murder Your Thirst.' Luna: I've seen those cans at concerts. They look like a Monster Energy knockoff. Lucas: Exactly. But here's the wild part — Liquid Death just closed a valuation north of a billion dollars. The company has raised over two hundred million from investors including Sequoia and the founders of YouTube and Reddit. Luna: Wait. For water in a can? With a death metal logo? Lucas: Yes. And in 2025, they sold over three hundred million cans. That's roughly one can for every person in the United States. Luna: Okay, but how? I mean, it's water. The most commoditized product on earth. Lucas: That's the puzzle. The founder, Mike Cessario, came from a background in advertising and music. He'd worked at a big agency, done campaigns for Jack Daniel's and Netflix. He knew that you don't sell the product — you sell the story. Luna: So what was the story? Death metal water? Lucas: Basically. But he was very deliberate. He noticed that every other water brand was trying to look pure, clean, natural. Blue bottles, mountain imagery, fonts that look like they belong on a spa brochure. Cessario went the opposite direction. He made the can look like a beer can for a band you've never heard of. Luna: And that actually worked? In a market dominated by Dasani and Poland Spring? Lucas: It worked because he understood distribution. He didn't try to compete on the grocery store shelf at first. He went to music venues, skate parks, tattoo shops — places where the aesthetic would actually resonate. And he made the product itself a conversation starter. Luna: I remember seeing their early viral stunts. Didn't they once hold a funeral for tap water? Lucas: They did. In 2020, they livestreamed a fake funeral for tap water, complete with a casket and mourners. It got millions of views. Another time, they paid a band to perform a song called 'I'm a Cup of Tap Water.' The whole thing is absurd, but it's intentional. Cessario calls it 'entertainment wrapped in a beverage.' Luna: So the product is almost secondary. The brand is the product. Lucas: Right. But they also had to solve a real operational problem. Canned water is heavier to ship than bottled water. And aluminum cans are more expensive than plastic. So their margins are actually thinner than a typical bottled water company. Luna: Then how do they make money? Lucas: They don't, yet. They're still unprofitable. But the bet is that once you have a loyal audience, you can expand into higher-margin products. They already sell iced tea and sparkling water under the same brand. And they have a merchandise line — t-shirts, hats, even a coffin-shaped cooler. Luna: So it's a lifestyle brand that happens to sell hydration. Lucas: Exactly. And the numbers suggest it's working. They're now in over 100,000 retail locations, including Whole Foods, Target, and 7-Eleven. They became the number one canned water brand on Amazon within two years of launching there. Luna: But I have to ask — at some point, doesn't the joke get old? Can you sustain a brand built on a gimmick? Lucas: That's the billion-dollar question. Cessario would argue it's not a gimmick — it's a point of view. He says the brand stands for 'making people laugh while saving the planet.' They donate a portion of profits to environmental causes. And the cans are infinitely recyclable. Luna: Okay, but let's be real. The environmental angle is convenient, but the packaging is still aluminum, which has its own carbon footprint. Lucas: Sure. But it's a better story than plastic. And for the target audience — millennials and Gen Z — that matters. They're buying the identity as much as the water. Luna: So what's the lesson for other founders? If you're selling something boring, just add a skull? Lucas: I think the real lesson is more nuanced. Liquid Death succeeded because they understood their audience's need for identity signaling. Water is a low-involvement category. Nobody thinks about which brand of water to buy. But Liquid Death made it a statement. If you're carrying a can of Liquid Death, you're telling people something about yourself. Luna: You're saying 'I'm edgy, but I also hydrate.' Lucas: Exactly. And that's powerful. They took the most boring product on earth and gave it cultural meaning. That's a playbook that works in any category. Luna: Speaking of keeping things going — a quick honest thing. A handful of listeners chip in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, and that's literally what funds making this many of these. Lucas: Yeah. If these conversations have moved your work forward in some small way, that support is what keeps us ad-free. No pressure, just the reality. Luna: Right. Back to Liquid Death — one thing I find interesting is how they handled their retail expansion. Most DTC brands struggle to get into big stores without losing their soul. Lucas: That's a great point. They actually negotiated hard to keep control of their in-store merchandising. They wanted their own display racks that look like a coffin. And they insisted on being placed in the beer aisle in some stores, not the water aisle. Luna: Wait, really? In the beer aisle? Lucas: Yes. Because that's where their target audience is shopping. If you're standing in the beer aisle, you're already in a certain mindset. Putting a non-alcoholic, healthy option right there is a clever disruption. Luna: So they're competing for share of throat, not just share of water. Lucas: Exactly. They want to be the alternative to soda, beer, and sugary drinks. And the data shows people who buy Liquid Death often replace a less healthy beverage, not just another water. Luna: That's smart. Because the water market is saturated, but the broader beverage market is huge. Lucas: Right. And they're expanding fast. They just launched a line of flavored sparkling water called 'Severed Sparkling.' Same branding, same attitude. Luna: Is there any risk of brand dilution? If they become too big, do they lose the underground appeal? Lucas: That's the classic tension for any counterculture brand. But Cessario has said he wants Liquid Death to be the 'Nike of beverages.' Meaning, yes, it's mainstream, but it still feels like it's on your side. Whether they can pull that off remains to be seen. Luna: It's a fascinating case study. A product nobody needed, wrapped in a story nobody asked for, and yet here we are. Lucas: And it's worth remembering that before Liquid Death, Cessario tried to sell a subscription service for toilet paper. That failed. So maybe the lesson is also: keep trying weird stuff until one sticks. Luna: And when it does, make sure you have a good story. Lucas: Exactly. For Liquid Death, the story was everything. And it still is.