Oprah pick turns Popsmith into a sold-out obsession

Popsmith cofounder Tal Moore says Oprah’s “Favorite Things” selection came after a painstaking product development push—two years of work and about $3.5 million to launch. He credits the popper’s “elevated experience” and movie-theater-style flavor, plus brand

When Oprah chose Popsmith’s high-end stovetop popcorn popper for her coveted “Favorite Things” list, it wasn’t just a moment of celebrity shine. It set off a real market test—one Popsmith passed immediately.

Within weeks of the list’s release in 2024, the company sold out of every popper.

Tal Moore. the Popsmith cofounder behind the product. describes the path to that outcome in plain terms: heavy prep work. thousands of products reviewed on the way to Oprah’s final picks. and a decision to spend years and millions building something that would look. feel. and taste different from the popcorn poppers most shoppers have seen.

Moore says an Oprah Daily editor told him the team reviews about 15,000 products a year before Oprah makes her final picks. Popsmith was among the selections in 2024.

But the story doesn’t start with Oprah.

Moore and his business partner previously ran a portfolio of e-commerce brands selling a range of products, including gumballs, chocolate, and popcorn machines. Only one category held their attention for long: popcorn. They sold off all of their online businesses to go all in on kernels.

The focus narrowed even further. Moore says they wanted to build a stovetop popper—specifically, a premium experience they believed the market wasn’t offering. Their thinking was shaped by a baseline of demand: Moore said their No. 1 selling popcorn popper at the time was a stovetop popcorn popper they were getting from another supplier.

“We thought, there’s a market for stovetop popcorn popping, but a more elevated experience,” Moore said.

He describes the intended buyer as someone who shops at Williams Sonoma or Crate & Barrel—people who care about quality. hosting. and durable. heirloom-style cookware. In Moore’s telling, the product filled a gap. “Nobody had developed something like that in popcorn,” he said. “Most of the popcorn poppers in the market are very carnival kitsch.”.

Moore says the popper’s appeal comes down to three things: aesthetics, experience, and flavor.

First is how it looks. Moore argues that people who invest in their homes care deeply about aesthetics—especially in a social media world where appliances can become part of what people show off. “It’s a flex for people to show off a cool, unique, innovative appliance that nobody’s ever seen,” he said.

Then comes the experience. Moore frames it as something you can’t replicate in a microwave. “Nobody is making memories in a microwave.” With a stovetop popper. he said. the process becomes sensory and communal: “You hear the popcorn popping and sizzling. you smell the steam coming out. wafting through your kitchen. ” Moore said. “You see it. you taste it. you touch it. and so people gather around in the kitchen and have this shared nostalgic experience.”.

Finally, Moore points to what comes out of the machine. He said the popper makes authentic, movie-theater-style popcorn exceptionally well.

Those claims were backed by time and money that Moore says nearly ran out before launch.

Moore said Popsmith took two years to develop the popper and about $3.5 million to launch the brand. A large share of the budget went into branding and design. “We spent months just talking through and really understanding, what is this brand?. Because every brand has a soul. Every brand has an identity,” Moore said. The company. he said. wanted Popsmith to look “polished and distinctive. from day one. ” with the aim of going to market “looking like a $100 million brand.”.

Moore wouldn’t say the same approach is automatically right for every founder. “The safer approach is to get a minimum viable product to market and evolve it,” he said.

But he also believes the risky timing and scale of effort helped the brand land major retail partners and high-profile exposure early on. Moore says Popsmith wouldn’t have reached Crate & Barrel. Williams Sonoma. Sur La Table. and Oprah’s Favorite Things in its second year without the preliminary work. “I don’t think that we would have gotten into Crate & Barrel. Williams Sonoma. Sur La Table. and Oprah’s Favorite Things in year two without doing all that preliminary work. ” he said.

What happens next, Moore says, is where the larger business lesson lives.

He recommends entrepreneurs start by making one really good product. “I’m of the opinion that money is in the niche, and you want to stay very, very focused,” Moore said.

He points to direct-to-consumer companies that began with a narrow focus: Bonobos with trousers, Everlane with T-shirts, and Harry’s with razors. The strategy, Moore says, is to earn trust in one category first. Once customers see you as an authority, it becomes easier to introduce new products.

That is the playbook Popsmith is following now, aiming for trust in a specific space. “We want to earn consumers’ trust that we are the authority in the popcorn space,” Moore said. “We want to do it in a really cool, innovative way with a product that they’ve never seen.”

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