We Loved You When You Were Indie: Why Every Acquisition Sometimes Feels Like a Breakup

Let’s be real—you’ve seen this happen before.

A brand makes it big—then sells. Suddenly, every TikTok review, IG post, and YouTube haul is filled with the same story: "It doesn’t hit the same." "They changed the formula." "Another one gone corporate."

Mielle. Poppi. Wild. All scooped up by giants—Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, Unilever. On paper? Major wins. To consumers? It feels like a loss.

Here’s the thing: a lot of these founders—especially Black and women-owned—build with the goal of acquisition. It’s about generational wealth, scale, and access (as they should). But consumers rarely celebrate the business move. Instead, they mourn what feels like the end of something real.

Because the product was never just the product. It was about belonging. It was a signal that someone saw a gap—and chose to fill it with care.

These brands didn’t come from boardrooms. They came from bathrooms, kitchens, living rooms—solving problems the bigger players overlooked. Mielle understood textured hair. Poppi made gut health cool, not clinical. Wild leaned into sustainability without the performative gloss.

People didn’t just buy what was being sold. They bought into the story, the mission, the intent.

When that gets interrupted? Trust fractures. The founder’s voice fades. The formula “feels different.” And the same community that built the brand starts questioning if it was ever really theirs to begin with.

Here’s the reality: it’s not just about changes to the product—it’s about changes to proximity. Startups feel close. Corporations feel distant. And when success no longer feels connected to the community that sparked it, the narrative shifts—from empowerment to extraction.

When you scale, your community doesn’t need a press release—they need reassurance. Tell them what’s not changing. Keep the founder front and center. Make the new parent company feel like a partner, not a puppeteer.

Culture doesn’t hate success—it hates disconnection.