The rise and fall of Juul: How the $38B company imploded

Two Stanford grad students built a $38B vaping giant in four years — faster than Facebook — by getting teenagers addicted to nicotine.

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By The Numbers

$38B

peak valuation

74%

vaping market share captured

<1%

of peak value today

What They Nailed Early

Invented nicotine salt technology that delivered a cigarette-strength hit without throat burn. Designed a sleek, iPhone-like device that felt cool, not loser-y. Captured 74% market share by 2018.

What Changed

Juul marketed directly to teens via Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and party-vibe campaigns. They paid schools to give "safety talks" where reps told ninth-graders Juul was safe. Internal docs called customers "fiends." By 2019, 28% of high schoolers were vaping. The feds raided, 39 states sued, and the company collapsed.

Where it Landed

Ultria wrote down its investment to zero. Over $1.2B paid in settlements. Company worth less than 1% of peak. Founders walked with $900M each but won't admit wrongdoing.

The Principles

Culture eats ethics. When growth becomes the only metric, NDAs and groupthink let people rationalize selling drugs to children.

Your customer base reveals your strategy. When 62% of users are under 20 and you advertise on Cartoon Network, harm reduction was never the mission.

Fast money doesn't mean clean money. Juul hit $10B valuation faster than Facebook — by creating a new generation of nicotine addicts.

Builder's Takeaway

3 red flags that your growth story is actually a scandal:

•

You can't verify 83% of customers are legal-age users

•

Internal teams use words like "fiends" to describe your customer base

•

You need 3,000-person NDAs to keep employees from talking to press

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