Mike Fata (Manitoba Harvest) | Building a $419M “Hempire”

Eating Glass

Mike Fata, founder of Manitoba Harvest, shares his incredible journey from high school dropout to building a $419 million hemp empire. Discover the lessons he learned while navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship, from humble beginnings to scaling a business, managing successful exits, and embracing servant leadership. Mike's insights on passion, persistence, and personal growth will inspire and motivate you on your own entrepreneurial path.

Chapter Titles:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:05:16 - Starting Manitoba Harvest
00:07:34 - Early Guerrilla Marketing
00:11:56 - Scaling to $1 Million
00:15:10 - The Path to $10 Million
00:19:05 - Trademark Battles
00:21:25 - Challenges of 24/7 Manufacturing
00:22:18 - Navigating the First Exit
00:27:44 - Life After Partial Exit
00:29:54 - The $419 Million Exit
00:32:14 - Investing Philosophy
00:34:20 - Finding Deals
00:36:10 - The Evolution of CPG
00:40:00 - Mike's Portfolio Insights
00:41:29 - A Tough Lesson Learned
00:44:55 - Rapid Fire Questions
00:49:14 - Balancing Entrepreneurship and Single Fatherhood
00:52:05 - Servant Leadership
00:53:06 - Conclusion

ABOUT THE HOSTS:

Will Nitze is the Founder & CEO at IQBAR - America's leading "brain + body" nutrition startup. With minimal funding, Will has taken IQBAR from zero locations and zero in revenue in 2018 to 10,000+ doors and a projected $50 million in sales in 2024.

Joe Lemay founded Rocketbook with business partner Jake Epstein. After being featured on “Shark Tank”, where the sharks passed on a chance to invest – Joe would go on to grow Rocketbook and sell it to BIC for 40 million dollars just three years later.

Connect with Mike Fata:

Website: https://www.mikefata.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themikefata/
X: https://twitter.com/themikefata
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themikefata/