Mike Fata – From Personal Health to a $419M Exit

In this episode of The Story of a Brand Show, my co-host Rose Hamilton, CEO of Compass Rose Ventures, sits down with Mike Fata, Founder and past Chairman & CEO of Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods.

Mike’s story is one of personal transformation fueling a movement. What began with his own health journey, losing weight, regaining strength, and discovering hemp seeds, evolved into co-founding a company that pioneered an entire food category and scaled it all the way to a $419 million strategic exit.

Mike shares how belief, discipline, and governance shaped his entrepreneurial path. From facing stigma around hemp in the early days, to building a trusted brand on quality and education, to evolving his own leadership from founder to CEO to chairman, Mike gives us a masterclass in resilience and scaling with integrity.

Today, he’s paying it forward as a mentor, investor, and author of “Grow: 12 Unconventional Lessons for Becoming an Unstoppable Entrepreneur.”

Here are some of the key moments from the episode:

• How personal health struggles inspired Mike to co-found Manitoba Harvest
• The power of storytelling and education in building belief in a new category
• Why governance, values, and discipline were non-negotiable guardrails for scaling
• The mindset shift required to evolve from founder to CEO to chairman
• Why mentorship and continuous improvement remain at the core of his legacy

Join us in listening to the episode and hear how Mike Fata transformed passion into purpose, purpose into a category-defining brand, and now, wisdom into mentorship for the next generation of founders.

For more on Mike Fata, visit: https://www.mikefata.ca/

To buy Mike Fata’s book, “Grow: 12 Unconventional Lessons for Becoming an Unstoppable Entrepreneur,” visit Bookshop.org, Amazon, or wherever you purchase books and audiobooks.