Founder to Mentor
Founder to Mentor
Mike Fata
Mike Fata is an entrepreneur with multiple nine figure exits, and a passion for health and mentorship. Join Mike on a journey where he connects with world class founders to inspire your personal and professional growth.
Tara Bosch: Founder of SmartSweets
Get your copy of Grow: 12 Unconventional Lessons for Becoming an Unstoppable Entrepreneur Connect with Mike >>>  Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter Get Mikes free mentorship tools at www.fatafleishman.org Sign up for The Unstoppable Entrepreneur newsletter Drop a review and let me know what resonates with you about the show! Thanks for listening and make it your Best Day Ever! In this episode, Mike is joined by Tara Bosh, founder of SmartSweets on a mission to “kick sugar, keep candy”.  Tara founded SmartSweets in 2016 after realizing the detrimental impact that sugar was having on her health. Eating less sugar only led to stronger candy cravings, and that is how the idea for SmartSweets began!  Throughout this episode, Tara talks about the early stages of the business, how she financed SmartSweets, the crazy adventures of entrepreneurship she has experienced, the power of women founders putting themselves out there, and so much more.  Connect with Tara Bosch on LinkedIn Check out Smart Sweets
Jul 13, 2023
45 min
Seth Goldman: Chief Change Agent at Eat the Change
Get your copy of Grow: 12 Unconventional Lessons for Becoming an Unstoppable Entrepreneur Connect with Mike >>>  Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter Get Mikes free mentorship tools at www.fatafleishman.org Sign up for The Unstoppable Entrepreneur newsletter Drop a review and let me know what resonates with you about the show! Thanks for listening and make it your Best Day Ever! In this episode, Mike is joined by Seth Goldman. Seth is the Chief Change Agent at Eat the Change, Co-Founder at PLNT Burger, Chair of the Board at Beyond Meat.  Seth co-founded Honest Tea and continued to lead the company after it was acquired by the Coca-Cola Company in 2011.  After finishing his time with the  Coca-Cola Company at the end of 2019, Seth stepped down from Executive Chair to Chairman of the Board of Beyond Meat. He is also the author of the book, Mission in a Bottle, a book that details the journey of building Honest Tea.  Throughout this episode, Seth talks about scaling Honest Tea, how running the business changed after joining the Coca-Cola company, what he is doing differently now building Eat the Change, his process writing Mission in a Bottle, one of the craziest things that has happened to him as an entrepreneur, what mentorship means to him, and so much more.  Connect with Seth on LinkedIn Seth’s Book: Mission in a Bottle
Jul 6, 2023
35 min
Lily Harper: 9 year old Founder of Lily Lou’s Aromas
Get your copy of Grow: 12 Unconventional Lessons for Becoming an Unstoppable Entrepreneur Connect with Mike >>>  Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter Get Mikes free mentorship tools at www.fatafleishman.org Sign up for The Unstoppable Entrepreneur newsletter Drop a review and let me know what resonates with you about the show! Thanks for listening and make it your Best Day Ever! In this episode, Mike is joined by the youngest guest on Founder to Mentor, Lily Harper. At just 9 years old, Lily is the founder of her candle company, Lily Lou’s Aromas. Lily and her mother loved to relax and unwind by watching a TV Show together with a candle lit. However, Lily began to notice that the aroma from the candles would give them headaches and discovered that the candles they were using had toxins in them. That’s how the idea for Lily Lou’s Aromas came to be and the business has gone viral online for it’s great product and young leadership.  Throughout this episode, Lily shares her journey to entrepreneurship at 9 years old, who helps her run the business, who inspires her, her passion for public speaking, who her mentors are, and more.  Check out Lily Lou’s Aromas 
Jun 29, 2023
16 min
David Karr: Co-Founder of Guayaki Yerba Mate
Get your copy of Grow: 12 Unconventional Lessons for Becoming an Unstoppable Entrepreneur Connect with Mike >>>  Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter Get Mikes free mentorship tools at www.fatafleishman.org Sign up for The Unstoppable Entrepreneur newsletter Drop a review and let me know what resonates with you about the show! Thanks for listening and make it your Best Day Ever! In this episode, Mike is joined by David Karr. Co-Founder of Guayaki Yerba Mate.  David and four other friends decided to launch a company that would bring the South American drink, yerba mate, to American consumers. They lived out of a fan, touring around the country to different natural food stores, and gradually built the company to huge success. Guayakí Yerba Mate’s mantra is “COME TO LIFE,” which they say is  “an invitation to personal, social, ecological and cultural regeneration”.  Throughout this episode, David talks about how the idea for Guayaki Yerba Mate came to be, building the business with his friends, different times they thought the business was going under, building a personal brand, and so much more.  Check out Guayaki Yerba Mate
Jun 22, 2023
43 min
Sean Kelly: Chairman at Caroo and General Partner of The Family Fund & Founder Community
Get your copy of Grow: 12 Unconventional Lessons for Becoming an Unstoppable Entrepreneur Connect with Mike >>>  Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter Get Mikes free mentorship tools at www.fatafleishman.org Sign up for The Unstoppable Entrepreneur newsletter Drop a review and let me know what resonates with you about the show! Thanks for listening and make it your Best Day Ever! In this episode, Mike is joined by Sean Kelly, Chairman at Caroo and General Partner of The Family Fund & Founder Community.  Sean has co-founded three eight figure companies and three seven figure companies since he began his entrepreneurship journey. Tapping into his passion for health and wellness, Sean’s first company was  HUMAN (Helping Unite Mankind And Nutrition), an award-winning and socially-responsible franchisor of automated retail businesses focused on increasing access to healthier foods through healthy vending machines, micro markets and snack delivery services. This was the start of Sean’s serial entrepreneurship, he went on to found 6 companies afterwards. Today, Sean is also a general partner of  The Family Fund & Founder Community, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on pairing with new,  high-growth consumer brands and technology companies that are solving  problems for today’s wellness conscious consumer.  Throughout this episode, Sean shares what led him to stop pursuing medical school and become an entrepreneur, how he grew his first companies, what he learned from starting a franchise model business, how The Family Fund was created, what qualities he looks for when investing in a company, and more.  Connect with Sean Kelly on LinkedIn Check out The Family Fund
Jun 8, 2023
47 min
Annette Verschuren: CEO at NRStor Inc.
Get your copy of Grow: 12 Unconventional Lessons for Becoming an Unstoppable Entrepreneur Connect with Mike >>>  Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter Get Mikes free mentorship tools at www.fatafleishman.org Sign up for The Unstoppable Entrepreneur newsletter Drop a review and let me know what resonates with you about the show! Thanks for listening and make it your Best Day Ever! Annette Verschuren accelerated the commercialization of energy storage technologies through planning and development of energy storage parks around the world. Throughout this episode, Annette takes us through how she started her career in the coal mining business in Sydney, Nova Scotia to founding her own innovative energy storage solutions. Annette was president of The Home Depot Canada. She oversaw the growth of the company’s Canadian operations from 19 to 179 stores from 1996-2011. After Home Depot, she took a year off and travelled around the world. During this time, she saw energy as a global issue with an enormous business opportunity. Connect with Annette on LinkedIn Check out NRStor
Jun 1, 2023
41 min
Josh Wand: Founder and CEO of ForceBrands
Get your copy of Grow: 12 Unconventional Lessons for Becoming an Unstoppable Entrepreneur Connect with Mike >>>  Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter Get Mikes free mentorship tools at www.fatafleishman.org Sign up for The Unstoppable Entrepreneur newsletter Drop a review and let me know what resonates with you about the show! Thanks for listening and make it your Best Day Ever! In this episode, Mike is joined by Josh Wand, Founder and CEO of ForceBrands. Josh has always been passionate about helping people. From working in the brand world, Josh understood the struggle of finding people to hire to build a team. He saw this as an opportunity to create ForceBrands, an end-to-end recruitment and hiring solutions designed to help consumer brands match their talent strategy to their growth strategy. Connect with Josh Wand on LinkedIn Check out ForceBrands
May 25, 2023
39 min
Shane Heath: Co-founder and CEO at MUD/WTR
Get your copy of Grow: 12 Unconventional Lessons for Becoming an Unstoppable Entrepreneur Connect with Mike >>>  Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter Get Mikes free mentorship tools at www.fatafleishman.org Sign up for The Unstoppable Entrepreneur newsletter Drop a review and let me know what resonates with you about the show! Thanks for listening and make it your Best Day Ever! In this episode, Mike is joined by Shane Heath, co-founder and CEO of MUD/WTR. Like most people, Shane fell in love with coffee and was in the routine of drinking it every day, becoming more and more reliant on it for energy . However, after he began to experience spurts of anxiety from drinking coffee, Shane was inspired to create MUD/WTR. Today, MUD/WTR has built a wildly loyal customer base and continues to grow! Throughout this episode, Shane shares the chain of events that led him to founding MUD/WTR, designing the brand through an artistic lens, the importance of healthy habits, the craziest thing that has happened to him in business, routines that are critical to his day to day success, and so much more.  Connect with Shane Heath on LinkedIn Check out MUD/WTR
May 18, 2023
48 min
Ronak Shah: CEO & Co-Founder at Obvi
Get your copy of Grow: 12 Unconventional Lessons for Becoming an Unstoppable Entrepreneur Connect with Mike >>>  Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter Get Mikes free mentorship tools at www.fatafleishman.org Sign up for The Unstoppable Entrepreneur newsletter Drop a review and let me know what resonates with you about the show! Thanks for listening and make it your Best Day Ever! In this episode, Mike is joined by Ronak Shah, the CEO and co-founder of Obvi.  Obvi is a women’s health and wellness brand with collagen rich products to help improve customers hair, nails, skin, bones and gut health. Ronak and his team founded Obvi with one objective in mind: present the most obvious choice of transparent products which present real results without having to sacrifice taste. Collagen depletion at progressed age is the #1 reason for lines and wrinkles, dry skin, hair breakage, bad nail and bone, and joint support and Obvi is a no-brainer solution.  Throughout this episode, Ronak shares the strategy behind launching the brand, where Obvi is at today, finding a co-packer to work with, how expanding the product into Walmart is changing their strategy, the innovation process, how becoming a father has changed his view on work, and so much more.  Connect with Ronak Shah on LinkedIn Check out Obvi
May 11, 2023
41 min
Dionne Laslo-Baker: Founder & CEO DeeBee’s Organics
Get your copy of Grow: 12 Unconventional Lessons for Becoming an Unstoppable Entrepreneur Connect with Mike >>>  Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter Get Mikes free mentorship tools at www.fatafleishman.org Sign up for The Unstoppable Entrepreneur newsletter Drop a review and let me know what resonates with you about the show! Thanks for listening and make it your Best Day Ever! In this episode, Mike is joined by Dionne Laslo-Baker. Dionne is the founder and CEO of DeeBee’s Organics.  As a Medical Scientist, Dionne has always been cautious about what she feeds her children. She combined her understanding of healthy, clean, pure ingredients with what her kids wanted to eat and has made some of the most delicious and nutritious snack foods. DeeBee’s has grown from making frozen novelties to crafting innovative shelf stable Freezies, to an array of innovative shelf stable and frozen foods that kids of all ages and with picky tastebuds will love. Dionne and her team have also  built the DeeBee's Centre For Research & Innovation where they are busy disrupting the food industry with new delicious, nutritious products created with the simplest, cleanest, from the earth ingredients.  Throughout this episode, Dionne talks about how DeeBee’s was created from an idea her kids had, the early days of entrepreneurship, how she financed the business, DreamLauncher, mentors throughout her journey as a founder, and wisdom she wants other entrepreneurs to know.  Connect with Dionne Laslo-Baker  on LinkedIn Check out DeeBee’s Organics
May 4, 2023
44 min
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