No script. No prompts. Just a real conversation with Josh Furbish, President and Founder of Ground Game Inc., about what actually moves product in retail and why most brands confuse distribution with success.

Josh rebuilt his network after an eight-year digital detox, turned years of bottle shop notes into a playbook, and launched Ground Game in 2025. We get into the unglamorous truth founders need to hear: doors don’t matter if you don’t earn reorders. Shelf space isn’t a win if you can’t drive sell-through. And the frontline staff you ignore is the sales force you’re missing.

We also talk candidly about operating through uncertainty in Minneapolis, how disruption hits mom-and-pop retailers first, and why empathy isn’t a “nice to have” in CPG - it’s survival.

Then we pivot into why Minnesota became the case study state for hemp-derived THC beverages, what other states (including Pennsylvania) can learn about regulation, dosage, and on-premise viability, and why transparency in this category is miles ahead of what most consumers realize.

If you’re a founder, operator, distributor, or service provider trying to build something real in beverage, this episode is a masterclass in how the game actually works.

Guest: Josh Furbish, Ground Game Inc.
Website: groundgameinc.com

Host: Nate Fochtman, The FreeMind Group

Website: FMGStrategy.com

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Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

Most supplements don’t work the way people think they do.

In this episode of the Ready To Drink Podcast, I sit down with Dan Margenau, founder of Lix Brands, to unpack one of the most overlooked problems in health, wellness, and functional beverages: bioavailability.

Dan built Lix to solve a simple but massive issue - our bodies can’t absorb most of what traditional supplements deliver. Through a patented encapsulation process, Lix transforms hard-to-absorb ingredients into water-soluble, highly bioavailable compounds that integrate cleanly into beverages, supplements, cosmetics, and hemp-derived products.

We cover:

What bioavailability actually means (and why most products waste nutrients)

How Lix’s encapsulation technology works

Why water solubility changes everything for manufacturers and consumers

Clean label formulation and production efficiency

The impact on CBD and THC beverage onset times

Dan’s journey from operations consulting to building a deep-tech ingredient company

This conversation is part science, part entrepreneurship, and part real-world manufacturing insight - for anyone building in supplements, functional beverages, hemp, or wellness.

Check out LixIngredients.com

Listen on all podcast platforms.

Watch on ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com

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Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

In this episode of the Ready To Drink Podcast, Nate Fochtman sits down with Gordon Whelpley, Co-Founder of Float House CAN-NA-BREWS, to break down what it actually takes to build a compliant, scalable THC-infused beverage that doesn’t fit neatly into existing categories.

CAN-NA-BREWS was designed to drink like beer without being classified as a malt beverage, creating a new lane inside the hemp beverage market that requires precise formulation, intentional process design, and a deep understanding of regulatory structure.

This conversation focuses on:

• how CAN-NA-BREWS avoids the malt beverage definition while maintaining flavor and structure
• the manufacturing and formulation challenges of non-alcoholic, cannabinoid-infused beverages
• why low-dose THC beverages align with alcohol-style regulation models
• the operational reality of building production infrastructure while co-packing for other brands
• why enforcement and smart regulation matter more than reactionary bans
• what category creation actually looks like when there’s no existing playbook

This episode is a clear, technical, and practical look at how hemp THC beverages are built, regulated, and scaled - without hype and without shortcuts.

Available now on: ReadyToDrinkPodcast.com, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you podcast.

Support the show

Presented by The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com