I bridge the divide between manufacturing, quality assurance, and innovation.
As a consultant to world-class manufacturing corporations, I bring over a decade of expertise in physical goods manufacturing, quality systems, and process innovation.
Success Story
Led the development of a pharmaceutical-grade botanical compound for Pfizer
Success Story
Led the development of a pharmaceutical-grade botanical compound for Pfizer
Michael knows the ins and outs of highly regulated industries. He's been in the field and leading the way. No one else can cut through the noise and see what efficiencies and improvements can be made. He's like a laser beam for manufacturing efficiency.
Dan Russell
Cofounder of One Moksha
Michael knows the ins and outs of highly regulated industries. He's been in the field and leading the way. No one else can cut through the noise and see what efficiencies and improvements can be made. He's like a laser beam for manufacturing efficiency.
Dan Russell
Cofounder of One Moksha
Michael knows the ins and outs of highly regulated industries. He's been in the field and leading the way. No one else can cut through the noise and see what efficiencies and improvements can be made. He's like a laser beam for manufacturing efficiency.
Dan Russell
Cofounder of One Moksha
10+ happy clients
5+ years of experiences
20 years of experience
Trusted by many
Deep systems expertise
International reach
20 years of experience
Deep systems expertise
International reach
20 years of experience
About Me
I'm an entrepreneur and researcher with more than 20 years of experience in physical goods manufacturing and quality systems.
My work has focused on improving product safety, consistency, and accessibility through research, process development, and collaboration with scientists, engineers, and manufacturers around the world.
As a cofounder of Cromogen Biotechnologies and Nevada Laboratories, I've helped develop scalable processes for active pharmaceutical ingredient production, including organic certification, process chemistry, and water-soluble cannabinoid formulations. My teams have contributed to advances in extraction methods, ingredient standardization, and compliance practices that have supported FDA and USDA regulations.
I've led projects in engineering, product design, and market expansion across several industries, including roles with JUUL, Huawei Consumer, Olive UK, and Nevada Labs.
I approach each venture with an emphasis on problem-solving, efficiency, and collaboration, aiming to build systems and products that can adapt to complex and changing markets.
Services
We work together to achieve deep understanding of your systems, find new efficiencies, and scale your organization.
Success Stories
I've worked with premium brands from around the world, establishing new revenue channels, leading exits, and introducing massive new efficiencies.
Juul Labs + Pax Labs
Two founders and two junior staff. I walked on and created what is now Pax Labs. PAX was miniaturized and became JUUL
Juul Labs + Pax Labs
Two founders and two junior staff. I walked on and created what is now Pax Labs. PAX was miniaturized and became JUUL
Juul Labs + Pax Labs
Two founders and two junior staff. I walked on and created what is now Pax Labs. PAX was miniaturized and became JUUL
Huawei Consumer
Consultant for US revenue development. Managed pivotal transition to Android app, paving the way for further growth.
Huawei Consumer
Consultant for US revenue development. Managed pivotal transition to Android app, paving the way for further growth.
Huawei Consumer
Consultant for US revenue development. Managed pivotal transition to Android app, paving the way for further growth.
Olive UK
Developed an oral that functions like an inhalable. Oversaw pharmacokinetic trail design and validated user experience data.
Olive UK
Developed an oral that functions like an inhalable. Oversaw pharmacokinetic trail design and validated user experience data.
Olive UK
Developed an oral that functions like an inhalable. Oversaw pharmacokinetic trail design and validated user experience data.
Evergreen Retail
Established 14 retail units in 30 months and led the way to a successful exit.
Evergreen Retail
Established 14 retail units in 30 months and led the way to a successful exit.
Evergreen Retail
Established 14 retail units in 30 months and led the way to a successful exit.
Case Study #1
Breaking Ground In California's Wild West Of Cannabis Regulation
Market Context
To understand the potency of the method I implemented, one must first understand the environment in which it was deployed. In the mid-2000s, the California medical cannabis market was a legal and commercial paradox. Under state law (Proposition 215), dispensaries were permitted to operate as non-profit collectives, serving patients with a doctor's recommendation. However, under federal law, all cannabis activity remained strictly illegal as a Schedule I controlled substance.
This created a high-risk, unstable ecosystem with profound operational consequences:
Unbankable Operations: Banks, being federally regulated, refused to service cannabis businesses. This forced the entire industry to operate exclusively in cash, creating massive security risks and making standard accounting nearly impossible.
Lack of Professional Standards: The talent pool consisted largely of cannabis advocates and legacy operators, not professionally trained business managers. The culture prioritized passion over process.
Systemic Chaos: With no access to banking, credit, or standard software, businesses were run from shoeboxes of receipts and handwritten ledgers. There was no verifiable data, no reliable system of record, and therefore no way to professionally manage the business
The Challenge
Taming a Million-Dollar Leak
I was brought into a West Hollywood dispensary that was a microcosm of this environment. It was hemorrhaging cash, posting over a million dollars in annual losses despite high customer volume. The root cause was a complete failure of asset management, a systemic "leakage" of both cash and high-value inventory that was simply vanishing without a trace.
Purpose
The immediate purpose was to stop the financial bleeding by imposing a system of absolute order on the chaos. The larger, emergent purpose became to prove that a professionally run, profitable operation could be a powerful engine for social good.
Service
The primary service was to the overwhelmed business owners, giving them the first-ever clear and trustworthy picture of their own operations. It was also a service to employees, creating a stable, structured work environment.
Execution
The potency of this approach did not come from a complex new technology, but from the relentless application of time-tested, basic business discipline in an industry that had none. Recognizing the parallels to the restaurant and bar industry, another cash-heavy business with high-value, portable inventory, Brubeck implemented a simple but non-negotiable protocol:
Strict Inventory Control: Every gram of product was tracked from the moment it entered the facility to the moment it was sold.
Mandatory Shift Audits: At the beginning and end of every single work shift, a new manager would conduct a physical inventory count and reconcile it against the cash register's sales records.
Zero-Tolerance for Discrepancy: Any variance between the physical inventory on the shelves and the sales recorded in the register had to be accounted for immediately. The era of unexplained "leakage" was over.
Mike is the rare combination of big-picture strategic thinking (all while being able to take it all the way down to the ground floor practical level). His mind works faster than I've seen most entrepreneurs, and he still has the ability to meet the moment, the people, and the problems exactly where they are. He has an insatiable thirst for execution and running through the tape of every obstacle and problem he's ever faced. He's a home run for any organization.
Joe Mechlinski
SHIFT
Mike is the rare combination of big-picture strategic thinking (all while being able to take it all the way down to the ground floor practical level). His mind works faster than I've seen most entrepreneurs, and he still has the ability to meet the moment, the people, and the problems exactly where they are. He has an insatiable thirst for execution and running through the tape of every obstacle and problem he's ever faced. He's a home run for any organization.
Joe Mechlinski
SHIFT
Mike is the rare combination of big-picture strategic thinking (all while being able to take it all the way down to the ground floor practical level). His mind works faster than I've seen most entrepreneurs, and he still has the ability to meet the moment, the people, and the problems exactly where they are. He has an insatiable thirst for execution and running through the tape of every obstacle and problem he's ever faced. He's a home run for any organization.
Joe Mechlinski
SHIFT
Phase 1 Results
From Profitability to Purpose
The impact of this method was immediate and profound:
Operational Result
The financial drain stopped instantly. The business achieved stable profitability, demonstrating that the model itself was not flawed, only its execution.
Strategic Result
The method's potency and simplicity made it a replicable playbook. What worked in one store could work in another. This reliability fueled a rapid and successful expansion to fourteen units, creating a significant and, most importantly, predictable stream of profits where previously there had only been loss.
Ultimate Impact
The financial success was not treated as an end in itself, but as the fuel for a higher purpose. The profits generated by this new operational efficiency were channeled directly into Cottage Housing, a Sacramento nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness. The result was tangible and transformative: the funding of hundreds of homes for the homeless. This stable housing, in turn, became the foundation for a new beginning, allowing over a thousand individuals to transition out of homelessness and return to productive, working lives.
Analysis
Phase I serves as the foundational proof of my core doctrine. It demonstrates that operational excellence is not an abstract business school concept but a practical tool with profound real-world consequences. By imposing order on a chaotic business, we did not just create a profitable enterprise; we created a sustainable funding engine for social change. The discipline used to count inventory directly translated into the resources used to build homes. This establishes the core thesis for the remainder of the case: how you do anything is how you do everything. The integrity of the process determines the impact of the outcome.
The Doctrine as a Strategic Lever
Having forged the doctrine in the chaos of dispensary operations, I exited the industry and transitioned to a strategic advisory role.
This phase tested the doctrine’s potency in a new context: not as a tool for internal triage, but as a lever to solve critical strategic problems for emerging technology companies. I was no longer fixing broken processes; I was providing the single, reliable insight upon which a company's future could be built.
Case Study #2
Huawei and the Battle for the First Chinese Branded Smartphone
Market Context
In the years following the iPhone's 2007 debut, the mobile industry was in a state of existential upheaval.
Apple had established a paradigm of total control: a vertically integrated ecosystem where it designed the hardware, the software (iOS), and the marketplace (the App Store).
or every other hardware manufacturer, from giants like Samsung to a then-unknown Chinese telecom company named Huawei, the strategic question was monumental: how do you compete with a closed, perfect system?
Building a proprietary OS from scratch to rival iOS was a near-impossible task, requiring billions in R&D and years to build a comparable app ecosystem. Into this environment, Google introduced Android, a robust, open-source platform that it offered to manufacturers for free. This created a clear strategic fork in the road: take the high-risk, high-cost path of proprietary innovation, or the reliable, ecosystem-ready path of adoption.
The Challenge
Introducing Consumer Software Expertise Into An Established Hardware Brand
Huawei, a global leader in telecommunications infrastructure, possessed world-class hardware engineering but lacked consumer software DNA. Their initial attempts at a smartphone, running a clunky, proprietary OS, were functionally unusable and dead on arrival in a market increasingly defined by user experience.
Purpose
To advise on the most viable path to market for a hardware company entering a software-driven world.
Service
To Huawei's leadership, providing a clear-eyed assessment of the build vs. adopt dilemma.
Execution
The Strategic Choice for Reliability. Brubeck was part of the critical conversation that advocated for abandoning the proprietary OS. He championed the adoption of Android, framing it not as a compromise, but as the most reliable strategic choice. This decision would allow Huawei to:
Focus on Core Competency: Concentrate on what it did best: designing and manufacturing world-class hardware.
De-Risk Market Entry: Eliminate the immense financial and temporal risks of building a software ecosystem from zero.
Instantly Access an Ecosystem: Tap directly into Google’s rapidly growing Android Market, giving its users immediate access to thousands of apps.
Results
The decision to adopt Android was a foundational pillar of Huawei’s strategy. It enabled them to compete directly with other global players and transform from a niche hardware maker into one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world.
Case Study #3
Ploom and the $37 Billion Surprise
Market Context
The early e-cigarette market was a graveyard of unsatisfying products. E-cigarettes like British Tobacco’s Blu mimicked the look of cigarettes but failed to deliver a consistent or effective nicotine experience due to poor technology and the use of nicotine HCI which was harsh at high temperatures.
In parallel, a niche market for cannabis vaporization was solving a similar, but more high-stakes problem: how to precisely heat valuable botanical material without burning it. It was in this niche space that real innovation was happening.
The Challenge
Introducing Consumer Software Expertise Into An Established Hardware Brand
A nicotine company, Ploom, was failing to gain traction with its butane-powered device. It was unreliable and carried the negative cultural association of a lighter. Recognizing the need for a fundamental shift, Ploom hired me with a specific mission: bring the sophisticated heating technology of the cannabis world to the nicotine market to solve the core product problem. They engaged the nation’s leading cannabis expert.
Purpose
To fundamentally redefine the product's user experience, moving it from a clunky analog device to a sleek, reliable technology.
Service
To the end-user, by providing a clean, consistent, and satisfying experience superior to anything on the market.
Execution
The Foundational Platform Shift. Brubeck led the critical design change away from combustible butane ignition to a battery-powered, electric heating element. This was the core innovation imported from cannabis vaporizers. This seemingly simple pivot was, in fact, a platform shift that unlocked the entire future of the company:
From Butane to Electric: This change delivered precise temperature control, eliminated the harshness of combustion, and provided a consistent experience with every use. This new platform became the PAX Model One, a best-in-class device for loose-leaf vaporization.
From Platform to Product: The next stroke of genius was applying this reliable electric heating platform to a new medium. By combining it with the chemical innovation of nicotine salts (which deliver a more potent, less harsh nicotine experience) and the engineering innovation of miniaturizing it into a self-contained pod, the JUUL was born.
Results
The JUUL created an entirely new product category. The company, built on this foundational design change, exploded, achieving a staggering $37 billion valuation within three years.
Case Study #4
Codifying the Doctrine into Science: The Two Worlds of Cannabis Medicine
Market Context
The concept of "cannabis biotech" was not a recognized industry sector but rather a landscape of two completely separate, non-interacting worlds.
The State-Legal World: This was the world Brubeck had just exited. It was a sprawling ecosystem of growers, dispensaries, and ancillary businesses operating under a patchwork of state laws and in direct violation of federal law. Its focus was on the raw plant material and its therapeutic use was based on anecdotal evidence and patient experience. It was innovative and fast-moving but lacked scientific validation and regulatory oversight.
The Pharmaceutical World: This world was inhabited by a single, notable player: UK-based GW Pharmaceuticals. GW operated like a traditional drug company. It rigorously ignored the "whole plant" philosophy and instead focused on a monocannabinoid approach. This involved isolating single molecules like CBD or THC, purifying them to pharmaceutical grade, and running them through the standard FDA clinical trial process to create patentable, single-molecule prescription drugs (e.g., Sativex, Epidiolex). This was the only path recognized by the global medical establishment as legitimate, but it was incredibly slow, expensive, and intentionally narrow in its scientific scope.
There was no bridge between these two worlds. You were either an "unregulated plant" company or a "regulated single-molecule" company.
The Challenge
Forging a Third Path
I identified a massive gap between these two extremes and founded Cromogen to create a third path.
The venture was built on a contrarian scientific thesis: that the therapeutic efficacy of cannabis lay not in a single isolated molecule, but in the complex, synergistic interplay of its many compounds (often called the "entourage effect").
The challenge was therefore immense: how to create a product that was scientifically validated and trusted by the pharmaceutical industry, yet still honored the holistic nature of a botanical ingredient. This meant creating a new category of ingredient that was neither a raw plant nor a single-molecule drug.
Purpose
To bridge the gap between natural botanical medicine and the absolute standards of pharmaceutical science. The goal was to create ingredients that were both broad-spectrum and met the purity, consistency, and quality demands of Big Pharma.
Service
The ultimate client for this new category of ingredient was a Pfizer Global Procurement Organization (GPO). A GPO is not a casual customer; it is one of the most sophisticated and demanding procurement bodies in the world. Its vendor requirements are absolute. To serve a client like Pfizer is to subject your science, process, and documentation to the highest possible level of scrutiny. Failure to meet their standards means instant disqualification.
Execution
The execution required building a company that could speak both languages: botany and biotechnology.
The Breakthrough Technology: Cromogen developed a novel separation technology. Unlike GW's methods which aimed to isolate one molecule, this process could separate and purify Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) while preserving the integrity of a broader botanical profile.
The Regulated Infrastructure: To commercialize this technology, Brubeck executed the acquisition of a 55,000-square-foot, FDA-registered facility. This step was critical. It meant voluntarily submitting to the oversight of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The facility was then brought into compliance with cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practices). cGMP is the legally binding federal rulebook that governs the design, monitoring, and control of all manufacturing processes and facilities. It dictates everything from air quality and equipment validation to employee hygiene and the creation of an exhaustive documentation trail for every single batch.
Mastery of Regulated Scaling: With the infrastructure in place, Brubeck demonstrated a mastery of regulated growth, expanding the specialized team from just 3 to 45 employees in six months. This involved hiring and training chemists, lab technicians, and quality assurance personnel who could operate flawlessly within the rigid cGMP framework.
Results
Cromogen, followed by Nevada Laboratories, succeeded in creating its third path. Its broad-spectrum API became a global standard ingredient, adopted by the very pharmaceutical industry that had previously only recognized single-molecule drugs. This rare achievement signifies the highest level of industry trust. The successful scaling of the team and facility proved the operational model was not just sound, but robust.
Case Study #5
The Synthesis of an Edible That Functions as an Inhalant
Introduction
After two decades of navigating chaos, advising innovators, and building regulated science, Brubeck’s career culminated in Olive UK.
This venture was not just another business; it was the ultimate synthesis of every lesson learned, every mistake made, and every principle proven since the dispensary days. Its mission was to create a new category of oral delivery technology for both nicotine and cannabis, built on a foundation that integrated the lessons of all three prior phases.
Market Context
The landscape Olive entered was one JUUL had helped create. Vaping had exploded, solving the immediacy and ritual problem for smokers. However, this success created a new set of challenges:
The Health Concern: A growing public and regulatory backlash was forming around the long-term health effects of inhalation and vaping.
The Social Stigma: The act of vaping, while more acceptable than smoking, still carried a social stigma and was prohibited in many public and private spaces.
The Unsolved Cannabis Problem: The core issue from Phase I, unpredictable and slow onset for edible cannabis products, remained largely unsolved for the mass market.
The strategic opportunity was clear: to deliver the rapid, predictable experience that modern consumers demanded, but in a new form factor that was healthier, more discreet, and socially acceptable. The challenge was to decouple the desired effect from the act of inhalation.
Purpose
To create the world's most reliable, rapid-acting oral delivery platform, making the experience of both nicotine and cannabis as predictable and safe as any mainstream consumer wellness product.
Service
To the modern consumer who demands immediate and predictable results without the health risks and social friction of inhalation. And, for the first time explicitly, to a mature shareholder base demanding a defensible, scalable, and highly valuable enterprise.
Execution: The Doctrine Synthesized
The strategy for Olive was a direct fusion of the lessons from each previous phase, a three-legged stool of proven principles.
Lessons from Phase II (Design-as-Strategy): The core strategy was a direct echo of the Ploom/JUUL playbook: migrating users by preserving the experience while changing the form factor.
From Vaping to Oral: Just as JUUL moved smokers from cigarettes to vaping, Olive's strategy was to move vapers (and other users) from vaping to a rapid-acting oral bead.
The Handheld Form Factor: The product was a sleek, handheld consumer device, not a medical tincture or a simple spray bottle. It felt like a piece of consumer electronics, leveraging the key insight from JUUL that user experience and industrial design are paramount. The goal was to provide the same sense of control and rapid effect, simply without the vapor.
Mandates from Phase III: The promise of the design could only be delivered through the absolute discipline of pharmaceutical science.
Predictability Through Science: The promise of a "less-than-10-minute onset" was not a marketing claim; it was a scientific fact, engineered using the advanced formulation techniques developed at Cromogen. Data validation through pharmacokinetic study was administered.
Proof Through Data: To earn consumer and regulatory trust, the company undertook formal pharmacokinetic (PK) trials in Japan. This was a direct application of the biotech ethos: do not just state a claim, prove it with unimpeachable, third-party validated data.
cGMP as the Standard: The product was manufactured under cGMP standards, ensuring every single unit delivered the exact same dose and effect. This was biotech precision deployed in a consumer device.
Echoes of Phase I (Solving the Core Problem & Dedication to Shareholders): At its heart, Olive was built to finally solve the original problem from the West Hollywood dispensary: the user's lack of trust and control.
Answering the Original Question: By providing a metered, predictable dose, Olive gave the user a definitive answer to the question, "How will this affect me and when? Is this repeatable wherever I purchase it worldwide?"
Fiduciary Duty: This synthesis of design, science, and a clear market solution created a business with a powerful, defensible moat. This focus on building a durable competitive advantage demonstrated a mature dedication to shareholders, ensuring the venture was not just innovative but structured to create sustainable, long-term value.
Results
The outcome was a new product category: a scientifically validated, rapid-acting oral bead in a desirable consumer form factor. It was a product built on the trust earned through biotech rigor, the user experience learned from the world's most successful vaporizer, and a mission born from the chaos of the original cannabis market.
This project represents the complete fulfillment of the core doctrine. It illustrates how lessons from seemingly disparate industries can be synthesized into a single, cohesive, and powerful business strategy.
Olive UK was not simply a new venture; it was the operational manifestation of a two-decade-long education in what it takes to build a trustworthy and valuable enterprise.
The framework that began as a tool to bring order to a single chaotic store was ultimately used to create a new, highly ordered, and scientifically validated category of products for the global market. The journey from dispensary to biotech to a final consumer device demonstrates that the principles of reliability, when honed and reapplied, are the foundational assets of sustained entrepreneurial success.
Work together
We start with a short phone call to get to know each other. From there, we tailor a solution that's best for you
1
Book a Call
Let’s start with a conversation! We’ll discuss your goals, ideas, and how I can help bring them to life. This is where we align expectations and ensure a great fit
1
Book a Call
Let’s start with a conversation! We’ll discuss your goals, ideas, and how I can help bring them to life. This is where we align expectations and ensure a great fit
1
Book a Call
Let’s start with a conversation! We’ll discuss your goals, ideas, and how I can help bring them to life. This is where we align expectations and ensure a great fit
2
Project Brief
Once we’re on the same page, we’ll define the project scope, timeline, and deliverables. A structured brief ensures a smooth and efficient process
2
Project Brief
Once we’re on the same page, we’ll define the project scope, timeline, and deliverables. A structured brief ensures a smooth and efficient process
2
Project Brief
Once we’re on the same page, we’ll define the project scope, timeline, and deliverables. A structured brief ensures a smooth and efficient process
3
Execution
This is where the rubber meets the road. I’ll craft a thorough efficiency protocol and refine it based on your feedback, ensuring the final outcome meets your vision.
3
Execution
This is where the rubber meets the road. I’ll craft a thorough efficiency protocol and refine it based on your feedback, ensuring the final outcome meets your vision.
3
Execution
This is where the rubber meets the road. I’ll craft a thorough efficiency protocol and refine it based on your feedback, ensuring the final outcome meets your vision.
4
Delivery
The final efficiency protocol is designed and ready to go. We'll meet with you and any team members in the loop to go over your new structure, timetable, and important questions.
4
Delivery
The final efficiency protocol is designed and ready to go. We'll meet with you and any team members in the loop to go over your new structure, timetable, and important questions.
4
Delivery
The final efficiency protocol is designed and ready to go. We'll meet with you and any team members in the loop to go over your new structure, timetable, and important questions.
5
Support
If you're in need of ongoing support, we can discuss retainer options to include me on your team for updates and accountability.
5
Support
If you're in need of ongoing support, we can discuss retainer options to include me on your team for updates and accountability.
5
Support
If you're in need of ongoing support, we can discuss retainer options to include me on your team for updates and accountability.
Michael Brubeck
Process Consultant
Michael Brubeck
Process Consultant
Michael Brubeck
Process Consultant
Let's connect
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© 2025 All rights reserved
© 2025 All rights reserved
© 2025 All rights reserved