Blunt Business

Our next guests represent the industry-leading cannabis software suite and point-of-sale platform for cannabis retailers and delivery services, recently launched a new e-commerce product that combines the best of their software with technology provided by their most recent acquisition.  BLAZE ECOM is a native e-commerce technology that indexes retailer product menus, improving retail sites' SEO and driving more organic traffic. BLAZE ECOM also provides enhanced store branding and advertising opportunities while offering retailers the ability to set up their own e-commerce mobile applications at no additional cost, allowing for marketing via push notifications that typically prompt higher conversion rates.Delivery services allow cannabis companies to reach customers in areas where dispensaries are not allowed. While cannabis delivery is an incredible opportunity for companies to reach new customers they would not otherwise be able to, following the law can be difficult in an environment with a patchwork of

Adam Bierman is the co-founder and former CEO of Med Men Enterprises, the first American cannabis unicorn. During his decade at the company, it grew to five states, 32 retail stores, and 1500 employees. In 2019, Med Men lost 95% of its value and Adam chose to invest even more in the company despite advice to diversify. This led to lawsuits and Med Men essentially disappeared from the industry. Adam is now working with cannabis companies and investors to expand consumer access on a global scale. He was also responsible for setting the trend of dispensary design, with a layout similar to an Apple store.Adam, the founder of Bedmen, a cannabis unicorn, had a ten-year run of building the company and brand. He left the company and gave up his board seat and voting rights. Since then, Bedmen has gone through three CEOs and has not recovered. Adam's biggest takeaway from his experience is that even though he was the face of the company, it didn't matter as people expected that person to be a party animal. He

This week's episode of Blunt Business featured a roundtable discussion on advertising and social media with Ashley Fields, the Senior Vice President of Marketing Communications at Can, and Aaron Riva De Niro, the Director of e-commerce at Tiva. The two discussed recent updates to Twitter's advertising policies, which allow cannabis businesses to advertise in states where it is legal, with some exceptions. These exceptions include that the ads cannot promote or offer the sale of cannabis, with the exception of topical or non-ingestible hemp-derived CBD products that contain equal to or less than 0.3% THC.Twitter recently announced that it will allow cannabis advertising in 2023, with a few restrictions. These restrictions include only targeting geographical areas in the US where cannabis products and services are licensed, not targeting users under 21, and complying with all applicable laws and regulations surrounding cannabis marketing. Ashley and Aaron weighed in on the announcement, noting that it i

Our next guest operates a compliance strategy and services provider serving the hemp and cannabis industries nationwide. She brings a regulator’s keen eye and wide-reaching knowledge of evolving compliance and safety mandates to support businesses in tightly regulated industries.Allay Consulting and The GMP Collective are now joining forces amid the rapid national growth of the cannabis, hemp, and emerging psychedelics sectors, with a focus on current Goods Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) compliance. Through this partnership, The GMP Collective will now have increased availability to focus on working with governments, standards bodies such as ASTM International, and ancillary service providers to lead the development of a cohesive regulatory framework that will align the disjointed statutes of the cannabis and hemp industries, both domestically and internationally. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, there are more than 50 publicly traded companies related to the development or admini

Adam has 30 years of business, strategy and leadership experience in both Private and Public Companies. In 2021, Adam believed the timing and opportunity was right for him to bring his passion for business, innovative financing and entrepreneurial spirit to the Cannabis sector by creating funding products for all areas of this early stage, growth industry by founding FundCanna. FundCanna provides short term funding to all areas of the sector; cultivators, manufacturers, vendors, suppliers, distributors and retailers. In just its first year, FundCanna has underwritten roughly 500 files and funded approximately 250 unique files bringing much needed liquidity and financing solutions to the legal Cannabis industry.While growing rapidly, and now in more than 35 states, the cannabis industry still faces a massive shortage of debt financing from traditional bank and non-bank lenders. Today, what little debt financing is available to the industry is generated by high-cost sources of capital including sale-leasebacks,

Sarah Evans is a tremendously talented singer and songwriter who has left an indelible mark in the world of country music. She has released ten studio albums, the most recent being 2020's Covers collection, and has five number-one hits. She has won numerous awards and accolades, including the Academy of Country Music's top Female Vocalist accolades, as well as numerous American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, and CMA CMT Grammy Awards nominations.Sarah is now on Blunt Business to talk about her new luxurious CBD product line called Born to Fly, which is named after one of her chart-topping signature songs. She expresses her gratitude for being on the show and for the kind introduction. Jorge reveals that he first heard her music in the form of the song Suds in a Bucket and found himself compelled to stop and watch the video every time it was on.Sara is discussing how CBD has helped her to manage the chronic pain and anxiety she still experiences due to a hospital stay she endured at a young age.

The guest was Roy Bingham, the CEO of BDSA, who provides businesses with cannabis market intelligence, consumer research, and advisory services. He was welcomed on and apologized for the 50 emails. Roy thanked Leo and mentioned that everyone in the company is smarter than him. The host remembered meeting Roy's team at the NCIA's Cannabis Business Summit in 2016 and said everyone was delightful. The host also remembered having Roy on the 2018 show Cannabis Connection.Roy Bingham, CEO of BDSA, recently released an updated five-year global legal cannabis market forecast, predicting that legal cannabis spending will grow from $32 billion in 2022 to nearly $60 billion by 2027 at a compound annual growth rate of 13.2%. The US is predicted to drive this growth, especially with adult-use markets in Missouri, New Jersey, and New York, as well as the top four markets of Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Michigan, which will see an increase of nearly 10% in 2023, adding $770,000,000 in new spend. Despite the

Today welcome back a returning guest who has extensive experience helping scores of clients, from individual entrepreneurs to publicly traded companies, navigate complex cannabis disputes and successful business strategies. She is a partner and lead of the cannabis practice at Holland & Hart, based in Denver.Elevations Hotels and Resorts, based out of Arizona, announced in January they will convert the Artisan Hotel Boutique, which is just off the Las Vegas Strip, into The Lexi, a 64-room hotel with the entire fourth floor designated as cannabis friendly. Elevations also own and operate the Clarendon Hotel & Spa in Phoenix, which lays claim to being the state’s first cannabis-friendly hotel. We discuss how amenities and the guest experience will ultimately be different and how this Vegas location will be able to perform. The Street reports that Las Vegas has a cannabis conundrum. The city allows the sale of marijuana for recreational use, but it only allows it to be smoked in private residences. That

Our next guest is a legacy cannabis entrepreneur. Serving California and Michigan recreational cannabis markets, he is here to tell us about a recently launched cannabis brand that they say “gives customers a sweet escape in the form of aptly-named vapes, edibles, flowers, prerolls, and concentrates.”Gelato Canna Co. is not even a year old and has already landed its product line of vapes, edibles, concentrate, pre-rolls, and flowers in over 400 cannabis dispensaries throughout California and Michigan, with the bulk of its presence in the Golden State. They have yet to take a single investment dollar and hit their first million-dollar month in October at their eponymous Lake Elsinore store.A distinctive aspect of Gelato’s founders is that they followed and understood the simple laws of offer and demand. In the midst of the hype, even while they were succeeding in the vaping segment, they got into concentrates. Now, once again ahead of the curve in market trends, they circle back to the basics. They went into p

Our next guest’s company is quite familiar to Cannabis Radio listeners. We featured this company last fall and we are happy to welcome back the folks from Paybotic, the premier payment solutions company that excels in tailoring solutions to the cannabis industry. Paybotic specializes in advanced technological solutions for payment processing providing financial solutions to help cannabis businesses in the United States. throughout the nation grow and succeed.One major issue in the cannabis industry is the lack of financing and payment processing programs available. We continue to await some federal relief to legal barriers that have continued to create difficulty for dispensaries to obtain services, record sales, process payments, and hinder the growth of many marijuana dispensaries. All you have to do is look at the crisis ongoing with the industry in California. While we are still waiting for legislation like the SAFE Banking ACT to be implemented.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy &

Our next guest has years of experience in cannabis investing, including financing, fund management, and consulting for early-stage cannabis businesses. He advises entrepreneurs looking to gain in-depth expertise on raising capital or securing financing, working with investors, and the legal ins and outs of starting a cannabis business.More private lenders are entering the space and bringing with them innovative approaches to working with cannabis businesses. These lenders are not afraid to maneuver around historic industry barriers to financing and are opening up to cannabis companies' lending opportunities that have been available to other industries for decades.For starters, cannabis businesses with assets can now use those assets as collateral for a loan. If the business already owns property or a building, for example, or if it has substantial stockpiles of equipment, these assets can be utilized to take out a loan against the value of these assets. These loans are classified as real estate loans or e

Our next guest oversees a fast-growing card network brand allowing cardholders to spend at general everyday merchants but also at Cannabis related merchants. They have created a new credit card that has been developed as one of the first payment processors to allow the use of their technology for the Cannabis industry. Similar to Discover and American Express, SuperNet acquires new credit card holders by partnering with financial institutions and cannabis merchants and is the only payment network that officially accepts and grants permission to process transactions from cannabis merchantsSuperNet is getting ready to launch a new credit card that will be the only credit card to be accepted at marijuana/cannabis dispensaries. SuperNet will also allow for the transactions of NFTs, letting consumers spend their crypto – another first.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Our next guest is in based in the fast-growing New York State cannabis market where he counsels clients on various business matters including, structure, expansion, formation, and sale. He also deals with the dissolution of business entities and partnerships, regulatory compliance, internal and external best practices, compliance audits, and general advice concerning complex and novel issues of law.   We talk about Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary licenses or CAURD licensees that have been granted to the first retail dispensaries to open for legal adult-use cannabis sales in New York State. On the recent decision to allow licensees to select their own site, Jason said "They didn’t necessarily rush issuing the first CAURD licenses and still did not have leased space or funding committed (although FYI, per DASNY (or Dormitory Authority of the State of New York) they are ready to go – they just do not have leased space to start). It shows the lack of practicality of the OCM mission."He fills us in

Our next guest’s platform has been referred to as the Salesforce of Cannabis. It is active in over 25 markets and processes over $2.5 billion in annual sales. They have partnered with some of the largest multi-state cannabis operators and are responsible for over 35% of all cannabis wholesale orders nationwide and have more than 600 brands listed on the platform.Leaftrade helps facilitate ordering and fulfillment. It’s more than a marketplace for wholesalers and retailers in the cannabis space. Leaf Trade streamlines the entire ordering & fulfillment process, payment process, and post-sale reporting. They go on to write about GMPs and How They Could Potentially Have a Financial Impact on the Cannabis Industry. Deciding to “Go GMP” could potentially have lasting financial impacts on cannabis businesses willing to do the work. They go on to write: More profit could also be made from higher prescription revenues when consumers are covered by state or private insurance providers.Advertising Inquiries: https:/

Our next guest runs a portfolio of companies providing technology, hardware, cultivation and production, TILT services brands, and cannabis retailers in regulated markets across 37 states in the U.S., as well as Canada, Israel, South America, and the European Union. TILT recently entered into an exclusive manufacture, supply, and distribution agreement with Curaleaf International Limited ("Curaleaf International") to bring the Jupiter-manufactured Liquid Que™ vaporizer to new territories abroad, for use as a medical device with extracts developed by Curaleaf International. TILT is a partner-centric company at its core. In early 2019, we pivoted our strategy to essentially build our business around true partnerships starting with cannabis brand deals to bring popular brands to our markets. As the industry turned its focus to brand partnerships, we were already finding immediate successes and went even deeper when thinking about how to enter new markets which brought us to the Shinnecock Nation.Advertis

We're happy to welcome back a return guest who runs the leading enterprise commerce technology platform for the cannabis retail and supply chain industry. Treez recently underwent some updates to the platform which is now offering exclusive advanced access to select cannabis retailers to experience its enhanced Retail Analytics and Integration Hub products. For context, Treez Integration Hub unlocks access to integrations with best-in-breed technology providers from cannabis and beyond, including enterprise-grade CRMs, business intelligence, communications software, ERPs, and supply chain software solutions. The Hub works with systems like Odoo, Salesforce, SAP, and NetSuite, as well as, bringing their own tools all through one integrated platform. The platform is now expanding into 8 states. Now, Treez will be able to provide embedded partner-powered fintech solutions that will ultimately lead to more transparency, stability, and better processing rates for retailers. Additionally, Treez will be able to

While the cannabis industry awaits banking relief and inevitable federal legalization, these are some significant areas that need improvement.Marketing/branding and compliance above and beyond state control board-determined standards should continue to be the end goal. Social equity can only remain effective by calling out any and all passive and performative actors in favor of active representation. Finally, attempts to gain positive public support by dispelling the media narrative are crucial in order to expedite legalization.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

President Joe Biden has officially signed a marijuana research bill into law, making history by enacting the first piece of standalone federal cannabis reform legislation in U.S. history.The law gives the U.S. attorney general 60 days to either approve a given application or request supplemental information from the marijuana research applicant. It also creates a more efficient pathway for researchers who request larger quantities of cannabis.We look at the institutes of higher learning forwarding the need for undisputable research, and how two of the largest polling companies in the nation continue to survey and keep learning how the public continues to broadly favor legalization of the drug for medical and recreational purposes.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Wowee network has launched its first-of-its-kind e-commerce show, “Sell High” live every Thursday at 9 pm CT here. The show will be a true hybrid: part dispensary, part variety show, all fun. Thought you might be interested in covering the series. “Sell High” is the first-ever show where viewers can buy cannabis while they watch—It's like QVC with THC. Items are only available to purchase during the Livestream in the Chicago area for now but everyone can watch live and learn about various products such as Incredibles, Rythm, Cann, Dogwalkers, and more. They will eventually expand to other cities, IL was one of the states that this is allowed in.Wonderbrett, the legendary West Coast cannabis brand best known for world-renowned genetics, exotic terpene profiles, and pioneering cultivation techniques, announced today the debut of its first-ever collection of premium “Live Resin Carts” and custom “Drip” rechargeable battery for the California vape market, featuring the same full-bodied flavors the company bui

HEMPFLAVIN, a proprietary blend of twenty-three (23) Cannflavins and flavonoids extracted from an heirloom hemp variety that is over 2,000 years old, is formulated to be used for severe body aches, muscle soreness, and other pain relief by creating a synergistic flavonoid response known as the “flavonoid entourage effect”. The flavonoids in HEMPFLAVIN include Cannflavin A, B, & C, Cannabisin A, B & C, quercetin, apigenin-7- and kaempferol. Previous studies have found that the flavonoids in HEMPFLAVIN have prominent anti-inflammatory action and may help augment the body’s antioxidant defense.Eben Sumner is the Founder and CEO of two businesses in the cannabis space, Casco Bay Hemp and 1780, a Maine Licensed Medical Cannabis Provider. Co-Founder and legislative chair of the Maine Growers Alliance, and shaper participant in Seed2Health; a think tank focused on forwarding cannabis as medicine. In Maine, Eben founded a caregiver company, named 1780, cultivating medical cannabis. Unfortunately, the complexi