Richard Lee’s Post

Shoutout to the January FirstLook 🤑 brands who set off 2024 for us! Artet - "A family founded company that crafts cannabis beverages for cocktail occasions." Choppy! - "We make beef that’s as healthy as chicken and takes only 4 minutes to cook." Groomie Club - "We make bald look good!" The Humble Seed - "We transforms seeds, a simple hero ingredient, into delicious, nutrient dense, reimagined versions of our favorite snacks." OSQUO- "We create advanced clinical solutions for adult acne." viv for your v - "A sustainable period care brand driven by a modern approach to health education." WICKED Protein - "The industry's first Clean Label Project Certificated and Purity Award winner in sports nutrition." Wild Bay - "A vertically-integrated beverage manufacturer and distributor." Learn more about each brand and their #founders in our newsletter below 👇 #startups #venturecapital

Cannabis startups are DEF a rollercoaster - 2 wks ago I was reeling from several gut punches... but today, things are looking bright: ✅ LOTS of new products in the pipeline that I'm SO pumped about... our Live Resin Vapes drop in NY before 710 and they're 🔥 🔥 🔥 . A bunch more new stuff I can't reveal them yet too… ✅ in NY, LIVE NUGS are in almost completely sold out - with most places re-ordering after < 2 wks selling a $100+ SKU! We’re getting a ton of inbound interest - shows that innovative products that deliver real value sell. Still early, but we should 2-3X our best month ever... NY as a market feels like it’s FINALLY getting its footing (hope I’m not jinxing us here). ✅ in CA, we've signed 4 MONSTER accounts since HoF and our new SKUs (esp Live Rosin Pre-Rolls and Live Rosin Vapes) are FLYING... it's painful for our cash flow to be scaling to meet demand, but feeling very positive about the turnaround in the most challenging state. About to sign up for the next big show in Sept… ❓thinking about expansion - though it's still early (wanna make sure our foundation & processes are solid in CA / NY)... but what potential partners should we be talking to in NJ for cultivation / processing / sales & distro? HMU via DM pls... None of this would be possible without our incredible team (Martin Mills, Cirona Labs, Peter Pietrangeli, Euphoric life , Lowell Farms Inc.) and our amazing retail partners. In general, I try not to get too high or too low - but feeling immensely optimistic about the state! Gotta celebrate the wins - as tomorrow I'm fully expecting to be punched in the face again LOL. BTW, in the rollercoaster analogy - which part is “good”? I assume it’s when you’re going downhill (despite Kevin Hart’s face)?! But then when we talk about life’s ups and downs or highs and lows - it’s the opposite right? Make it make sense?!

I’m all about throwing as much shit to the wall and seeing what sticks. You basically just gotta try as much as you can to see what’s viable for your situation. Trust me, it took me 5-10 stabs at trying to start a business to finally get something off the ground. And now that Delivered, Inc is off the ground, we’re experimenting as much as we can to see what we can do to drive growth. Which is why I’m pumped to launch our partnership with Jointly. Jointly is a game changer for cannabis consumers. Instead of just giving you a marketplace to shop on, Jointly harness the power of AI to give consumers a personalized, tailored shopping experience aimed at improving their relationship with cannabis. This is especially helpful to us because of our lack of budtenders. Given that customers place their orders online with us, we miss that golden opportunity that budtenders have to learn what the customer needs and then provide a recommendation based and even upsell. We completely miss these opportunities. But this is where (we hope) Jointly will shine for us. By using AI to listen to customers and recommend what’s best for them, Jointly is basically becoming the budtender of the future. Shoutout David Kooi and the whole Jointly team for putting together this badass software and THANK YOU for letting us be your inaugural Massachusetts launch partners!!! And huge thank you to Chris Faraone and the Talking Joints Memo team for covering this partnership (link to article in comments) 🙏🏽🙌🏽💯 If all goes well, we’ll have a couple more media partners covering this game-changing launch 👌🏽 Have a great week everyone, wishing you all nothing but fulfillment, peace, and success 💚 #massachusetts #cannabis #innovation #ai #newengland #masscannabis #worcesterma #health #cannabishealth #entrepreneur #founderlife #behindthescenes #weed #massgrass

𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐍 𝐅𝐔𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐃 Impeccable Innovations Pvt. Ltd. (IIPL) is a AgriHealthFood startup company focused on GFCFSF foods for significantly improving gut-health in people with various health challenges. Our 5+ YO food brand SPORTIFY is an innovative disruptive brand for healthcare space. 𝐈𝐈𝐏𝐋'𝐬 ꜰɪᴠᴇ 𝐔𝐒𝐏𝐬: 1. Till Date Bootstrapped & Future Focused 2. Walk-The-Talk 3. Scientifically-Backed 4. Industry Insider With Domain Expertise 5. Doing business without selling our souls What if you could go back and invest in APPLE brand at an early stage? Don't regret missing out on a similar opportunity. So, hey like-minded accredited investors. Let's talk money 💲. 𝔻𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕚𝕞𝕖𝕣: Limited closing time of our first angel round. Write to us at abgu@impeccableinnovations.com https://lnkd.in/gYaQH7Q4 And for our 𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕣𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕤: "𝘼𝙨 𝙬𝙚 𝙣𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙨, 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙪𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚. 𝙊𝙪𝙧 𝙣𝙤𝙣-𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙛 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙝 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙨, 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙧𝙪𝙜 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚". #LegacyBrandInMaking

This guy used a secret to lose 100 lbs. So he turned it into a company and sold it for $420M. Mike Fata grew up poor and dropped out of high school in his hometown of Winnipeg, Canada. He didn't leave school to build startups. It was because he got bullied relentlessly for his weight. Mike was a 300 lb teenager until he decided to change his life. A no fat diet helped Mike shed dozens of pounds. But it was actually his pivot into a healthy fat diet that gave him his half a billion dollar business idea. Shun the bad fats, eat the good ones. While studying nutrition, Mike discovered the fantastical properties of hemp seeds (also known as hemp hearts). Hemp is a plant in the same family as cannabis and is used for a variety of mechanical and industrial uses. But people weren't consuming it as part of their diet, even though hemp seeds are packed full of protein and healthy fats. Mike set out on a mission to make hemp a part of the North American diet. It was a 20 year ride fighting government regulations, educating consumers, and fighting for retail shelf space. In 2019 Mike's company Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods was acquired by Canadian cannabis giant Tilray for $419M. Mike revels in his current lifestyle advising/investing in the next generation of great consumer companies like Mid-Day Squares and Dream Pops. He feels blessed for being able to do what his mentors were doing in their 60's in his 40's. I enjoyed interviewing Mike on a recent Our Future Podcast episode. It was a killer conversation. Link in comments. #cpg #startups #naturalfood

WHAT IS HEALTHY AGING? Listen to the rest of my interview with  Rob Fried, CEO of ChromaDex, maker of Tru Niagen®. ChromaDex is the innovator behind Tru Niagen®, its growing suite of clinically proven, top-selling NAD+ boosting supplements helping people transform the way they age worldwide.  If you want to sample Tru Niagen 300mg, 30-count subscription, you can get a 15% discount here. Simply use PROMO CODE: RAMON15 Follow me, Ramon Vela, Rose Hamilton, and The Story of a Brand Show for more conversations with industry leaders and to stay updated on the latest trends in consumer brands, retail, and beyond! #founders #founderstories #brands #entrepreneurship

🚀 From Wall Street to Weed Street: My Unconventional Journey to Cannabis Industry Innovation 🌿 In the throes of the financial crisis, I embarked on a career at J.P. Morgan, believing the world of financial markets was my calling. Seven years of grinding through the ranks, my passion remained elusive. Then, the entrepreneurial spirit took hold, leading me down an unexpected path - a path paved with high highs and low lows... the zig-zagging path of Cannabis. 🌴 A chance encounter with a tale of a hippie commune in Kauai, founded by a legendary grower in the '70s, was the spark. This community, united by a love for nature, rode naked on horseback through the jungles, tending to vast cannabis fields - a stark contrast to my corporate life. 🔗 Join Eric Rosen and ForceBrands as we delve into this fascinating pivot in my latest interview. We’ll uncover the distilled spirits venture that ran parallel to my cannabis brand-building efforts and how a utopian story from Hawaii fueled my drive. ✨ Discover the keys to successful brand building in the cannabis space, the crucial balance of quality and authenticity, and how POSIBL's strategy is pioneering in an industry ripe with opportunity and challenges. 📈 Learn how we're leveraging cross-industry collaborations, consumer trends, and an entrepreneurial team spirit to stay agile and impactful in a dynamically evolving market. 👀 What's next for consumer cannabis trends? From live rosin beverages to minor cannabinoid innovation, hear my predictions on what's shaping the future of the industry. ➡️ Ready for insights that could transform your perspective on cannabis and entrepreneurship? Click through to the full conversation, ya'll. https://lnkd.in/ghhBbRwB #CannabisCommunity #BrandBuilding #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #CannabisIndustry #Leadership #MarketingStrategy

Don’t take our word for it! Thanks to Alison Tetrick for the kind words about this fantastic program from the California Milk Advisory Board! Click below to learn more and apply before the deadline of July 2! #dairy #innovation #accelerator

Want to know one cannabis business model that actually works? The asset-light brand. Basically, focus on creating, marketing and selling your brand while outsourcing the production to a reliable partner. This model can: —Reduce complexity & cost —Generate new revenue streams —Enhance innovation —Drive better returns I’ve analyzed more than 1200 cannabis companies in the past year. Asset light brands like Old Pal, Packwoods, Highsman, TYSON 2.0 and Miss Grass are:   —building meaningful brands —that generate cash flow —with low overhead No expensive facilities or grows. Just: —killer brands —run by great people —built on strong partnerships Cannabis, as you know, is *extremely* capital intensive. And the capital is scarce right now—  (but it is out there, see yesterday's post 💡) If you don’t have access to the capital needed to go vertical, brands should stay: —Lightweight —Focused —Nimble Old Pal is inarguably one of the country’s best brands. Rusty Wilenkin, Jason Ray Osni and the crew have done a stellar job. They sell flower, pre rolls, blunts, vapes, edibles and merch. They’re in 10(ish) states. Killing it. Not one license. Not one grow. And certainly no distro licenses. Or retail. Or anything weird like that. Just: —a differentiated, well-positioned brand —run by a great team —with strong partnerships and SOPs It’s a formula that is proving out in the market right now. Brand + team + SOPs = scale and profitability. — What’s your favorite asset-light brand in the industry right now? — Follow me for more ranting and raving like this, and let me know what topics you want me to take a swing at! #businessmodel #cannabis #entrepreneurs #strategy