Grassroots Marketing

Grassroots Marketing discusses Cultivation to Consumption with Eric Robichaud, CEO of Green Goddess Supply.

Green Goddess Supply is a “cultivation to consumption” cannabis lifestyle brand offering a line of high-quality products to grow, store, prep and consume hemp flower and cannabis products. The company sells direct to consumers at MSRP through its website, and also offers wholesale and distributor accounts to brick and mortar storefronts and industry distributors. Green Goddess Supply strives to exceed expectations and delight customers with quality products and amazing customer service.

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Grassroots Marketing discusses Groundbreaking Video Intelligence with Tanuj Thapliyal, CEO of Spot AI

Tanuj Thapliyal is a multidisciplinary IT engineer, academic researcher, and entrepreneur. He’s also the CEO and cofounder of Spot AI, a groundbreaking video intelligence company.

He'd be honored to chat with you about how cannabis labs and facilities can leverage the awesome power of AI-enabled surveillance tech to improve operations and safety — without putting their privacy, data, and employees’ sanity at risk.

Spot AI emerges from stealth with $22M for a platform to draw out more intelligence from organizations’ basic security videos
https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/15/spot-ai-emerges-from-stealth-with-22m-with-a-platform-to-draw-out-more-intelligence-from-organizations-basic-security-videos/

Learning From Amazon: The Good, The Bad, and the Dystopian - Whether they’re turning heads with their visionary “just walk out” stores or turning stomachs with reports of heavily-surveilled employees being forced to urinate in bottles, Amazon definitely pushed the limits of AI-powered video systems in the workplace. Tanuj will dive deep to discover what we can learn from their example, so you can reap the incredible benefits of this emerging technology without millions of dollars of hardware — or, y’know, all the evil.
Reimagining the Role of Video - AI-enabled camera systems can provide so much more than just security — they can give you the critical real-time data and actionable insights you need to win in today’s hyper-competitive business landscape. Tanuj will share how he’s helping innovative companies like SpaceX gain an edge by transforming their outdated video security systems into modern video intelligence solutions.
What’s Wrong With the Security Camera Industry? - Good news! Hi-def video cameras are now so affordable that even ovens and refrigerators are sporting them, creating an explosion of creative new ways for people to use, access, and share the power of video. The bad news? The expensive security cameras in your business were still designed for the way we used video twenty years ago. Tanuj will explain what’s been keeping the security camera industry so frustratingly behind the times that he had to fix it himself.

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Cannabis Brand TSUMo Snacks Debuts Line of Savory Snacks into the California Market and their CEO and Co-founder Caroline Yeh fill us in.

The cannabis snack brand aims to elevate the way people snack with a line of low dose cannabis-infused salty snacks. TSUMo Snacks, a cannabis-infused edible brand with salty and savory offerings officially launched today in California. The Company’s snack portfolio fills a large void in the current sweet-centric edibles market and features low-dose, nostalgic-themed products in flavors that consumers have historically loved.

TSUMo brings consumers a unique and elevated snacking experience by infusing familiar flavors and form factors with premium THC. Low dosed at 10mg of THC per bag, the debut line of snacks features five delicious flavors:

Classic Cheese Puffs: the go-to snack to satisfy any cheese craving

Fiery Hot Cheese Crunchers: to spice up your snacking high

Zesty Ranch Mini Tortilla Rounds: the chip that boldly goes where no ranch has gone before

Hint of Lime Mini Tortilla Rounds: chips that pack a punch of lime zest and citrus

Salsa Verde Mini Tortilla Rounds: the perfect amount of spice and south-of-the-border zing

“We believe that there is a big opportunity for TSUMo to deliver great-tasting salty and savory snacks to those seeking a differentiated infused edibles experience,” comments Caroline Yeh. “With endless flavor and form factor innovation opportunities, everyone will grow to love TSUMo’s munchable and delicious snacks.”

Priced at $5/unit, TSUMo Snacks will initially be available for purchase and delivery in select parts of California through the Company’s website. For more information, visit tsumosnacks.com and follow us on Instagram at @tsumosnacks.

About TSUMo Snacks:

TSUMo is a brand that brings consumers a unique and nostalgic snacking experience by combining familiar salty and savory flavors with THC. Each bag of crunchy goodness has 10mg of THC so you can savor the flavors — and the feeling.

Caroline Yeh, CEO and Co-founder, of TSUMo Snacks, has over 6 years of experience in product development, operations, marketing and distribution within the cannabis industry. Prior to that, Caroline spent 12 years working in the traditional consumer packaged goods space.

With her profound ability to help both large and small companies scale and commercialize innovative brand portfolios in traditional and nontraditional channels, Caroline is qualified to speak about emerging cannabis industry trends, shifts in consumer behavior (edibles vs. smoking), how to make your brand stand out from the crowd, and how TSUMo is filling a large void in the current sweet-centric edibles market with their new line of savory snacks.

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We speak with Ankur Rungta, the Founder & CEO of C3 Industries as part of our NCIA Cannabis Business Summit 2021 coverage.

C3 Industries, a multi-state, vertically integrated cannabis company headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with several product brands including the award-winning Cloud Cover Cannabis and Galactic Meds, and a retail network, High Profile Boutique Cannabis.

C3 Industries launched its first production operation in 2018, with a 36,000 square foot indoor cultivation and manufacturing facility in Portland, Oregan. The company has since opened additional operations in Michigan and Massachusetts. The company produces high-quality cannabis products across all categories in Oregon and Michigan and is soon to launch in Massachusetts and Missouri. You recently opened a new 15,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in St. Louis, which will commence operations this month.

In addition to the facility, C3 has finalized an exclusive licensing partnership with California’s Kiva Confections to bring its premium edibles brands to the Missouri market. Per the agreement and subject to regulatory approvals, it will produce Kiva’s full suite of brands: Lost Farm gummies, Camino gummies, Petra mints, Terra chocolate bites, and Kiva Bars.

They will produce C3’s Cloud Cover Cannabis line of concentrates, cartridges, and pre-rolls starting late 2022.

Ankur Rungta is co-founder and chief executive officer of C3 Industries Inc. Under his leadership, the company has raised over $100 million of capital and currently employs almost 400 people. Ankur and his team have overseen the development of six award-winning cannabis production facilities as well as twenty-one retail stores in Michigan, Massachusetts, Missouri and Oregon.
Ankur is also a co-founder and board member of Nickel City Pictures, a film and television production company based in Los Angeles and New York City that has produced such box-office hits as “John Wick 2,” “November Man,” and “Mother’s Day,” among others.

Prior to launching these companies, Ankur worked as an investment banker at Moelis & Company in New York and as a corporate attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, advising clients on capital markets and M&A transactions.

Ankur earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan in 2004. He earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law school in 2008, when he graduated Magna Cum Laude and Order of the Coif.

In 2014, he was nominated to the Michigan Opera Theatre Board of Directors. He has taken an active role in the arts organization – where he serves as Vice Chairman of the Board and leads the Nominating and Governance Committee, the youngest person to hold those roles.

Ankur is also a dedicated family man. He and his wife reside in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with their two children. He enjoys traveling, spending time with his family, playing basketball, watching college and professional sports, and keeping up with current events and politics. Ankur was born in Columbus, Ohio, and grew up in Buffalo, New York.

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Grassroots Marketing is joined by The Leading Canadian Women In Cannabis. International Speaker & Cannabis Business Consultant. She is a Forbes 30 under 30 scholar and international speaker on cannabis and sexual health. The Founder & CEO of PleasurePeaks, Antuanette Gomez.

Peak Pharm Labs is a cannabinoid sexual health and wellness company with the mission of enhancing intimacy and sexual function. Antuanette appeared on our High on Healthy series in April 2018. 

We talk about a recent announcement from about Pleasure Peaks and Hybrid Pharm announcing a partnership and creation of Peak Pharm Labs. This new joint venture is dedicated to making sexual health and wellness products through its extensive research and collaboration with various industry-leading healthcare professionals.

From Weedmaps: Pleasure Peaks is designed to improve sexual health through research on cannabinoid therapies for women with fibroids and endometriosis by the company's Pleasure Labs initiative. The testing is conducted by doctors worldwide in sexual health medicine and cannabinoid research.CBD-infused intimacy products enhance pleasure and reduce discomfort for better intimacy and sexual health. The CBD-infused product offering includes bath salts, 2-in-1 lube and massage oil, and suppositories. 

Pleasure Peaks provides affordable sexual health products ranging from infused suppositories to infused lubricants. It has a diverse mix of products because every person has a unique sexual barrier and interests.

Weedmaps profiled you and they wrote: Before cannabis you were a holistic nutritionist at a chronic pain clinic in 2015 when you learned just how often her patients used cannabis to manage their pain. They then brought up Pleasure Peaks brands itself as an “elevated sexual health company focusing on plant-based products and philosophy” since its inception in 2016. The brand's identity and impetus arose as Gomez recreationally consumed cannabis to add a spark to the bedroom. 

“It wasn't until I worked in medicine did I understand that cannabis can be a great alternative for easing sexual health ailments for optimal sexual experiences,”  Gomez shared. “I knew the cannabis lubricant was great for easing discomfort in the bedroom but it wasn't until I met patients diagnosed with endometriosis, fibroids, and PCOCs that I took creating a medical cannabis company seriously.” 

Pleasure Peaks is 100% Black, female, LGTBQ owned and operated. The company has also created an inclusive culture that invites conversation from every corner by hosting virtual online community pleasure classes, a podcast, and global tantric cannabis couple retreats.

Learn more at www.pleasurepeaks.com, @cannalube on Facebook, @pleasure_peaks on Instagram and @PleasurePeaks on Twitter. https://www.antuanettegomez.com/

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Elizabeth Corbett, VP of Sales for AE Global, is on a mission to build sustainable packaging & supply chain programs for Cannabis and CBD companies that honor their brand identity, drive revenue growth, protect the product and do so cost-effectively.

Cannabis Industry Journal recently reported: Since early 2020, the pandemic has shined a spotlight on the global supply chain and its shortcomings. Supply and demand have changed so much and so quickly that it has fostered shortages and delays for many of the world’s goods.

Much of this crisis is due to manufacturing plants in countries like China working at half-capacity or being forced to shut down to curtail the pandemic. A lot of those shortages can also be blamed on companies with a lack of foresight, choosing to lower costs with thin inventories rather than keeping warehouses full.

The global supply chain crisis has impacted nearly every market on earth that relies on international shipping. Everything from clothing and turkeys to cars and computer chips is in short supply, causing prices and wait times to increase.

They go on to say: With new markets coming online and legacy cannabis markets expanding, the cannabis supply chain is certainly maturing and this crisis may be kicking things into high gear. In states on the West Coast, distribution channels have expanded, rules have allowed for curbside pickup and delivery and a lot more ancillary businesses are supporting a thriving market.

From MJBizDaily: Complying with regulations while sourcing and working with cost-effective, attractive marijuana or hemp packaging requires a deft touch, which can’t be done by simply throwing money at the problem.

Packaging is a major cost for any marijuana or hemp company that makes products, and a few considerations to cut expenses include:

Buying in bulk to get better pricing.
Keeping a close eye on the packaging manufacturer to ensure quality.
Dialing in forecasting to accurately order the correct supply.
Selecting affordable base materials and simplifying the process as much as possible.


“CannaBeth”, as Elizabeth is fondly known, entered the Cannabis industry more than eight years ago after spending the first part of her career developing packaging solutions for significant players in the retail and health & beauty markets such as Starbucks, Tiffany and Estee Lauder. Based in Seattle and Miami, Beth is passionate about finding environmentally responsible and sustainable solutions no matter what the form or substrate.

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Grassroots Marketing talks with Steve Malito, a partner at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, where he chairs the Cannabis Department and the New York State Government Relations Group.  In that role, he advises clients on a range of issues affecting the cultivation, processing, distribution, and sale of Cannabis. He provides counsel to businesses seeking licenses to operate within the industry, as well as clients seeking to do business with the cannabis industry, with a focus on regulatory compliance and the government relations that surround this emerging industry in New York. Talk to me about the new department. 

Steve is chair of the state government relations practice for the firm working with clients in the alcohol industry and in marijuana. He noted there are 3,500 liquor stores in the state — 2,500 downstate and 1,000 above Westchester County. If that's any indication for the potential of the marijuana industry. He told the Albany Times Union, there potentially could be hundreds of marijuana retailers across the state.

“Once this gets up and running, it’s likely that you will not have a hard time finding an adult cannabis store in New York," he said.

Steve Malito is the Chair of DHC’s New York State Government Relations group which focuses on all aspects of government relations on the New York State level. The group represents a broad array of clients ranging from Fortune 500 technology companies and the film industry to not-for-profits, including universities, social services agencies, statewide trade associations, as well as clients in the banking, insurance and transportation industries. 

Under Mr. Malito’s leadership, the group has been instrumental in the passage of a number of significant state laws that have benefited the firm’s clients. He has regularly navigated the New York State Budget process for the firm’s clients. For over 20 years, Mr. Malito has represented clients before the Governor’s Office, administrative agencies, the Senate and the Assembly in Albany. We talk about the progress of legalization being implemented in New York State. 

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Grassroots Marketing speaks with Ryan Forrestal, an actor-turned entrepreneur and founder of the latest innovation to hit the cannabis market; Blunt Bowls.



He incepted this venture at a UFC fight with longtime friends, ambling to roll a blunt on the fly when it occurred to him that there was a cleaner, more efficient, and better quality route to experience a blunt. 

Blunt Bowls combines the refined feel of a Cuban cigar with the communal comradery of passing a pipe around a circle.  Just press, pack and light with these hassle-free tobacco leaf bowl liners. Not only are these a great option for those who enjoy smoking their cannabis with some tobacco, but they also keep your bowl nice and clean after every sesh. Crafted from dark, air-cured tobacco leaves, Blunt Bowls provide an even burn with a mild aroma that’s suited for any occasion.41

Crafted from dark, air-cured tobacco leaf, Blunt Bowls’ premium bowl liners are designed for indulgence in a clean, high-toned experience at the drop of a hat. With tobacco sourced specifically for its durability and moisture content, the even bowl burn and mild aroma creates a blend fit for any occasion.

www.bluntbowls.com

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-CannGen Insurance Services is one of the largest cannabis insurance providers in the US and Canada. CannGen underwrites for most of the top revenue-generating MSOs in the space (in the US and in Canada) and is the first Managing General Underwriter (MGU) exclusively focused on the legal cannabis industry. Talk to me about the issues surrounding MSOs and what those companies seeking to expand into a MSO or attach to one should be aware of. 

-PropertyCasualty360 recently wrote about Cannabis operations are hungry for D&O coverage


Cannabis companies need D&O not just to protect their current executives and board members but to attract leading talent in the space as well as draw in new investors to scale up the business. 

Directors and officers (D&O) liability insurance protects the personal assets of corporate directors and officers, and their spouses, in the event they are personally sued by employees, vendors, competitors, investors, customers, or other parties, for actual or alleged wrongful acts in managing a company.


“First and foremost, by not having D&O protection to interest the highest caliber of board or executive team members, an operator is limiting the pool of candidates they can attract to guide their company,” Pyfrom tells PropertyCasualty360.com. “A lot of clients tell me that adding D&O to their portfolio allowed them to attract board member X or investor Y. Absent that coverage, they couldn’t have accessed that growth.”

-Charles moderated a panel at the 2021 Insuring Cannabis Summit:  describing the difficulty of explaining to insurance buyers about the lack of capacity or certain lines of insurance.

“Honestly we’ve found with a lot of our buyers and brokers we talked to where they’ll say, ‘What do you mean it’s not available?'” Pyfrom said. “That shock factor is real, even though cannabis has been more than a decade strong, continue to be a force in the industry of an up and coming boom, where it’s attracting great operators and great executives from other industries to come over and say, I want to be part of this entrepreneurial venture that is cannabis, that’s doing a gazillion dollars in sales every year now. I mean, it’s real numbers." 

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Lowell Farms Inc. (CSE:LOWL; OTCQX:LOWLF) is a company establishing a large presence in the California cannabis market. In general, the company has advanced production capabilities, grows artisan craft cannabis, and built a portfolio of award-winning licensed cannabis brands for cannabis consumers with an extensive portfolio of award-winning originals, including Lowell Herb Co, Cypress Cannabis, MOON, and Kaizen Extracts, for licensed retailers statewide.

In the spring of 1909, William “Bull” Lowell began growing what was called Indian Hemp on his farm on the central coast of California. Henry J. Finger took a dislike to Bull’s “marijuana being smoked by the wrong kinds of people”. Finger conspired to outlaw cannabis and later passed the 1913 Poison Act. Bull believed in a man’s right to smoke the dried plant and enjoy its benefits. When the stubborn Bull refused to stop growing his beloved plant, Finger shut down Bull’s farm and later threw him in jail. Today your community of family farms honor the great Bull Lowell’s tradition of growing cannabis naturally and with a deep love and respect for the plant.

At a live panel at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in New York City “M&A is core to everything we do,” says George Allen, chairman at Lowell Farms Inc. (CSE:LOWL)(OTCQX: LOWLF), who comes from a strong M&A background as a former president of Acreage Holdings (OTC: ACRHF).

In his words, Acreage was built up from an “early-version, rolled-up strategy in M&A.”

When launching Lowell as a new company in California, Allen came back to that known M&A strategy. His company initially purchased the original Lowell Smokes brand as well as a large-scale processing facility in Central California.

“I’ve been really happy so far with the use of M&A. This business is really about finding what you’re good at, starting with what you’ve got and expanding from the core.”

Allen describes his focus as making sure to get the business model right, “and if there are choke points in our business, focus on using M&A to fix that.”

Recently, the company established a licensing agreement with Ascend Wellness Holdings. Specifically, the two companies will bring Lowell Smokes brand to dispensary locations in Massachusetts and Illinois. Additionally, the company announced its iconic Lowell Smokes pre-roll packs will be available in Illinois. Now, Lowell Smokes will be available to Illinois consumers throughout 8 retail locations in the state.

https://lowellfarms.direct/

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