Grassroots Marketing

We speak about the Cannabist Retail Experience with Jesse Channon, Chief Growth Officer of Columbia Care. Columbia Care Unveiled National Retail Experience with Launch of Cannabist, a National Dispensary Network Leveraging Proprietary Technology Platforms to Support the Customer Journey Anytime, Anywhere. We learn about the brand change and the onus to create this national retail experience.

 The Cannabist retail experience is centered on making shopping for cannabis as simple and approachable as possible. Merchandising set-ups and store layouts have been organized to help customers move through the space with intent and become more comfortable in the process. Additionally, the space is designed to encourage employees and customers to engage in conversations that enhance the shopping experience, whether through product recommendations or general education. To fully realize this goal, all Cannabist staff will undergo extensive training not offered at other dispensaries, ensuring that customer and patient needs can be exceeded. Talk to me about how this differs from the conventional retail models.


The first location to launch under the Cannabist brand is the recently opened dispensary in Springville, Utah, followed by Columbia Care locations in Arizona, Illinois, and California, and most recently in Florida will become Cannabist branded retail locations, with a pipeline of more than 80 new and existing locations to follow over the next 24 months

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Discussion on Competitive Cannabis Licensing at the State Level with Jay Czarkowski, Founding Partner of Canna Advisors.

Jay was interviewed in an article he was featured in from Boulder Weekly.  Here's a portion that stands out to me that I would like to focus on. 


Some cautious states are choosing to only legalize medicinally, while their neighbors leap at the opportunity to go full rec. Some states allow dispensaries to sell cannabis they grow themselves, while others require totally separate licenses for cultivation and dispensing. Some states, like California, have created as many as 20 different cannabis business-license classifications (like retail, distribution, cultivation, manufacturing, medical use, adult use, testing, etc.), while other states, like Alaska, offer just a handful.



One of the most significant policy distinctions between states with legal cannabis is whether or not they choose to restrict the number of cannabis licenses issued. If they do, that makes it incredibly competitive for hopeful business-owners to obtain a license and break into the industry. You also said it also dramatically affects the shape and nature of a state’s legal cannabis industry.

When states limit the number of cannabis licenses, it can often box out smaller businesses and entrepreneurs in favor of applicants that have more resources. In Connecticut, for example, the state government elected to issue just four cultivation licenses for the entire state when it legalized cannabis. It was the first state to have a truly merit-based application process, you explained — and it was extremely competitive. 


Boulder Weekly also explained that you the unlimited license model is the healthiest, strongest approach to legalization and that the “bread and butter” of what Canna Advisors is doing depends on states doing exactly the opposite. You said “The majority of the work that we do as consultants is actually competitive licensing,” 

Most small businesses and entrepreneurs cannot compete on paper with established, well-resourced, firmly-backed big businesses or wealthy investors applying for the same licenses. And it really does come down to looking good on paper 

Jay Czarkowski is an influential cannabis entrepreneur, investor, and advocate. A well-connected and respected industry insider, Jay and his team have helped build cannabis businesses in 30 states and internationally. A foremost authority on real estate development and cultivation design, Jay has held a commercial general contractor license since 2002. Known for applying proven business tactics to unchartered territory, Jay has created a diverse vendor network at Canna Advisors with high-profile partners and serves on the board of multiple cannabis businesses.

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Expanding Payment Solutions for Banks and Financial Institutions with Steven Kemmerling of CRB Monitor

CRB Monitor and PayQwick have formed a Partnership to Expand Payment Solutions for Banks and Financial Institutions. This will bring best-in-class cannabis payment solutions to clients by expanding the tools and infrastructure needed by banks and financial institutions to manage CRB portfolio risk exposure and meet regulatory expectations effectively.

The new partnership increases PayQwick’s speed for due diligence and on-boarding of CRBs and enhances real-time individual transaction monitoring. By combining CRB Monitor’s data and PayQwick’s treasury and payments platform, the new alliance will ensure greater confidence, security, and soundness for clients of cannabis and financial institutions.

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Talking The Resonate System and Koan Cordials with Geoffrey Selzer, the Founder and CEO of Resonate Blends

Resonate’s growth strategy is to create an innovative ecosystem of companies, investments and research that all support The Resonate System. In addition to creating our “house” brands, the Company is also looking for other quality brands which could be incubated or targeted as either strategic partners or as acquisitions. Integrating these companies, we believe will provide consistent product quality that allows us to grow the company and create a trusted national brand. 

Resonate Blends recently launched Koan, which offers drinkable cordials with meticulously formulated blends of cannabinoids, terpenes and botanicals that provide a refined cannabis experience.

Unlike strain-based or full-spectrum products, Koan Cordials are scientifically crafted to highlight specific cannabis characteristics, with a quick onset, and predictable intensity allowing people to tap into targeted feelings in a new, better way. The cordials are available in the current blends – Calm, Wonder, Delight, Balance, Create and Play. 

With the launch of the world’s first cannabis cordial, Resonate Blends’ patent-pending Koan Cordials combine THC (psychoactive), CBD (non-intoxicating) with botanical terpenes to deliver an all-natural, plant-derived, single-dosed experience that can be enjoyed straight out of the bottle or poured into any beverage. Koan Cordials offer the benefits of both tinctures and beverages and combine Vertosa’s emulsion technology with Resonate Blends’ proprietary formulations to deliver consistent and precise experiences, each and every time.

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Califari with CEO Jason McHugh today on Grassroots Marketing only on Cannabis Radio. Cannabis art company Califari and cannabis private equity firm Merida Capital Holdings have formed a joint venture to create a platform that will combine two of the fastest-growing sectors in the world: cannabis and non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. Their initial NFT offering will consist of five one-of-a-kinds “Genesis” cards, which will be released via OpenSea on 4/20. Additional releases will follow. Jason McHugh, CEO, and founder of Califari, is a life-long art lover. And so are most of his team members. Califari launched as a lifestyle brand in 2015 and debuted a line of original cannabis strain art at The Emerald Cup in 2016 which has awards and been embraced by the nation with Cannabis Poster Sales ij all 50 States.

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Exclusive Brands with Chief Development Officer Narmin Jarrous today on Grassroots Marketing only on Cannabis Radio. Exclusive Brands As the Chief Development Officer of Exclusive Brands, Michigan’s first licensed adult-use dispensary that now boasts multiple locations, Narmin Jarrous has dedicated her life to ensuring the cannabis industry succeeds by placing social justice endeavors and ethical science practices at the forefront of her mission. At 24 years old, Jarrous is the youngest executive in Exclusive Brands’ history and is already making her mark on the cannabis industry by taking actionable steps to broaden social equity throughout the industry and make clean and safe cannabis accessible to all. Jarrous currently leads the Social Equity program by Exclusive Brands. In this mentorship program, Narmin helps Social Equity Applicants (as defined by the State of Michigan) gain their licenses.

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Regrow with Chief Executive Officer Rob Woodbyrne today on Grassroots Marketing only on Cannabis Radio. Rob is the Chief Executive Officer at Regrow, based in San Diego, California. Our next guest is an experienced leader with a demonstrated history of bringing innovative, disruptive technology to market. As a professional with a proven track record in cloud solutions, SaaS, PaaS, Enterprise Software, Partner Management, and Enterprise Architecture, they are focused on helping cannabis businesses manage their supply chain to grow more cannabis! Regrow is the premier cloud-based supply chain management platform designed specifically to help cannabis organizations manage their inventory, increase their yields, maximize their canopy space, automate workflows, manage their workforce, and ensure documented compliance in all areas of the supply chain.

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Quicksilver Scientific with Vice President at New Ventures David Durkee today on Grassroots Marketing only on Cannabis Radio. As Vice President of New Ventures, Durkee identifies and engages new opportunities within the food and beverage, health & wellness, and nutraceutical industries, to continue growing Quicksilver’s position as a trailblazer across these spaces. During his eight-year tenure at Molson Coors, Durkee worked in both the Denver and Golden, Colorado facilities as well as at the Toronto location. He spent the past two years building out the Toronto facility, including staffing and product development as well as exploring and securing new partnerships. Durkee worked across several divisions within Molson Coors, heading up multiple platforms for global R&D across products, processes, and packaging. Prior to his tenure with Molson Coors, he was the Innovation Process Manager with Tate & Lyle in Decatur, Ill., where he implemented process changes to track portfolio metrics at a global level and cut costs in their Information Center while maintaining service quality.

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Cannabis Safety & Quality with Chief Technology Officer & Founder Tyler Williams today on Grassroots Marketing today on Cannabis Radio. CSQ is the first cannabis certification program to meet the GFSI Benchmarking Requirements. As a division of ASI Food Safety, a woman-owned business that’s provided safety solutions to the food industry since the 1940s, the CSQ Standards were built in 2020 to meet ISO requirements, GFSI requirements, and regulatory cannabis requirements from seed to sale. Tyler Williams is a consumer product safety & quality expert in the Food & Beverage, Cannabis, and Dietary Supplement industries. This Year’s Cannabis Recalls, Explained: Between a Michigan company recalling the product after an employee licks shut pre-rolls, inevitably closing business, or moldy flower scares in CO, MO, OK, and AZ, Tyler can discuss lessons learned so history doesn’t repeat itself. Eliminating product recalls and preparing for federal legalization are two major reasons companies consider CSQ Certification.

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Fyllo with Chief Commercial officer Jeff Ragovin, today on Grassroots Marketing only on Cannabis Radio.

Tech pioneer and industry veteran, Jeff Ragovin has a proven track record of leading and scaling technology platforms. Co-founder of Buddy Media, Ragovin played a central role in guiding the company from start-up to the largest enterprise social marketing software in the world. Founded in 2007, Buddy Media empowered brands and agencies with a SaaS platform to organize and control their social marketing programs globally. Buddy Media enabled companies to publish content, place and optimize social ads, and measure the effectiveness of social marketing programs. Salesforce acquired Buddy Media in 2012 for $745M, making it one of the largest tech exits in NY history at the time. At Salesforce, Ragovin served as the Chief Strategy Officer. 

Today, Jeff is the Chief Commercial Officer at Fyllo. Fyllo is leveling the playing field for cannabis companies with the Fyllo Compliance Cloud, a suite of enterprise-grade software and services powered by RegsTechnology, the largest database of cannabis laws and regulations at the federal, state and local level. We deliver advanced data, media, and compliance solutions that are built for the complexities of the cannabis industry today. From local dispensaries to large MSOs and traditional CPG companies, ambitious cannabis brands and industry professionals choose Fyllo as their partner to go bigger and grow faster with trust and confidence in compliance. Jeff is a sought after speaker sharing his experiences and insights at leading industry events worldwide including: SXSW, CES, Digital Hollywood, Internet Week, Social Media Week, Dreamforce, MasterClass Series, Forbes, Startout and many others.

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