If you have ever spent time at a cannabis event with Bill and Jeff of Beard Bros Pharms, you have likely seen how many friends and colleagues they already have, but also how many new ones they meet. As was the case when Joey Brabo from Respect My Region introduced the Beard Bros to Matt Besonan – Manager of Product Manufacturing and R&D for United Cultivation – at the Emerald Cup in Richmond, California in 2023, Matty must have said something that encouraged the Bros to dig deeper. Now, in 2024, United Cultivation has announced a partnership and distribution agreement to offer award-winning Beard Bros Pharms products to cannabis consumers across Massachusetts. Let’s take a look at the path United Cultivation has taken and how, in many ways, it parallels the one being blazed by Beard Bros Pharms.
Assembling a team that can navigate the twisted paths of cannabis regulation, production, and sales is not an easy task, but if we could build our own A-Team, it might look something like this.
First, you’ve got The Source. Every good squad needs one, United Cultivation found a real one.
Next, The CEO, the brains of the operation because buying and selling weed is only half the battle these days.
Of course, there must be a Mad Scientist cooking up new products, partnerships, and more.
It sounds like a comic book superhero squad but this is part of the team that has quietly been laying the groundwork for United Cultivation since its start in Massachusetts in 2018, and we want to introduce our audience to some very real folks that are doing things the right way out in Massachusetts, and who are now providing Beard Bros Pharms with the opportunity to do the same.
When you look at most cannabis brands, particularly failed cannabis brands, you often just need to scratch at the surface to see that egos are either crippling a brand or have killed it already.
The brands that are surviving and thriving are the ones who have built a balanced team that brings a full spectrum of experiences – from growrooms to boardrooms – to be able to adapt and evolve with the market and with cannabis consumers who are getting smarter all the time about what works for them..
That is the approach that formed the team at United Cultivation, a vertically integrated, privately held cannabis company in Massachusetts that currently has two retail dispensaries open in Ashby, MA and Groton, MA, with a third opening soon in Bolton, MA. They are also licensed for both indoor and outdoor cultivation, as well as Product Manufacturing.
With over 40 employees, United Cultivation plans to double those opportunities over the next 12-18 months as their third retail location takes root and as production ramps up to meet the consumer demand that comes with partnerships like the Beard Bros Pharms collab.
Being In The Right Place At The Right Time Is A Business Model For United Cultivation
After that chance meeting at the Emerald Cup, it still took a year to make the Beard Bros branding deal happen. But the reality is that just as United Cultivation was discovering the underserved niche that RSO products could fill on their menus and in the broader market, Beard Bros Pharms was cementing their legacy and proving the efficacy of their products with organic but rapid market expansion across multiple states and across Canada, as well as earning a Silver Medal at the highly esteemed 2024 California State Fair.
This seemingly serendipitous timing starts to look less like divine intervention and more like business as usual as you learn how United Cultivation got started, and how this well-rounded trio of Mike Spengler, Matt Besonen, and Chris Stephenson chart the course of the company’s product vision for the Massachusetts cannabis market.
For United Cultivation Cannabis Took Root Between A Rock & A Hard Place
Each of the three men listed above bring a unique, essential, and symbiotic set of skills and life experiences to the table at United Cultivation. The founders’ mutual respect for one another is just as refreshing as it is essential to the success they have achieved so far.
Matt Besonen, the Mad Scientist, is the Manager of Product Manufacturing and R&D at United. Besonen has many years of experience in the restaurant industry which he then transitioned into the retail cannabis sector, and when he crossed paths with Chris Stephenson, the Source, sometime in 2018, real recognized real and miraculous timing was in the making.
As Director of Cannabis Operations at United Cultivation, Chris is the connection guy. His grassroots business sense and undeniable authenticity help him form mutually beneficial relationships with fellow craftspeople in the Massachusetts market.
Not only does this optimize the options found on the menus at United Cultivation dispensaries, but Chris’ street-taught salesmanship also moves popular products crafted under the Uniquely Curated banner to dispensaries across the state. Stephenson sums up his own vibe by saying, “Cannabis has been putting money in my pocket since I was 15 years old.”
When Chris and Matt met, they saw the potential in each other, and in the Massachusetts cannabis market, but their path was still being defined. Meeting Mike Spengler and Steve Phaneuf, the Founders of United Cultivation, became the catalyst for a realization that they can have a long career in the cannabis industry while making sure they honor its roots.
As CEO, Mike keeps the company moving forward with a focus on operation superiority and organic expansion. He might not have been able to tell you the difference between a terpene and a cannabinoid in 2017, but he knew that if you coupled cannabis experience and curiosity with proven business processes, they would be able to separate United from the rest of the pack. Today, thanks in large part to the team he has built, Mike is well-versed in all things cannabis related and his insights carry (and move) just as much weight as Chris and Matt’s.
This all-star team of individual badasses comes together to slang weed sacks the old fashioned way, the right way, a way that has led to hundreds of positive reviews from cannabis consumers just like us.
As they write on their website, “Nothing unites people from so many different walks of life like cannabis does.” That statement is clearly the case with the crew at United Cultivation and now that the plant has brought our brands together, we can’t wait to see what comes next.
