What’s the biggest challenge facing the cannabis industry right now, and how are you and/or your company addressing it?
BLAZE focus is on the cannabis retail segment today. The biggest challenge we see retailers face today is a dealing with a price compression, building customer retention and leveraging all sales channels to their fullest, i.e. Ecommerce, Mobile Kiosk and Mobile Apps. These challenges are often a result of a fragmented technology stack. We also see retailers struggle with assessing technology decisions today. There is often a big disconnect from what the buyers of the software want versus the actual users of the software.
Where do you see the most exciting opportunity for growth and innovation in cannabis?
I am incredibility excited about 2025 and the future of cannabis technology. I see big opportunity for the cannabis technology sector to provide more automation and insights into optimizing these retailers to be high retention machines. This can be done by breaking down the technology silos within an organization and providing a technology platform that can better connect and automate the organization.
What’s one piece of advice you would give to someone looking to break into the cannabis industry?
Triple the amount of time and capital you think you need. It’s extremely hard to scale, and it is cash intensive.
What is the most important thing you have learned from your experiences in the cannabis industry?
You really have to love the plant, the community and the industry to be here today. There is no amount of reading or preparation that one can do to deal with the consistent change that happens in cannabis at the local, state and federal levels. I’ve met some of the most tenacious people in the cannabis industry!
What do you want your legacy to be as it relates to the cannabis industry?
Someone who helped scale the cannabis retailers to be as large and profitable as alcohol retailers are today.
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