Business View Magazine | June 2019

29 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JUNE 2019 INVESTMENT CORNER of Colorado’s first vertically-integrated cannabis businesses, with a dispensary and a number of grow operations. “Wild west. No rules. Very early pioneering times. We never had any intention of starting a consulting or services company but, in 2012, Connecticut had passed a medical marijuana bill, legislatively, and there was a group of folks that connected with us through mutual contacts in the industry and asked us if we could help them compete for one of only four licenses that Connecticut was going to issue. So, we worked with them for a year, they paid us a consulting fee, and we ended up winning one of those licenses for them. In fact, they just sold the license to GTI – one of the big multi-state operators – for $80 million. “So that got us our start. Then, we did some work in Massachusetts, where we won three of the original 20, vertically-integrated licenses, there – again, as consultants, working with local clients. That was in 2013. Fast forward to today, we’re still doing the same thing. We’re a full-time business of 25 actual W-2 employees. The majority of our work is competing for limited licenses; we’ve become very good at it and maintain an excellent track record. “Diane and I are also very active investors. As part of the Arcview Group (Cannabis Investment and Market Research) for six years, we make a number of investments every year and some of those are getting interesting. We’re also advocates – our philosophy is: if we expect to profit from this industry, we need to do our part to help build it. We’ve done work in 30 U.S. states, as well as Canada, Puerto Rico, we even have a client in Guam.” BVM: Since you started Canna Advisors, the cannabis industry has exploded. How do you compete? Jay: “One thing we can’t ever do is rest on our past success. We’re only ever as good as the most recent state. Part of upping our game is by continuing to attract only the very best talent we can find. Another big secret to our success is making sure we partner with the right local clients in these individual states.” Diane: “Even though things have progressed so much, it’s still very much going through the same educational process every time a new market opens. Right now, we’re working in Missouri, getting ready for the application process. We’ve been working with some clients there for several months and it’s still starting from scratch and educating the people who are interested in getting a license about what’s allowed and what’s not allowed. Even though, technically, they’re the 31st state to pass some form of legal cannabis legislation, it’s all new to them. “Because cannabis is federally illegal here in the U.S., every state has rolled out a program in their own way; 30 different programs with 30 different sets of rules. While a lot of it is very new, pictured above Diane and Jay Czarkowski, founders of Canna Advisors