The Canna Connect Show Live from Lucky Leaf w/ Chris Hanna, Comcast Business

In this episode of The Canna Connect Show I sit down with Chris Hanna, Director of Sales Engineering at Comcast Business. During the interview we discuss his background as a North Saint Paul native, with hobbies that include cars, in-line skating, and gardening. 

Chris has worked at Comcast Business for over 13 years and he currently serves as a Sales Engineer, helping connect the customer with the technology solution required. During the interview he shares best practices around phishing scams, what connectivity means in 2026, and how Comcast can serve cannabis entrepreneurs today in Minnesota. 

Beyond the basics we get into the, "Internet of Things" as well as hooking up and connecting cameras, kiosks, order fulfillment, and RFID tracking for small, medium, and large businesses. I also learn more from Chris about cyber security and how Comcast Business is already serving the cannabis industry today. 

This is a great interview if you want to learn more about how a Fortune 50 company is already serving the cannabis industry through ancillary products and services. It's also worth listening to the end to hear where I think we'll see more growth in Minnesota's cannabis industry. 

And as always, we touch on compliance. 

Thank you so much to Comcast Business for sponsoring Canna Connect's Official Lucky Leaf After Party at Earl Giles. For more information on how you can get in touch with Comcast Business click here: 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

The thoughts, views, and opinions expressed on the Canna Connect Show belong solely to the individuals and do not reflect those of Canaconnect and its affiliates, sponsors, or partners. Can I Connect does not promote or facilitate any activity that violates state or federal regulations. Everything you hear here is strictly for educational and entertainment purposes. It is not legal advice. It is not financial guidance, and it's definitely not medical direction. Seriously, don't take our word for it. Even if someone on the mic sounds like they know what they're talking about, and they're probably crazy smart too. Regardless of how legit our guests may be, you should always do your own homework, consult with your attorney, and understand the risk you're taking before you do anything when it comes to cannabis. Our intention is to keep it real. If you've got a problem with anything we've said, take us to court.

Interview Begins

SPEAKER_02 0:51

Shout out to Comcast Business. Uh Comcast Business, we met them at uh CannaConnect with Metric, which was incredible. Matt Somak from Comcast Business showed up. Uh he's like, hey, Comcast doesn't want to put their logo next to a pot leaf. He said, Go find somebody in the industry who's already doing it. That's when he found Canaconnect. Saw we were one of the only guys doing it. Welcome back to the Canaconnect show. I'm your host, Steven Eigenman, and today I am joined by Chris Hanna, director of sales engineering for the Midwest region at Comcast Business.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Yeah, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

Comcast Business. You must be from way, you must be net, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

No, you're from North St. Paul. I'm from North St. Paul, yeah. Uh grew up here, been here my whole life, so I've always been here. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Um, what was North St. Paul like in in the early days for you?

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Uh good. It's a great community, you know. Uh everybody's always been friendly there. You know, we got the snowman, everybody recognizes the Friday night car shows. Yeah. It's it's been a great community, great place to grow up. Where does the snowman originate from? Was was that part of was it there when you when you started your night? Actually, it was uh more downtown North St. Paul. So they uh removed the head, which is traumatic for the the snowman and the people around there. Yeah, yeah, they moved it to its current position. I don't know what year that was. Okay, long time.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

And now it's right off right up the highway there, right off the highway. Ah, that's funny. Uh for you, you know, you're a family man. Where where did you go to school? What how long ago did you meet your wife? Tell us a little bit about your family.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Yeah, so went to North High in North St. Paul. My my kids have gone there as well. Uh one that's graduated, she's at NDSU now. Yeah. Yep. Go Bison. Um Go Bison. My my youngest is still in high school, but yeah, we've always been part of that community. Amazing. Oh, we've been married what 25-ish years.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

Oh, it's been a while. Cool. Um, and you know, hobbies-wise, you're uh you're an active guy, you enjoy cars, rollerblading.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Yeah, yeah. I've been uh I used to rollerblade in my younger days, you know, inline skating, and uh started again a few years ago, decided to get back in shape. So yes, last year I did four full marathons. I did one half marathon, and I got three more I'm signed up for this year again. Cool. Uh joined a car club, yeah. Uh got a little, you know, Triumph Spitfire. Yeah, been a lot of fun with that too. Great community as well, you know. Not too many things I can do anymore where I'm the young guy there.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

But this is one of those where I am the young guy. Yeah. Um, but yeah, great, great group of people, happy to help all the time and share their knowledge. So it's been great.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

The car community really is uh like-minded, share whatever is in your toolkit often gets loaned out and and it comes back in different ways.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

100%, yeah. So it's one of those uh kind of tight-knit communities where if you need help, you get eight people to show up in your garage on a Saturday morning.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

They'll help you out. Seriously, just bring them up, bring coffee or donuts and and everything else is pretty much taken care of. As long as you're willing to collaborate and and sh it's a give and a take, but it's so much of a give from what I know. My dad's a gearhead and and he's building a car right now, and he wouldn't be able to do it without the welder help and the the program help, you know, for the the mapping of how do I build these things? Because he doesn't, you know, he's an engineer, but he doesn't have some of the CAD programming background, right? So I hear you on that. Where did the rollerblading, where do you like to train for that?

SPEAKER_01 4:26

So I do a lot of skating at the Roseville Oval in the summer. So I do uh I do sprints there, and uh Sundays I'm up and end over. I meet with a team there, you know, but yeah, I try to get out every day, the sun is shining. Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

And and that's the Minnesotan thing, right? Like our day, our winter our winters are long, our summers are short. And I I'm noticing that as a young dad now. Like it's not every day that I can get out in the stroller. Sometimes it's too cold. And and when when my daughter was born in October, and when the winter

Chris's Career at Comcast Business

SPEAKER_02 4:55

shifted into the cold season, I was like, oh, some of my go-to's to get outside are a little bit tougher, more layers, better shoes, you know, and and being a Minnesotan, it it takes a lot of grit to get through all four seasons. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Other good news is you can always put more clothes on.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

You can only take so much off. So and we won't be taking any clothes off on this on this episode, but um tell me a little bit about Comcast and your experience over the last 13 years. I think there's a lot to talk about, but let's get into it.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Yeah, so uh, like I said, I've worked with Comcast 13 years, but I've worked in you know telecommunications and technology for about 30. Okay. Um, I've seen a ton of change, you know. The industry itself has changed, the business has changed. Yeah. Used to be I try to convince people we did more than TV, you know. Yeah. And then it was, you know, connectivity focused. And really now we're a global provider of secure network solutions, right? Right. Um, we've made some good acquisitions that have expanded the business. We've grown organically as well, but it's not just connectivity, it's it's really security-managed services. And I think that's where it really plays into the cannabis industry as y'all. There's a lot we can do, you know, for these businesses as they emerge.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

Now, just starting at the at the highest level, when you say I'm gonna I'm gonna use the layman's, I'm gonna say connectivity. I understand where you're coming from. What does that mean to Comcast? What does connectivity mean as a as a service when it comes to providing for your clients? Connectivity.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Yeah, so it's really, you know, businesses don't survive without access to the internet anymore. Yeah, it's so it's consistent, reliable internet, but we also have a security component as well, because I don't know if you've noticed, but you know, I've received like six phishing emails just this week. Like it's it's become a major thing for all businesses and all individuals. Yeah. Um, part of that is has grown through AI as well. Like it's much easier to launch a cyber attack than it used to be. Um, those phishing emails have gotten much better as well. So you have to do things to combat that because everyone's a target, you're right. It's not just big businesses anymore, it's it's everyone because it's become easy.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

Now, if we're if we're speaking to the Minnesota cannabis entrepreneur who's getting a dispensary started, what are some good high-level tips and tricks when it comes to surveying your email inbox to avoid clicking on a phishing scam?

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Yeah, I talk a lot to my uh my customers about education and making sure your your employees are educated because you know, when my dad was alive, I was I was his IT support, and he's a guy that would click on every link, he'd download every attachment, like it was a constant battle, right? Yeah, but he was not unique, you know. He's he's working for people that are, you know, maybe in this business or any business out there. Yeah. So it comes down to education. If if it doesn't look right, don't click on it. Yeah. Um, yeah, I have one uh one customer I work with, a business who started doing like simulated phishing emails. Oh yeah. The first test, they launched 10 of them. Four people clicked on the link, three of those people entered their credentials. So that's that's not a great ratio, but it's not surprising as well, because it's just so common out there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

Um, one thing that I do is I'll I'll click the the the drop-down carrot and I'll make sure to check the domain. And if the domain looks fishy, it's not worth opening, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

If you don't know where it's coming from, if that email address doesn't look right, don't click on it. You know, if if somebody really wants to, you know, contact you, they'll find another way. Follow up. Or, you know, you'll find a way to reach them. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:53

And I could go into my personal examples, but I to your point, I think the I think the understanding of who they're reaching out to has gotten better as they're able to scrape more data and they're able to understand. Oh, I'll I'll use one example, BlockFi. The crypto uh that you know folks were use folks were getting unreal returns in the crypto market for a little while. Yep, and then BlockFi went under. And uh, and anyone who is associated with BlockFi has been getting tons and tons

Comcast can serve cannabis entrepreneurs in Minnesota

SPEAKER_02 9:23

of, hey, click this, click that. And I I can speak to that. I don't have a ton of crypto experience, but I know that fishing has come to my into my inbox. And and and I'm just one guy and one example, but I I can imagine, like you said, you've seen six this week. It is very prevalent. So um just reiterating to our community that when it comes to starting up a business, you're going to get targeted, you're going to get trying to take advantage of. What are some other ways that Comcast can serve cannabis entrepreneurs in the industry?

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Yeah, so one thing that's really important, obviously, is you know, uptime, right? Yeah. Um, if you're at a dispensary, your internet's down, you're kind of out of business at that point, right? You got to close your doors because there's compliance issues. You know, you've got your cameras and have to operate. Yeah. Um, you're doing RFID, you're tracking your your you know, your your produce, your stuff in the in the back. Everything requires internet, right? The the old days of pulling the the credit card swiper from underneath the desk, right? Those are John, right? You know, so that doesn't work anymore. Uh so really what we're seeing is a lot of people will have not just one internet connection, but two, two, a backup. Having a backup that could be depending on the size of your store, that could be just an LTE, you know, it's in sort of a cellular connection. That's a pretty simple service for Comcast to offer. 100%. Yeah. And then on top of that, obviously you do you add security to it. You know, you've got a firewall, that can be an on-prem on-prem firewall on the site, or it can be cloud-based. You've got both varieties. So depending on the size of the the shop, you know, it could be you know one basic internet connection plus an LTE failover, it could be dedicated connectivity, could be two dedicated connections. You know, it just depends on the size of the organization, size of the store, the dispensary, okay, and where that that security lies, either in the cloud or on the prem.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

How has the internet of things evolved in the last decade from when we first started hearing about it to now where we are and tie it back to the cannabis industry overall?

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Yeah, it's it's huge. Um, especially if you're in the you know more of the grow aspect of it, right? Um, yeah, we talked a little bit about plants yesterday. I'm a I'm a gardener. Yes, you know, we've got them in the backyard. I've got my you know monarch registered monarch weigh station, it's got all native plants. Yeah, love the natives, yeah. Native Minnesota plants, they just grow healthy. Yeah, I don't have to do anything to it either. It just every year it comes back, and you know, cannabis, not quite as robust in that way, right? Right. If you want to do the production that you want to do, yeah, you got to monitor things. So um, I've got house plants as well. One of those house plants I have is uh Hoya Carnosa passed down to me by my grandmother, really, and it was passed down to her as well. This this plant's been in the family for generations, but I've had it for like 25 years. It took me 20 years to get it to bloom, and it wasn't until I moved it in the house a little bit and it got just the right amount of sun, not too much, not just enough, right? That all of a sudden it bloomed and it was incredible. But wow, you know when did it bloom? Just last year. Really? Yeah, and it was uh it's amazing. If you've ever seen them, they've got these clusters of flowers that are like star-shaped flowers or pink and and white, and it's that must have been so gratif gratifying, satisfying.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

And and for your grandmother to have taken such good care, and for you to it reminds me of like a turtle, you know, turtles live to be a hundred plus years old if they're able to, and like very few things get passed down. I feel like things are so uh made to just be consumed and thrown away, and and like taking care, and I think having a green thumb and and understanding gardening will set you up well to speak to the folks in this industry, and and they'll appreciate that because there is a lot of crossover with home gardening and cannabis growing.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

And I think for a grower, if you were to wait 20 years to get a flower in the cannabis industry, you know, your family's starving at that point. Yeah, though you're not it's not a good business model, right? So luckily it grows like a weed. Yeah. Um, but to get the production value that you want, it takes some work, and and you do need to monitor things like air temperature, moisture, humidity, soils, you know, all these aspects of it. Sensors, sensors will do that for you, and that's one

Cameras, Kiosks, Order Fulfillment, RFID Tracking for Small, Medium, and Large Businesses

SPEAKER_01 13:53

of the things we can provide as well. Okay. Um, that's that Internet of Things aspect to it, and it's uh it's really getting really prevalent in other uh industries as well. Um, you go into your favorite coffee shop and you order an ice latte. We might be the ones providing sensors and make sure you have ice for that latte, right? Yeah, so coffee shop is a bad day if your ice melts. In this day and age, people love their ice lattes.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

I'm a black coffee guy, we can use lattes, but we know it is what it is. Uh now jumping back into the dispensary, cameras, kiosk, order fulfillment, RFID tracking. Let's dive into where Comcast can help dispensaries.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Yeah, so really we kind of have a solution that fits almost any size of organization, whether it's multi-site, single-site dispensaries, whatever it may be, small, medium, and large. Um, you know, at the base model, like I said, you've got your your basic business internet. Yeah, you've got maybe an LTE failover. Yes, you've got security applied on top of that. Okay. You start getting to a larger organization, and we do have solutions that are, you know, more robust than that. Sure. But the key for us is it's uptime, right? It's reliability because it if it's out, you're in a top spot, right? Your compliance might be an issue at that point. You certainly can't transact. Yeah. A bad day in the office.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

You're all important. It is. And it it the OCM and metric, it there's a large compliance aspect to this business. And I think working with a technology partner like Comcast Business makes a lot of sense because you guys have seen so many different businesses. You've helped and supported so many different businesses over the last decade, many, many years. I'm not familiar with when Comcast Business officially started, but I've grown up knowing the name Comcast. So I I just want to reiterate that Comcast Business is more than just selling you things, they're also happy to consult and you're happy to have conversations with upstart companies.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Yeah, it's 100% true. So, you know, if I'm talking to a business owner, a business owner may talk to a lot of other business owners, you know, they're in the chamber, they're they go to events, whatever it may be. Yeah. If we're doing our job correctly, we're still talking to more business owners than a business owner is, you know, because we're every day we're out in the field or we're on phone calls, we're talking to people out there in this industry. Yeah. Um, yeah, it I look at it as you know, consulting, right? Not not every conversation I have results in a sale, and that's okay. Um, if if you learn something from me and I learn something from you, that's a successful conversation, and that's the way, you know, I yeah, that's the way I operate.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

Okay. Something that I I need to learn more about. I have friends that work in the cybersecurity space, it's become a large industry in the last decade, five to ten years. Yeah. Where does Comcast business fit in when it comes to cybersecurity for a business?

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Really, at this point, we can touch basically every aspect of it, right? It's um how you protect the gate into the facility via firewall. You can do endpoint detection

Comcast Business Already Serves the Cannabis Industry

SPEAKER_01 17:02

and response, which is kind of like, you know, everybody knows what antivirus is. This is like antivirus that looks for behaviors instead of known threats. It takes it to a new level, right? Um, cloud security, we can secure customers who have hundreds of locations. We can secure customers that have one site, you know. So it scales as you scale. Really, there isn't anybody who couldn't benefit from some of the services that we have, Sale.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Let's talk uh a little bit of your solutions and your acumen. You Comcast business is already serving the cannabis industry. Let's let's make sure that people know that to start off with. Talk about some of the successes that you've had within larger uh or within the cannabis industry. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

Yeah, really, we we touch everything from seed to sale. Um, you know, from the growers, um, you know, obviously not just in Minnesota, right? Colorado, Oregon, all these other places where this is, you know, on the rise, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

They're right of it. 23. We're we were the 23rd state. I think there's 41 medical uh states. So 80% of the country is on medical cannabis, uh, and over half the c country is on adult use cannabis. So exactly. I and and kudos to Comcast. We've reached the tipping point.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

It does seem that way. Yeah. This is, you know, people have thought of it as a legitimate business for a long time. Not everybody did, but it seems like at this point, like this is a legitimate business, and and people are starting to treat it that way and operate in a way that is a legitimate business, and we're part of that. So yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Um you've you've got a great team behind you. It's not just you when people call in. When folks do reach out to Comcast Business, who who who or how can they expect to be initially served by?

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Yeah, so it's it's definitely one of those things like you call in, you'll hopefully get one on my team or you know, another sales rep who's local. Yeah. Um, we do a lot of outreach as well. So the one thing I'd say is if we're calling you, just have that conversation, right? You know, they instantly like, oh, it's a salesperson, right? Just know that that salesperson is there to consult as well.

Where does Stephen Eigenmann See New Growth in Minnesota's Cannabis Industry?

SPEAKER_01 19:14

Um, like I said, not every not every conversation results in a sale. Yes. We're here to have you know conversations with you know business owners and IT boats, and that's what we do every day.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

So and do you have any questions for the cannabis industry or for CannaConnect when it comes to understanding Minnesota's unique industry here?

SPEAKER_01 19:37

I think you know, when you look at growth, where do you see it going next? Like, yeah, you go into a dispensary, that's it's an experience there. Yeah, do you see that changing in the near future? Let's you know, expanding from what it is today.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

Yeah, I do. Um one thing that hasn't been turned on yet from an industry-wide standpoint is delivery. So getting the product to you is not yet online yet. There aren't any companies doing delivery yet, and that's that's because the the gates haven't opened.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

Uh the other aspect that we have to touch on is the unevenness of dispensaries open versus cultivations online. Yeah. There are some large cultivations online and they are supplying the bulk of the market. However, there is there are many folks wanting to be licensed that are in the process of getting open and starting to cultivate. And I would say that this year, this summer, if we if we sit down in another three months, we'll see a legitimate amount of new cultivations online. Now, there is a lead time to growing, uh, curing, draw, drawing, curing, and testing. Uh testing is a huge bottleneck in the state right now. We'll see uh hopefully another 10 labs online if we if we look ahead to the next three to six months. All of those labs are gonna be needing the services that Comcast provides, and then they'll be going out and serving the market at a greater level. Um so the the supply chain is still i immature. Uh and I think we'll see a slow we'll see slow growth throughout 2026, and I think we'll see fast growth in 2027 and 2028.

unknown 21:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

Yeah. That's great. Uh delivery though, I would say that's kind of one that people aren't uh necessarily thinking about unless you're a consumer and you're like, hey, why can't I get this delivered? But uh lots of hoops to jump through, IDs to check, things like that. The compliance aspect, it it can't be understated. It's something that we have taken a great deal in understanding in the last two years because as we get closer to where we are now, adult use cannabis events, uh compliance, if we are not compliant, we will get shut down. And we have to understand that and not take anything for granted. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Well, it's like any any new and emerging business. You know, you prove over time that you're a good neighbor in the community, and you know, things will take off, right? Or you'll have success.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

So yeah. Well, we look forward to doing more education, more conversations, getting your brand out there. We're gonna have a great time tonight. I've I've got I've got the the uh the lighting all figured out for us. And uh, if you need anything, Chris, just reach out. Yeah, 100%. If you need to get in touch with Comcast business, Chris Hanna is a friendly face. He's also got a great sales team, outreach team, and we'll be sharing more about the Comcast business through the Canaverse and look for Comcast business at upcoming Canaconnect events.