Evolving the Industry with Don Raleigh III of Evolve Payment

Minnesota cannabis is no longer just an idea. It’s becoming a real industry in real time.

In this special episode of The Canna Connect Show, Stephen Eigenmann sits down with Don Raleigh III of Evolve Payment to talk about the evolution of cannabis in Minnesota ahead of the Evolving the Industry event happening May 14th at The Minneapolis Club.

Together, they discuss:

•  the rapid growth of Minnesota cannabis 
•  why compliant payment systems matter 
•  the hidden costs of cash-heavy operations 
•  NECANN and the importance of industry collaboration 
•  cannabis banking challenges 
•  what operators should know about payment compliance 
•  how Minnesota cannabis is becoming more mainstream 

The conversation also highlights the importance of community, relationships, and celebrating the operators building this industry from the ground up.

If you’re working in cannabis, curious about the future of the market, or planning to attend NECANN week in Minneapolis, this episode captures a unique snapshot of where the industry stands today and where it’s heading next.

🎧 Presented by Canna Connect and Evolve Payment.

📍 Evolving the Industry
 May 14, 2026
 The Minneapolis Club
 4:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Grab tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1985763963470

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

The thoughts, views, and opinions expressed on the CannaConnect show belong solely to the individuals and do not reflect those of Canaconnect and its affiliates, sponsors, or partners. CanakConnect 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.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

So talk about how ACH saves you time. Well, as it stands right now, I think that a lot of the organizations that are running automatic clearing house transactions, ACH transactions, uh organizations in the cannabis industry are recognizing that if you are facilitating these payments through credit cards, these non-compliant cashless ATMs, et cetera, one of the problems that you'll run into is it's great at first until it's not. We've had several organizations have funds be held within the terminals themselves, and they're still fighting four months later to get those deposits secured and deposited into their bank account. And so I think from a time-saving perspective, not only are we able to do ACH transactions and have them be deposited next day into their business bank account, but there's no risk of hunt of funds being withheld and delayed six to eight months later. It just makes more sense that way. Yeah. It why would you risk your fundamentally, why would you risk your business's most crucial asset, your cash flow, on something that would that is not secured?

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, we're here with Don Raleigh, the third from Evolve Payment, sitting down on the Canna Connect show. It is May 6th. It's a Wednesday, and we're getting ready for evolving the industry. Next week's is a huge week for Minnesota Cannabis. And I kind of had this one circled, knowing the time of the year, and this is the time when things happen. You know, things, uh all sorts of events are happening, specifically in cannabis. There's the Flourish Investment Forum, May 12th and 13th. Then there's the NECAN Minneapolis Conference, May 14th and 15th. Then you have Arta World happening May 15th, 16th, and 17th for the Sunday. Um, it's Mother's Day this week, just in a few days. I can't forget about Mother's Day. That's right. So I mean, it hopefully we'll see some warmer weather. It's been a little bit up and down, a lot of bit up and down, I would say. I mean, I'm excited. We're partnering. This is fun. We've been partnering, but now we have our own event, which I think in some ways could be a theme, uh, a sequence of events over years as the market continues to evolve.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

I think that we're witnessing that across the entire spectrum. Not only are we seeing things happening on a federal level, but at the state level, businesses are actually operating now. I mean, we're still navigating the issues of having enough product in stores for dispensaries to use, but that is opening up. More and more cultivators are going live, shipping out their products. Transporters are actually having supply chain management actually working, and we're seeing transactions flow. It's an exciting time to be in Minnesota. And as much as we can begrudgingly talk about the struggles of how it got started, it's wonderful to be in the now and to celebrate what has been done thus far. It's a good metric of seeing how much dollars are going through that Power BI system that the OCM has on their dashboard. Right. It's happening. And we are here in a very special time. And uh, I love the conversation with a lot of the other operators that are here at the very beginning. We're all going to be having to reference each other in each other's books. Uh, we should all be writing down what we're doing right now because we will be best-selling authors someday. God, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Yeah, you know, it's so funny you say that the the previous guest uh earlier today, Tanner Barris, just submitted his book.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Oh, how funny.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Yeah. Uh on on the history of Minnesota cannabis. There we go. It's happening right here, live action. Literally, it is happening. It's being written, you know, and earlier today we were also meeting with or sitting with Local 49. Sure thing. And they're a hundred-year-old organization. And I think about the Minnesota cannabis industry as we know it is a three-year-old industry. And I couldn't help but think about the grandfather or even great-grandfather and great great-grandchildren analogy of a three-year-old and a hundred-year-old. And if we are begrudgingly talking about our three-year-old, well, there's so much more life to live and so much more growth to happen. Being early is comes with its own inherent challenges.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Exactly. I think we're both experienced that in our personal lives. Um, because we we both have toddlers. And I tell you what, uh, there are memories that we're gonna look back on fondly. We just got back from uh California. Yeah. I tell you what, traveling with the toddler on an airplane is a little bit different than an infant.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

Oh boy. I I'm gonna try that later this summer. Good luck. This is fun. I mean, Don, when I reached out to you, I I didn't have an agenda. There's there's some significant topics happening in Minnesota cannabis in national, federal cannabis. I've talked at at length today about hemp and cannabis and how it, man, it would be really nice if there's just one word in one plant and it was maybe more so based on the dosage size, the beer versus the whiskey, than the hemp versus the cannabis versus the marijuana versus the medical marijuana. I mean, it's exhausting. Uh HHC just uh you know was was written RIP HHC, you know, they're gonna keep losing francinoids out there, but you know, to some degree, frankenoids and and the the ability to pay for cannabinoids is one of the reasons why evolve payments in the in the industry. Sorry. Um the market is always evolving. We're not always throwing events, but when it comes to throwing events at the Minneapolis Convention Center or around the Minneapolis Convention Center, there aren't a lot of options.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Well, I think that's why this opportunity to welcome and usher in this next phase of cannabis is such a prime pinnacle moment. Um, so many cannabis operators have been grinding incredibly hard. I mean, uh I've been able to tour some facilities, northern Minnesota, southern Minnesota, and people have been truly investing their entire livelihoods. And it is wonderful to see things actually up and running now. Um, we're seeing it from a financial standpoint of transactions are flowing and things are actually being done. And I think that so many operators have been going so fast for so long that NECAN feels like it is this opportunity to take a breath, catch up, make sure things are going smoothly. And then this opportunity for the evolving the industry event, I think is going to be a celebration. I think that we can recognize so many hardworking individuals are standing up this economy that and it's actually working. It's actually, it's actually happening. And I think that with the evolving the industry, uh being that it's hosted at the Minneapolis Club, the the Minneapolis Club has always been this institution, this this hollowed space where business has been done for generations in Minnesota. And I think that it's a wonderful celebration of the more of the legitimization of this industry, that it's not this dirty marijuana organization. It's not, it's not something that is to be ashamed of. And I cannot wait to celebrate with all the other cannabis operators in a space that is built for business.

SPEAKER_02 7:57

Yeah. We're here and we should be. And I want to give Nikan its proper uh respect and due because they are bringing together a lot of panelists, a lot of local panelists. And I'm excited to see some of those conversations. I won't be able to make it to all of them, but good on them for leaning in to the local industry and tr and trying to well, allowing for the conversations that the local industry feels need to take place. You still got to get people in the room for it to matter, but even just getting together and having conversations in real life helps advance the industry.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

I couldn't agree more. It it seems as if these different conventions all have a different intention and different purpose. Nikan, from our perspective, seems like it is the business opportunity to say this is what we need to add stability. And so any organization that is trying to identify how do we scale up, how do we stabilize, how do we continue to evolve, this is what seems like the convention to attend for that legitimate business conversation.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Yes, agreed. And then for us to be able to take that momentum from NECAN, deliver it just down the street at the Minneapolis Club, it's going to be a remarkable opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

It's going to be a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 9:13

Yeah. Uh I 72 and Sonny's. I I checked the weather yesterday. Excellent. Yep, that's good. And we are going to put the logos on the on the outside. We are. Absolutely. That was that was written into the fine print of our of our handshake. I sure will. Of our handshake. That's fun.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Yeah. And I think that it's going to be it's going to be a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the garden uh because uh I was there this morning. Okay. And the garden is being prepped. Uh, it will be ready for us to actually enjoy. And there is a lounge area for people to be outside. That's where we should start. That's where we should start. And so I think that with everything happening, I'm so looking forward to seeing everybody dressing up. Uh this is a fun opportunity for a date night. Once again, these operators, they've not only have they worked really hard, but coming from a family business perspective where I work with both my parents, it takes both people. I mean, any owner operator, their spouse is putting in just as much work for building up their businesses. Right. And allowing for the risk. Exactly. And I think that the the spouses, this is an opportunity for for all of the plus ones to not just be a plus one, but to be celebrated too.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

The be the main act. You know, I think I think I'd love for you and I to have the mic a little bit and and to to say thank you for everyone who's here and everyone who's there to support and and be a part of it because it's it it it takes a lot of time and a lot of this work is done on your own. Uh a lot of this building in the early infancy is is time on time spent. Time spent away, time spent working, time spent dedicated, and and especially now is there if you're if you're working to get open, you know, if you're open, you're working as a team. Truly. Um and not to dwell on too much of it, but being an entrepreneur can be a lonely path. And so bringing people together in real life is an opportunity to celebrate, relax, appreciate, and enjoy. Enjoy the evolution because we're just getting started.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

We're we're at the starting line. Right. No, I I think that so many uh operators that we're in conversations with, it is just exciting to see the logos starting to go up on all the buildings. Uh people are starting to put up their uh open signs. Yep. And I think that a lot of the early starts, they've sacrificed so much. And being able to witness them actually have the bandwidth where they've had employees that they can trust. They have the general managers that are able to operate the business. We're seeing that it is not just on one person anymore, and that one person that has taken everything uh to where we are now is worthy of celebration. And I hope that this opportunity honors that individual as much as uh we we are able to celebrate them.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

Yeah, it's beautiful. I think we should get together next week. We should definitely lock lock in the agenda and the program, but for the most part, the venue speaks for itself. It does. And the food will be great, the drinks will be there. We officially are distributed now. The Green Standard has distribution, so might still be an opportunity. It's only Wednesday. It's to this is one of these weeks where I'm thinking it's the end of the week, even though it's Tuesday. What'd you mean? It's a good thing it's Wednesday. We have daycare Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then Thursday and Friday are not promised. That's right. Yeah, even yesterday I was I spent the day at grandma and grandpa's or actually Speedy and Sass. Speedy and Sass. My dad is a a race car driver.

unknown 12:58

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

That's so cool. I yeah, you know, in his in his in his new in his new era. He's he hasn't retired, he's refocused. He's building uh Porsche 917 right now, and he just got into the Minnesota Daily. There's an article in in the newspaper that's about his project, uh building this race car.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

That's really sweet.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

And and my family and my mom couldn't be more proud, like uh captures the quintessential essence of what he's doing.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

That's really sweet.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

Um it's cool. I I go, how did you end up getting well well we sat we sat next to these people and we were on this?

SPEAKER_01 13:37

I think a lot of our stories in this space end up like that. I mean, uh making all these connections, it's uh right place, right time. Sure. And I think that we're manifesting that of what does it mean to just be in the present moment? And I think to your point of what's the on the agenda, yeah. This the the intention is going to be just bringing people together to be together. Uh, we've been focusing and driving in our own lanes. This is an opportunity to just celebrate with other people doing good stuff too.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Absolutely. Yeah, the the it'll be a relaxed nature, um, but but plenty of room for for dressing up. Absolutely. No agenda per se. Uh, we do have QuickBooks as a sponsor, that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Yeah, we're very much looking forward to having into it payments. Uh uh Victoria specifically, we we appreciate you working with us, and we're excited to have that rollout uh being announced right now.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

Yeah, it's it's happening. It's happening. Uh Spencer sent the graphics over yesterday. Excellent. Sax, Mark and Betsy are great. I mean, Mark being a member of the Minneapolis Club, it was so great to have his support from day one with this. Truly. Yeah. Yeah. The uh the event is it's it's been a little odd being the unofficial, but it being the upscale, you know. But that's just a testament to where we want to take collaboration. I mean, you look at you look at a drink like this, the the the real one is a fully painted can with you know, artist design like cannabis doesn't have to be what it it used to be because it's moving to a place of mainstream adoption. Agreed. And and so that's part of our view. It's not it's not about dress code, it's not about class or price, it's about how can we do things that haven't been done before. That's what drives me. And I hear that. And Minnesota is a great place to try new things.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

We're very good at being progressive here, absolutely. And I think it's an important thing to consider is that while this is a happy hour, this is this event is going to be wonderful. But I think it also creates a space where this is a good launching point for the night. Uh, being that we are so close to the Minneapolis Convention Center, uh, you have the flexibility to even park on site at the Minneapolis Club and use it as your uh landing pad for after the event so that when you go to the after party, right, um, the smoking on the runway event, I think it's going to be a phenomenal success too. Sure. And if there's one thing that we learned from uh hosting a happy hour at the last convention, we had such great success of gathering people near the convention center and then going to the Canada can uh the Canaconnect event where people could travel together. Hey, are you planning on going to the Canaconnect event? Let's go together. Let's share an Uber pool, et cetera. Yep. And it's just an easy way to bring people together.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Absolutely. We're looking forward to it. There's more to talk about. I know you'll be at Canacon. Maybe we can catch up then on right around then will be the next DEA hearing for the ALJ.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Yeah, happening in June.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

That's right. Very excited about it. Days before days after Canacon. So I think maybe we can tap into the into the national side of things as well, because there's there's so much changing in cannabis as a nation. Truly.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

And I think that my sentiment that I've shared in the past, uh, when it comes to compliance and payments, uh, we are still predicting that we are five to seven years out from credit cards being a compliant solution. Okay. Um, even if it does change in June, just because it changes at the federal scale, my prediction is still accurate. I mean, at the beginning of the year, we were talking about rescheduling, and look what happened. It was only for the medical side of uh this industry. And I think that with June, if the good thing does happen where adult rec is uh moved to schedule three, that does not necessarily mean that the banks are fully on board. Right. And when I say banks, it is the financial institutions. It's the visas, the mass cards, it's the discovers. I don't believe that they will be ready to get into the industry quite yet. And so I'd caution any operator that is considering starting a card-based program once a level three rescheduling happens to not fall into uh clever sales tactics uh for people that are deceiving operators. Until Visa Mass Card Discover come out with a very explicit communication in a memo uh saying that they are now interested, involved, and actively in the cannabis industry, there are no current compliance solutions for card transactions. So I I'm still predicting we're five to seven years. So maybe 20, maybe 2029, maybe 2030, uh where card transactions will be fully accepted.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

Okay. Yeah. I absolutely don't see that changing any any time soon in the immediate. Um, I did pay the ATM two dollars and seventy-five cents yesterday. That was really uh really nice of me. Um, but it's it's clunky, it's clunky, and you know, I I don't keep a ton of cash, you know, so it's the dispensary, it it's still a lift to to go. Um but I think we'll see more more innovation in the space.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Absolutely. And we're thankful to be able to provide a non-cash alternative solution because ultimately cash is going to be the number one. Uh, we have several of our clients in uh in Colorado and more mature marketplaces where cash is expensive. Um just because you don't have a fee to accept the money does not mean that you are not paying fees for depositories. Uh money movement, transaction movement. And the average dispensary can anticipate a cost of maybe around$5,000 per month to move their cash from their institution to a bank. Wow. And having an alternative solution, uh like some of the ones that we provide, reduces the amount of risk of not only shrinkage of cash walking out behind the door, but also having that alternative solution so that there's not as much cash flow. Um, and with our solution, there's a buyer psychology that and uh that enters into the conversation where people will eventually buy more product because of some of the structures that we have in place here. So I'm sure we'll get more into that, but yeah uh cash is not always cheap. It's actually fun.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

Yeah, I know. I heard that from a a banker uh last week, this week, last week. And uh you know, the the the more you're crushing it at your dispensary, the more costs you may be incurring as it relates to cash movement.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

Exactly. And you need your solutions, of course. Cash is always going to be the number one, but having an alternative backup, especially for the people who don't carry cash, um, having something so that they don't leave the store, because that's lost revenue. Right. Uh having a solution for a product, um, especially w when it there is no fees to the business itself. Sure. It's great to have just a compliant backup, something to do for non-cash. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

Yeah. Well, I know it's one of those where we could keep going, but it's like, it's five o'clock. We've got we've got families to get home to. Thank you to everybody who's watched the Can of Connect Show today. Thank you to everybody who subscribed. Appreciate the likes and subscribes. Leave a comment if you liked what you heard from Don. And make sure to come check out our event, May 14th, at the Minneapolis Club. Involving the industry. Looking forward to it and seeing you there. Thanks, Steven. We'll see you next time on the Can of Connect Show.