Canna Connect Show
The Canna Connect Show introduces you to the people building Minnesota cannabis. Hosted by Canna Connect founder Stephen Eigenmann, each episode brings together growers, operators, entrepreneurs, advocates, professionals, and community members for real conversations about the work, challenges, ideas, and stories shaping Minnesota's emerging cannabis industry.
Canna Connect Show
Every Cannabis Market Is Its Own Rubik's Cube | Munir Haque, Cure8 | Season 2 Episode 11
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
There isn't one blueprint for building a cannabis business.
Regulations change from state to state. So do security requirements, technology needs, infrastructure costs and the challenges operators encounter once they actually open.
Munir Haque has watched those differences play out across cannabis markets around the country.
In this episode of The Canna Connect Show, Munir joins Stephen Eigenmann for a candid conversation about what Minnesota can learn from other states while building a market of its own.
They discuss security and technology requirements, the cost of compliance, Minnesota's relationship between craft beer and craft cannabis, the rollout of adult-use businesses, and why operators need the right partners around the table early.
Munir also shares an important perspective on social equity: a license creates an opportunity, but entrepreneurs still need education, resources and trusted people around them to turn that opportunity into a sustainable business.
And because not every piece of cannabis technology belongs in every facility, Stephen puts Munir through Tech I'd Buy, Tech I'd Skip.
This episode is about technology, but it's really about something bigger:
How do we build cannabis businesses that actually work?
The Canna Connect Show connects Minnesota's cannabis community through conversations with the people building the industry.
Become Part of the Canna Connect Community Network
Every episode, Community Spotlight, and partner profile helps connect Minnesota's cannabis industry. Visit CannaConnectMN.com to explore interviews, resources, events, and the trusted organizations helping shape the future of cannabis in Minnesota.
Hey Steven, do you know anything about watermelons? Um, some of them are seedless. Yeah, but that puts an end to actual gardening. And since we're gonna segue to gardening, and the guy that wears a watermelon shirt everywhere he goes. Munir Hawk. Munir Hawk, yeah, of Curate.
SPEAKER_03Right. What's Curate all about? Curate is about connecting within the security and IT space, uh, helping with managed services as well as security and overall compliance when you're a dispensary as well as a cultivation facility. Curate can help with the security and IT within your business. Also, they're just really well connected. So if you need something or if you're looking to learn more, Curate's a great place to start.
SPEAKER_01It's the only state that I've seen develop a culture around hemp drive, you know, TC beverages, and have an entire culture around it where it was still separate. You know, New Mexico is a wild one because I went to sleep on Friday night with certain regulations and woke up Monday having to rethink having to rethink all of my clients.
SPEAKER_03That's an interesting thing, too, where all of a sudden it's just like vans shoes. Yeah. Like, all right, I'm smoking vans. Yeah, yeah. The consumer doesn't are we going authentic?
SPEAKER_01Are we going to the amount of THD you might need and the amount of C BD you need, those are two like very different veins. Right. And they do different there's it controls your brain differently and you're like your body. Um CBD is like interesting, like especially like out of LA is it with the whole health and wellness, like packaging and presentation. It like it the there was no stigma. It just entered without any stigma, you know. Right. And it's like just played its role in everyone's like workout ethics or their work ethics or whatever.
SPEAKER_03You could put I saw in downtown LA in 2018, I saw like the ability to add it into your coffee.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03There was a short window where you could add CBD. Yeah. And then it got deemed like a supplement or it got regulated by the FDA. Yeah. And then coffee shops were like slapped on the wrist for doing that. But I I do remember like, oh, I could just get a little bit add-on of like CBD into my coffee. Yeah, yeah. Which, you know, great margin on that for a coffee shop store. Decent benefit to the consumer, especially if you're just used to like your cup of Joe in the morning. Oh, yeah, but um what happened here though was there was a lot of success in the hemp CBD space early on, like the likes of Sean Weber and Stephen Brown and Mini Grown to some extent, and and some of these like brands that have gone on to make meaningful contributions to the cannabis space. Yeah. But the uh medical operators were paying close attention to the success of hemp C B D. Yeah. I think like vapes in the C BG space and like things like that. So like for better or for worse, those products left hemp shops. Yeah. And oh year over year, hemp shops have been and it's it's flattened out a little bit now, but like year over year, the products were being taken away from the uh the hemp stores. Yeah, whether they went to the medical cannabis shops or they went to the liquor stores. But the independent operators both had had issues with both. Yeah. Because vapes were incredibly popular. Now, knowing what we know now in 2026 about the cannabis market and like uh the hemp market, we're probably better off in Minnesota from a regulatory standpoint to have uh cut vapes out because it's really hard to police is this a C B D vape, is this a C BG vape, is this a THCA vape? And I'm glad that we're not in that place where you, as the president of Curate, is attempting to solve uh serve the cannabis industry while there's smoke shops that are selling competing products. Yeah, yeah. And generally I think the understanding is if you're selling uh hemp beverages, you're not necessarily competing with dispensary stores. Correct. And maybe you you can weigh in on this, but like Minnesota is one of the few adult use rec states where hemp beverages are popular inside of the dispensaries. Yeah. Or not even popular, but like they're consistently carried.
SPEAKER_01It's the only state that I've seen develop a culture around hemp drive, you know, TC beverages, and have an entire culture around it where it was still separate. You know what I mean? It's a different vibe, it's a different feel, it's a different culture. And then your cannabis shops is a different vibe and different culture, but they play. Right. Um, Kentucky was the only other place where I've seen maybe half of the that vibe, you know?
SPEAKER_03Uh because they were very big on hemp CBD in the beginning, but yeah, but like what unfortunately what seems to be a common denominator is like if it doesn't get you high, yeah, it doesn't have that much of a product uh stickiness to it. And that's where five milligrams and ten milligrams, it works on the THC side. Our bias at Canada Connect is just we just want to include more cannabinoids in the party. Yeah. And we want to include more people in the party too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. And and like last night was a great example of just a lot of different people together.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And no agenda as much as possible.
SPEAKER_01No, but it was also like everyone like picked their lane last night, especially like, you know, I mean, I know there were regulations kind of involved, but there was unity and people in different lanes.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, different glasses together.
SPEAKER_00Right. Right? It was kind of cool.
SPEAKER_03All the drinks had ice, it just, you know, tied it all together, right? Um okay, so Munir Munir, you've worked uh within countless states, but like Maryland comes to mind, beyond Maryland, New York, Jersey, Jersey, East Coast. So you spent some time in Ohio. Yeah. Okay. How does each market develop a little bit differently?
SPEAKER_01You know, there each market has a playbook, right? And I mean, the the country has a playbook. We have a regulatory playbook, but each market um regulations just kind of go off on tangents. And um, you know, for lack of a better like way to say it, um, and it completely changes how an operator builds out from a cost perspective to how heavy um, you know, the tech needs to be, uh, how compliant it needs to be. And it really changes the landscape. So market to market, you know, very different in that sense. Every market is its own Rubik's Cube. 100%. Yeah. That's so frustrating. Yeah. There is no like pick up and copy and paste.
SPEAKER_03No, because you're gonna have to twist and and then, and then like your partners are called upon to do different things as well. 100%. Oh nice, 100%.
SPEAKER_01Um, uh I was in a funny conversation yesterday. Uh, a compliant, um, one of our compliant partners um saying, Okay, well, you asked me to go into Florida, but that was completely different from what you told me Jersey was gonna be, and then completely different from what you told me like Maryland was gonna be. And you're having me rewrite, you know, my software three times, uh, you know, for the same like entity that I'm gonna be reporting to. Yeah, you know, and so if you think it's Rubik's Cube like it is But it's a heavy lift on um the small company, yeah.
SPEAKER_03And and and the more I'm in this space, the more I realize a lot of these companies are small.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Even if you have a relatively known brand, yeah, you're still like a small to medium-sized company at best. Um right, the like the entire cannabis industry nationwide is smaller than some publicly traded companies. 100%.
SPEAKER_01The fact that if you've been in this for more than five years, folks out of respect look at you as a vet almost like, but also in when you pull out and just look at time and whatnot, we've only had so much time to grow. Like, and it's not, it hasn't been that long. Yeah, and so some are bigger, some companies are bigger than others, but relatively we're also pretty small, yeah. And I mean, like, look at the community, like state to state, this is the tightest, smallest community, you know, in any vertical, right? Because we're still kind of smallest, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Any like do any states mirror each other? Like, are you have you found any synergy? Not any, but like what are some of the more synergistic states if you were to comp?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean there's there's always like certain variables that that kind of change, but like Jersey was very close, like similar to to New York. Okay. Um you know, I found after New Mexico, um New Mexico was a wild one because I went to sleep on Friday night with certain regulations and woke up Monday having to resale, having to rethink all of my clients. Like, you know, it was actually for the better, yeah. Um, and and for their wallets, but that's how fast things change. But um, you know, there was a lot of like kind of adaptation to like New Mexico that kind of became similar to California per se. Um, and then New Mexico, you know, I was going off tangent a little bit, but they they're one of the states that like allow jelly style, right? And so, you know, and that's not um that's not common, right? You know, and it's it's also like there's a lot of nuances that go on to manage that, right? And then the product and the handling of the product in the way you're gonna get a product, right?
SPEAKER_03Um, New Mexico. I mean, you're from California. Uh yeah, from did you make spend any time in New Mexico? Spend a lot of time there, yeah. Yeah. Even but prior to cannabis?
SPEAKER_01Prior to cannabis, yeah. Uh being a musician and like a lot of good venues and touring through there. Um, I also like really old stuff and culture. And so like I'm drawn to states that anything over 100 years old, you know, in in the US is considered pretty a whole yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_03The um we're gonna get into some fun questions in a little bit, but like a year ago, we were starting to do education in Minnesota kind of collectively as a partner. And now that you've spent like more than a full year, but like really paying attention for a while now, like what has like actually surprised you about the Minnesota cannabis rollout or like where have you where like what blind spots did you see did you not see a year ago that are more so like challenging in 2026 and beyond now?
SPEAKER_01You know, um from an education standpoint from whatever angle, I I don't feel like a good job was done um educating the licensee on like how intricate um like say like at least the security part of the regulation needs to be and what that actually entails. And it kind of does a disservice for maybe some smaller security companies or whatnot that want to contribute their knowledge to the cannabis space. Um some of it like they're missing a lot of things, like and and that's doing a disservice to both them and uh the licensee. Yeah. So I think there was a whether it's readily available information or whatnot, I don't know what the disconnect was, but um some of that kind of education and teaching process, I think, uh could have been better.
SPEAKER_03And where are the fric where's the friction points at for these independent craft businesses that are tasked with I mean, I can say them right now, like super high resolution on the cameras that you have to keep for then like an extensive amount of time. And so, like who ends up benefiting from that? Because I know like the dispensaries aren't the ones who benefit from right, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So, you know, like it's it truly doesn't feel like money is going really into someone's pocket, it's going to storage, like actual data storage. So, like Amazon Web Services or like hard drives, like really extensive hard drives that you have to purchase. Um, and then you have to back you have to have battery backup, and when you you know, for those for a certain amount of hours, but the battery backups measure how much tech you have to you know equate for X amount of hours. So that gets a little bit spicy, right? Um, but you know, there's there's a lot of good in that too. But like, you know, we can sit here and debate too, and like what retention do we truly need? What resolution do we truly need? Sure. Um, do you need to see the gray hairs in my beard, or is like, is it okay if it all looks black, right? Um, so yeah.
SPEAKER_03And I hope that we can work together to change some of these things as a as a community.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think time does it though. Like, I mean, and I'd like to think in every state, time does, you know, inflict change. You know, it's like, okay, cool. Right now, we're waiting for people to start operating, right? Okay, so we have this theory of uh, or not theory, seven, theory of the dead man, right? Um you know, we have this foundation of all these regulations and just rules and everything that we need to follow, right? But we actually start we need to start using them, right? And we have people building out, but we don't have enough people right now transacting, and we don't have enough people, you know, doing this day to day. So I feel like with every market, it changes, it grows. And you know, it's hard to it's hard to predict. You know, like yesterday I think there was a question, uh, where do you see, you know, Minnesota in like five years or something? I don't know how to answer that question. Like, honestly, like no. I can't tell you where I want it to be, but I, you know, uh, I don't know how to answer that question because in every market, if I would have guessed something, I would have been wrong. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I mean, and that's the instability that the cannabis industry is faced with is a huge detriment to the oral cannabis industry. Oh yeah. You know, we talk about schedule three, we talk about descheduling, we talk about the future of hemp beverage. Ultimately, I'd love to see a single plant solution for this industry. Yeah. So that we're less concerned about is it hemp, is it cannabis, is it THDA flower? Is it microdose? What's the form factor? What's the age gate? Where are the where's the product sold? Minnesota brings a unique perspective to hemp and cannabis. And uh I I also like to say we have five markets within the cannabis industry. We have home grow, we have independent craft, yeah, we have uh hemp, we have tribal, and we have medical. Yeah. And I think if we continue to provide more stability within the industry through uh rescheduling and and with the goal of descheduling eventually, that this market and this industry could look a lot different. It could actually become an industry instead of a space. Yeah. Right. You know, because I think I'm guilty of it, but I'll call out the the rest of my peers here in Minnesota. Is like we talk about the cannabis industry. Well, some of the more experienced folks in the room nationally would say, well, it's more like a space. There's people building within the space, and it's not actually a fully built-out industry because it's such a state-by-state market. Even the larger companies still have to get set up and scale up on a state-by-state basis. And that that's just really uh doesn't scale. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But even within the state, and like other states, there's municipalities that are different, and it's almost acting as its own state within the state, right? Yeah. Munis. Yeah, which are coming online more and more. Yeah. Um, and rules and regulations can be completely different, or they can completely opt out. You could be the one, two, three municipalities. It's like there is no cannabis. No.
SPEAKER_03Do you know that uh munis are in like municipal liquor stores, which are common in Minnesota, are at risk of losing hemp beverage because that is uh federally regulated. Yeah. And so with the point forward, they're they're especially in trouble compared to a private Libran liquor store in Minnesota. Now, it's June 27th as we record this, so we still don't know where the where we're gonna land there. You know, so folks that are optimistic say there's gonna be a carve out for hemp beverage. Um, there's a C BD pilot program going on with Medicare right now that you know is gonna need full spectrum in order for it to continue. So we'll see. We'll see what happens. Uh we have a radical administration, so we don't really know what's gonna happen. Yeah. Um, but there is some technology questions that I think we should talk about. Like, you know, what technologies are essential, what are nice to have, what are overhyped, what are underutilized. And I I think we can kind of dig into that from like a game perspective, right? Yeah. Are you up to play a game? Yeah, that's why you game. Okay, cool. So this game is called Tech Guide Buy, Tech Eyed Skip. Okay. And for each item, uh, you're gonna give a buy now, buy later, or a don't buy. Okay. All right. Yeah. All right. So let's start uh let's start with environmental controls. Uh buy now. And and this is from a cultivation perspective. Yeah. Before we go too far too deep into it, let's give a a preview or a precursor for like curate. Yeah, yeah. Curate can help on the cultivation side as well as on the dispensary side. Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about the technology you have. Yeah. Or like the services you provide.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um essentially, when you look at a dispensary cultivation facility, okay, let's look at a dispensary. Anything that really has is tech and turns on and off and talks to the internet, that's something that we touch. Uh your TVs, your menu boards, your POS, your firewall, your modem, your, you know, uh actual Wi-Fi, that that's all us. On the cultivation side, there are there are a lot of moving pieces, but we are really just the the tech, security, um, and like computers and and screens of that sort. So environmental controls, um, you know, irrigation, things like that. Yeah. They talk to us and we allow traffic. Sure. But we don't like, we don't touch yes, yes, right, right, right. Yeah, we're the communication hub, if you want to call it a heartbeat. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And and like how much has that changed within your time in X your rate? Like, how how much more technologically advanced are these grows becoming?
SPEAKER_01Automation, right? You hear that word. Okay, so AI is a big buzzword. Yeah, right. So automation is a really big buzzword. And folks are trying to be more efficient and understand after, like, say, in the cultivation, after a few harvests, right? Um, you know, you were probably the best grower in whatever facility that wasn't regulated like 15 years ago, but now you have a license or you're hired in and you are in a regulated space and you have a team and you have an ROI and the loss can really hurt you. So finding ways to be on top of it, regulated. I mean, like we're talking about cameras that can like detect mites. Mites, yeah, like on these, like you know what I mean? Yeah. Um, and so you can quickly isolate by being notified. Right. Um, and maybe if you had 200 plants, you you would catch it like that. But what if you're in a facility where thousands?
SPEAKER_03Right, you know, how how now, like you you and your company, you pride yourselves on having helped open hundreds of dispensary stores. But what is the range and size you've seen on the cultivation side?
SPEAKER_01Uh small, medium, large? 5,000 to um like I don't know, like uh 100,000, like yeah, I square feet. Yeah, like large, large scale plants to like small, some micro. So we're we're across the board.
SPEAKER_03Um are there micro growers in California at this point?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's still micro growers in California.
SPEAKER_03Small batch.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, small batch. Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_03And those, and when they're doing that, they're going for a premium price.
SPEAKER_01They're going for a premium price, they're going for um like more of a brand. It's it's in there's there's a level of artistry. Um, I compare it to like, you know, like the craft beers, you know what I mean? It's like that type of artistry. Yes, yeah, right, right.
SPEAKER_02Um so in my world in the digital space, there's a million different ways to launch a website, build a platform, take online payments, but you know, software as a service is tough. POS software in general, right? There's a lot of different ones out there, especially in the cannabis space. I don't know the right one. If you ask a lot of different dispensary owners, there probably isn't a right one. It's just what path do you want to go to that leads it down? What path have we gone down?
SPEAKER_03Are you referring to Dutchie, the modern cannabis commerce point of sale system? Newly integrated AI solutions. I mean, they have so many different ways that they can serve cannabis businesses, brands, wholesalers, et cetera. They're not just point of sale technology anymore. Right. Dutchie's been a great partner for us. They can definitely help you. They're in more stores in America than any other point of sale company. So they must be doing something. I hope so.
SPEAKER_02And if you're gonna look up our boy, look up Gus.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Gus Savastos with Dutchy, based out of Ohio, served the Midwest market well. He's here often. He's been on the show before. We love working with Gus. We love working with the whole team at Dutchy. Check them out and let them know Canada Connect sent you. We'll include the link in the end of the description. Beer and cannabis is actually that was a concept that I wanted to develop more. I even owned beerandcannabis.com for like a year or two. Yeah, yeah. Uh, because I thought, you know, within Minnesota, there's such a uh crossover between craft beer and craft cannabis. Yeah. I think one of the hardest parts is actually allowing room for the craft cannabis market to develop and and ultimately it comes down to the operator, right? How savvy is the operator? How how flexible are they? How what's their ability to jump through hoops? Yeah. Right? So, like compared to the New York market, like, how would you juxtapose the Minnesota market and the can and the New York cannabis market?
SPEAKER_01There were so many start and stops in New York. There were so many tears and struggles, and like it there was a lot of anxiety. And this w this did not start very smooth here. Yeah. But it did get to the starting point much faster than New York. Yeah. Um so we're in this phase right now where it's like everyone is flying forward at different paces. So, you know, I'm a little confused by when you look at the statistics of like what they're saying about how many places are actually open versus what I'm seeing. Yeah, I'm seeing much less, right? So I'm not sure right where the stats are going.
SPEAKER_03Um well, we're also in uh the Minneapolis or St. Paul market for uh our 10th uh trade show here in the last three years, right? So it's like yeah, that's part of getting out to Brainerd, which you guys have been instrumental in helping us uh have a pulse in Brainerd. Duluth is another one. Yeah, not to say that's exactly where everybody is, like we we're ignoring the southern half of the state. And and folks say, hey, when are you coming to Mankato? When are you coming to uh Rochester? When are you coming to bumfuck southwestern Minnesota where there are there's like Laverne, you know? Not that you know what Laverne is, but it's like Minnesota is there's no opt-out policy. Yeah. So it's not like a Colorado or a California where there's just some pockets where there are no stores. Um, we're also uh up against the Dakotas, so you're seeing that those border towns start to fill out. But because we're landlocked with with uh prohibitionists, yeah, not to say Iowa's prohibitionist or Mid Wisconsin, I mean they've got 25 and a higher milligram drinks. Yeah. But I think we're super spread out because of the border access and and the strategic, if you're gonna be first to market, like be on a border be on a border town. So like maybe that's part of it. Yeah. Otherwise, they're all in uptown. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh yeah. The Moxie uh if you're coming to min into Minneapolis, stay at the Moxie Hotel and uh you can walk to plenty of dispensaries. Yeah. Yeah. Facts.
SPEAKER_02So there's a lot of conversations that happen in and around the cannabis space, both here on the Canna Connect Show and in the Canaverse. But there's really one person that comes to mind for me who's there all the time, and that's Corey Lake.
SPEAKER_03He's in the middle of it. World insurance is his world now. And Corey Lake has made Minnesota cannabis his world, and it's starting to pay dividends. He's being seen as a thought leader and an advocate for the greater cannabis industry. He understands it. He takes a measured approach. He's never too up, too down. Um, and he's fantastic to work with. We work with Corey Lake, World Insurance, and Canisure, and we recommend you reach out to them if you have any insurance needs.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, look up Corey Lake. If you haven't met him yet, he's your guy.
SPEAKER_01Um you know, it's I I am though happy seeing, you know, the progress and like these facilities are starting to open up. Um, and I really want to get into like the thick of it. I want to see like, okay, now we have multiple locations, everyone's open, they're transacting, and we've covered more neighborhoods and zip codes. And I want to see where the market's at. How is everyone feeling?
SPEAKER_03You know, so one thing that's like clicking for me this weekend that I'm realizing more and more is like the competing pressure is like at the end of the day, like the OCM wants to provide jobs, or like government is trying to provide jobs and government's trying to like grow what they do. Yeah. But then there's a little bit of like, well, the entrepreneurs are also trying to provide jobs. Yeah. And if you make it harder for the entrepreneurs to provide jobs, and you're over-regulating or making things overly uh the compliance measures are just very hard to um stand up with. Like it creates this like uh fight a little bit with like how much how slow, how slow can you go? How slow can you go? And it's like, you know, we sat down with Jacob from Frostbite Cannabis yesterday. I believe he's on a micro license, but he's gonna have the ability to add another store. And but it's like is the OCM and the state of Minnesota, are they like, when are they thinking that things are really gonna come to fruition? Because there's bottlenecks along the way that's making folks feel like it's gonna be 2028 or 2029 or 2030. And I think about the Dutchies, the Covas, the curates, the Candeltas, the Forte Ops, the Canazip packaging folks, like that have been showing up and showing up and showing up. Like you can only continue to show up and spend thousands of dollars every trip and walk away with only so many new leads before you have to then look to Delaware or look to Rhode Island or look to Virginia and whatever comes after that. So it's like it is extremely challenging to live and exist and and and be continue to stay alive in Canabase.
SPEAKER_01It is. I mean, you're 100% right. And like anything, like you start a band, you start like it's uh you have a product, you have to that's like the grind. We call it there, you you know, unfortunately, just you gotta do it. If you want to stay in it and you gotta have a conversation with yourself, like yeah, am I really gonna invest? Um, and that's where that's where like we're also seeing like kind of a different part of the cannabis industry right now. We're seeing like new companies come in, like that have never been in cannabis, right? And coming in like really strong and hard and like maybe a little bit confused, or some of them know exactly what they're doing. They they know the value they're gonna add. And don't get me wrong, I'm all for value. I don't know everything. I want to, you know, or like be exposed to it. And um, if we can only go so far and we need outside help to make us smarter and better, so be it. But you also gotta watch out for people that are like, this is a cash grab, right? And that's where I'm always really worried of SMBs, you know, uh and like family businesses, right? Because it's like I I like live in the stress that they live in, yeah, not to their extreme because it's not my money and not my license. Right. Uh oh, you have a window into their into their house. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, so I don't want to see anyone being taken advantage of, you know. Um what are some companies that impress you, whether they're ancillary or operator-wise, in Minnesota or without? What if what what are some companies or partners that you really appreciate that have been very helpful for you in the last couple of years?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, you know, CE, uh, you know, Center of Energy Environment, they've been really great too. Because like, you know what I like about them? Um, well, they're great folks. Yeah. But when they talk about rebates and talk about savings and talk about programs that exist that can help you before they even talk about what their value is, uh, it's kind of a strong um character, you know, it's just to have a nonprofit that's able to do everything that they do.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, uh, it helps when you're backed by Excel Energy, for example. But like, don't hate the player, hate the game. Yeah, right. And and like I remember meeting CE at the Legacy Cup in 2023 and really not understanding them at all. Yeah, you know, but like we showed up, they had a big team. Like, I'm like, what is what are these guys? And it wasn't until like 2024 when we started to work with them through the cannabis college podcast. And then 2025 when they came on to help live stream and support the educational efforts and be a part of our programming, and they've been able to refine their message and and make it more true the point so folks that aren't confused. Like they're not a rebate company, they're a nonprofit that helps with energy savings. Yes, yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_01I, you know, so I've gained a lot of respect for them and what they offer to the market, you know, a company like our friends at Solwing, yeah, um, who six, seven years ago, you know, sitting in a room with them and saying, like, hey, this is happening. Why don't we go educate ourselves? And the only way to do that is to go to every single conference in every single state. Wow. And it was like, are we doing this? All right, let's start. They were 100 in. They were 100 in, we were 100 in, and we educated her. Yeah, and you guys have built a great partnership. Yeah, you know, it's unlike any partnership I've I've seen because like we also learned about each other's values and helped each other, you know, uh become stronger. Yeah, you know, yeah. So, and then, you know, in this world too, it's like, you know, I think sometimes like in our world, the tech world, not a not enough love like goes back to like the brands to and it's like what's on the shelves, you know, right?
SPEAKER_03Who who are all these folks that are like showing up inside the stores on like a Saturday afternoon and Friday, you know, trying to help the butt tenders and push, you know, and you know, like um concentrate labs, disgo, mini grown, yes, unbound, Varusfields, and like right now you can name there's like a Aurora cannabis, there's like 12 brands out there, right? But like what's interesting, and I've already seen it, is the menu boards all of a sudden are just strain names, right? So all of a sudden, like we were so worried of Minnesota's very particular. Okay, this brand, that brand, this brand, that brand. But then as soon as you get to the dispensary, it's Cab Junkie, it's not Cap Junkie by Munir's dispensary. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, like, that's an interesting thing, too, where all of a sudden it's just like vans shoes. Yeah. Like, all right, I'm smoking vans, open house and vans. But who made these vans? I don't know. Yeah, yeah. Then the consumer doesn't are we going authentic? Are we going to that story you told me last night about like product moving from one state into another state? Oh, I mean, that that's a problem we don't have right now above ground. Yeah. You know, I think there's a very healthy legacy market happening in in Minnesota that's um, you know, you know, all of a sudden the governor last year, now it's maybe two years ago, was like 10% tax? Nope, 15% tax. Yeah. We got to pay for these learning centers. Yeah. Yeah. Not just kidding. Um, all right. So like I've got a list here, some topics that maybe we can talk about. Tech you'd buy, tech you might skip out. Let's let's think to the micro business operator at this point. Fultivation, crop steering software. Tech you'd buy now, buy later, maybe not buy. Maybe not buy. Okay. ERP systems. I think we should spend some time on this. No. I don't fully understand why, as a micro business, I would need an ERP system.
SPEAKER_01What is where does an ERP system come into play? All right. So there's a component of it where you know it's the state regulation or you have to take the data and report to the state. So that is regulation you need to do. Now, if you're a micro, yes, there are ways to to integrate with like spreadsheets and all that on that promoting spreadsheets, but then to be compliant and track it and be very meticulous um and you know, translate data. Or there are other ways of folks like plant tags, like stash stock, you know, yeah, if I D, like I'd help you through that. So ERP is a very loose word. You know, there are companies that say they're full, you know, ERP solutions. There are companies that are partial of it. Um, I do have a a a bit of advice for folks. It's like just pick the one that's compliant and that's gonna work for you. You know what I mean? You might not need the the bundle, yeah.
SPEAKER_03You know, all the different components.
SPEAKER_01At least to start.
SPEAKER_03You can order the sandwich without the fries, yeah. Okay, at least a start. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Tomatoes later, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, later. Um, all right. What about RFID and inventory tracking? I would say buy. Yeah. Bing, bing, bing, ding, ding. Uh Scott. Scott is so consistent. Like, that is Tiger's hat, glasses, maybe the beard, maybe not the bad. The accidental amount of beard. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Hey Steven. Can you can you loan me 50 bucks?
SPEAKER_0350 bucks? What are you going to the dispensary? Well, yeah, because they don't take credit cards.
SPEAKER_04Oh.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And some of them don't even take debit cards. Cash only. Cash only? Cash is king. Cash is expensive. Yes. You know what works better. No, do tell. Evolve payment. Oh, Don 3, baby. ACH. Yes. Automatic clearinghouse. Who is Evolve Payment? Uh Evolve Payment is a local business based out of the Twin Cities, and they are helping cannabis businesses, not just dispensaries, a lot of cultivators as well, transact through ACH. Uh, digital payments, much more effective, uh, affordable to utilize, and you minimize the risk that comes with holding cash. Um you know, cannabis is still very much a cash-heavy business. Uh, it's risky, it's expensive. Ace uh Evolve Payment helps minimize your risk while keeping you paid and making sure your money arrives on time.
SPEAKER_02Man, sounds like it's a great sound like a great advertisement, if I've ever heard one.
SPEAKER_03If you need an introduction to Don 3, reach out to Canaconnect. We'd be happy to introduce you. I mean, this is just beautiful. I just love how well this conference is going, you know. They're like tearing down at like 2.30.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03You know the conference is going really well on Saturday at 2.30 when you're just seeing like the the up and down gates, you know. Unless that's like a really tall espresso order. I don't know. I don't know what that noise is, but we're with open window productions. You probably wouldn't even be able to hear this in post-production, so we'll keep going. Um advanced surveillance systems. I think I think maybe like a soul link comes to mind.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, you need security as by now. Sure. Yeah. Right. And then AI cultivation tools or automated trimming. Are you familiar with any of these?
SPEAKER_01You know, a few, and um I would say later.
SPEAKER_03Buy later. Yeah. Uh integrated facility dashboards. Buy now, buy later. Buy later. Buy later. And then sensor networks and environmental monitoring. By now. Buy now. Buy now. Yeah. Because the internet of things is critical in cultivation.
SPEAKER_01Internet of things is critical. You mess up a crop. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03You just lost money and time. Right. And so it's it's almost like knowing the weather every day when you're when you're inside your grow. Or maybe you're not inside your grill. 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Um, you know, we talked about a bit a little bit of regulations. Like overall, like, where would you say you're at with like the Minnesota market as it as it uh pertains to regulation or you know, the program?
SPEAKER_01I mean, we we have to be a hundred percent button up. So I mean, I am I myself, my team, like we are always on it. Um, any changes, we pivot.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Um, you know, one thing that you can speak to maybe with the curate hat or maybe without the curate hat is like industry collaboration. Like, how critical is it to bring industry minds together?
SPEAKER_01I think it's one of the best decisions anybody can make because um it will save you on costs, you know, and collectively, um, if we all spoke, right? We all have core values and core products, right? Yeah. And there are other things we can do. But I think together, by coming together with whatever group, say you're the licensee and you bring 10 of us together, um, there is a cost saving there. Yeah. But also there's like, you gotta get everyone talking together that you're working with. And it was my a point in my panel yesterday where it's like, I am spoiled by the days where that used to happen. There was a thing called an all-hands meeting. So, you know, um I don't see it anymore. With in curate or with your clients?
SPEAKER_03Like the build out. Yeah. Oh, like a kickoff or a jump off with like with multiple parties involved.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right. More collaborative. Yeah. And you know what was interesting about those moments? Hmm, the one person that was quiet in the last five or six all hands all of a sudden has something to say that would have thrown everyone off. Calls out something like, hey guys, if we don't do this, like we're all screwed. Right. And that guy was quiet for the last five couples, you know what I mean? So it's like it's it's really important to have the team.
SPEAKER_03Yes, it's a team. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Now, there's in there's some elements of opportunity, I think, for you to lean further into later this year with um social equity applicants, minorities in cannabis, like where are where are folks like minorities and social equity applicants being overlooked within the Minnesota Cannabis program?
SPEAKER_01You know, in every every market, uh, what I have found is you know, the can the education program that CounterConnect started building and offering essentially to everyone. Um if that doesn't happen with the social equity, that's gonna be what's overlooked. Social equity seems I I don't know why it is. It just seems like when they're needing information, it's not given and no one's helping. I I don't know. There's like some disconnect. Right. Right. And it's kind of like, here's your license. Congratulations.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and like as I think back to like my time with the Minnesota Cannabis College and our summer last summer with monthly education educational events. It's hard to keep these programs going year on and year off. And like there's like there's peaks and valleys to the industry, January being one of them, where it's like an exceptionally quiet time in the cannabis industry, yeah, especially in Minnesota when it's really nice in January and nobody wants to come here. The uh the consistency, yeah, right? Like consist key, I used to say like when DJ Khaled was super popular on Snapchat, like consist key. Consistency is the key. Yeah. And delivering that week in and week out or month in and month out, whether it's in person or online, it's one of the most challenging parts about uh marketing is right is being consistent. Yeah. And, you know, with the Canaverse, the newsletter that we run and put out every week, like that to me is a measure of consistency. But then from an educational standpoint, like we had 3,500 potential licensees in this market in the space here within Minnesota. Like, you're not gonna get everybody within like June to November of 2025 when there's still a runway happening right now. Yeah. And that's why we lean into YouTube because it's searchability and and and be able to find, but like um, you know, eventually people move on from the Minnesota market, like they go hump hop to Virginia or hop to Pennsylvania or whatever's next. So I I think I know what you're coming at, but like what are you looking forward to this summer when it comes to putting your brand and your name behind some things that'll help bring more people together?
SPEAKER_01You know, um, we're talking about Brainerd and we're talking about Duluth and we're talking about these other parts. I truly that that's kind of what I'm gonna do. Let's get on the road. Yeah, and and let's let's hit them. I mean, I think back at, you know, being in the car with partners and going to like Springfield, Missouri, and then you know, going to like Columbia and going to these smaller towns that and it doesn't matter how big a room is of people. It's like, okay, this is the community. This is the cannabis community you fear.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I don't care how big it is. Right. You know, right. You you have a lot of fun with everything you do. You know, that's a big part of your personality is you're you're not here just to sell security cameras. Like you want to engage with people, you want to get to know people. You're a relationships-based person. Like, what is working for you right now in cannabis at Curate?
SPEAKER_01I do love building relationships and you know, being part of communities and eating the food and just sharing stories and building stories. Yeah. Um, I'm just I'm going to continue to do that. It's working for I I love making friends, you know. And you know, part of it, the selfish part of it, I love learning, right? So it's like, you know, every time we have a conversation, like I feel like we truly learn, we walk away with at least one thing from each other, right? Yeah. That is cool. Or it could be like you remind me of a song I haven't heard in like 10 years. So I'm gonna go listen to that. So your suggestion just left with me, right? Yeah, so I find that with like you remind me of a girl that I once knew.
SPEAKER_04Here you go, can't believe in that eye.
SPEAKER_03Everybody, Steven Usher, Usher Raymond, everybody.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, it's you know, I thought uh this come completely off tangent, but I was playing this game of my wife where I was like, it's seven o'clock and I'm in my what? You know, like, and I just was like, you know, trying to come up with these lines and like have her finish the song.
SPEAKER_03Are are you optimistic over the next few years for the cannabis industry?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Uh, but I'm also so unsure about it, you know? And the only way it's like I'm in it, and I told myself I'm in it, and I want to be in it, so I'm in it. Um, like pivot is like should be like tattooed on all of our like four. It's the fifth P in marketing. Yeah. Uh and yeah, I'm you know, I'm optimistic, I'm I'm in it. Um it's so slow, but yet it's so fast. Slow, it's fast, it's chaotic. And then what's the next obstacle? I don't know, but there's gonna be one.
SPEAKER_03Right. It's like when you're playing Super Mario and like you're the screen's gonna keep going. Yeah, it's you don't get pushed out or or like you know, forward. Favorite video games growing up as a kid?
SPEAKER_01So uh I loved with my friends to turn the music off on Mario Kart and Golden Knight, and we put on a soundtrack. Yes. Uh in an album, and we listen to front to back, and it always somehow fit. Yes, yes, always fit.
SPEAKER_03I loved uh like I remember a 420 back in like 2010, 2009, and it was like the first time that we got high and we turned the TV off and then we played something else, like on like we played music over the TV, and then and then you would just watch like it works.
SPEAKER_01It's so trivial. It a hundred percent works. Actually, we did that with uh Top Gun the other day, where we just like collaborated on a playlist of just 80s hits and um without any sort of direction, and that was the soundtrack for Top Gun with the sound offs.
SPEAKER_03It reminds me of like when you see Corey Lake and the apothecary at Earl Giles and the eyes are just not like watching you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's weird.
SPEAKER_03I feel like I'm being watched right now, and it's I don't know, I can't I always feel like somebody watching. Oh that's um what if there's if people don't know you and they're still looking to get to know you, like what is what is one thing you'd like people to know about yourself and and the work you do?
SPEAKER_01Um you know, I I I love to help folks, and I don't want to sound cliche, but if I don't know the answer, which most of the times I won't, I know a guy. Yeah, yeah. Hey, the network is the network. I've made a lot of friends, yeah, and we've made a lot of friends, and it's been great, and we have fun, and I think that's what keeps me also motivated. It's it's not like my intent of today or what the market is doing, it's like where are my partners at? And and sometimes we have to lift each other up, like you know, right. Um, I'm so happy to be here. But there was a moment yesterday where I don't know, I just felt kind of like down. Yeah, and the partners that really know me, I think kind of caught wind of that. And I, you know, from my observation, they like tried a little extra harder to uh make fun of me.
SPEAKER_03Hurst oh, you know, look right. You know what I mean? It's uh yeah, I mean it's that smell blood in the water, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, yeah, you know, and like kudos to every vendor that's come out to Canacon this weekend. This is our last interview of the day. Shout out to Open Window for the support, shout out to Elite Capture Studios for the photography, and like shout out to all the vendors that are investing in Minnesota Cannabis because we're doing so within these like confined conference room spaces, and it's gonna take real commitment and a and a willingness to embrace the unknown to do new things. Yeah, whether that's uh the cannabis marketplace or the MN marketplace through Hey Mango, or it's Can I Connect Brainerd and Can I Connect Duluth? Like, you have to be willing to try new things because clearly, like, this traditional trade show model is on its way out, at least as it stands currently in Minnesota Cannabis. And there's gonna be a lack of like, well, I've never seen this event. So what what makes why should I do it? But you have to believe in the doers and you have to believe in the people that are willing to show up. And that's what makes our relationship special is that we're willing to do it in person.
SPEAKER_01Oh, 100%. And I I gotta give a big shout out to like CounterConnect and your vision to, in any capacity, to continue just to bring people together over whatever the subject is underlying, you know, the this market, but it is very unique, and that's what drew me to you just being consistent. You you still are the same, you still have the same mentality and have pivoted on how you do it, yeah, but your core is is never changed, and that's the the soul of counterconnect wall, which is awesome, which is why I like to say I know Steven.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, you do, you do. I appreciate it. And like there's still so much meat on the bone. Yeah. Uh we just have to be strategic and like lean into what works, not get too distracted, because like if we're consistent and we deliver for our partners, our partners will send it back around.
SPEAKER_01100%. Yep, 100%, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, uh Munir Hawk, curate, president, California, but he'll travel anywhere. Yeah. And if you need something, reach out to Curate, reach out to Canna Connect. We'll put Munir's information in the show notes. Thanks for being on the show today. Oh, thank you for having me. Thank you here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_03All right. Can a Connect Show season two, live from Canacon. That's a rep.
.png)
