Vanessa Gabriel - Persevering with an Entrepreneurial Mindset

As an entrepreneur, you go through the highs and lows of business ownership. If you’ve ever struggled with finding the motivation to keep pushing through the challenges, my conversation with Vanessa Gabriel will give you the mindset reframe that will help you persevere. 

Vanessa is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO and co-founder of Drop Delivery, the technology company that provides the only all-in-one delivery technology solution for delivery companies and retailers in the cannabis industry.

In this episode, you’ll hear how Vanessa’s entrepreneurial journey started while she was still in college, how she recognized the large opportunity in the cannabis industry, and the philosophy that has kept her going through her business successes and failures.

Vanessa’s entrepreneurial streak was planted from the time she was a child growing up with a serial entrepreneur father, and she talks about launching her first business while still in college, the challenges that eventually ended that business, and the tough decision to return to work as an employee as a result.

Vanessa’s keen ability for recognizing gaps in the market spawned her next business developing a technology app for cannabis dispensaries, and she talks about the success of this business, the unexpected acquisition offer she received, and the decision to shift from a consumer-focused service to a delivery-focused service which led to the launch of Drop Delivery.

Finally, Vanessa shares key insights on building cohesive co-founder relationships, using crowdfunding to raise business capital, and the mindset that she has maintained throughout her journey that has helped her persevere through all the rejections and failures.

Skip to topic:
1:58 - Starting her first business from her college dorm room at age 19
3:52 - Going back to square one after a business fizzles out
5:54 - Recognizing an opportunity in the Vape industry and launching a new business
10:25 - Navigating the complexity of differing regulations in the Cannabis industry
14:09 - The mindset that kept Vanessa going after her early businesses weren’t successful
18:24 - An unexpected opportunity to sell her company
20:37 - Her approach to building and scaling her company with a successful exit as the goal
24:20 - Cultivating a synergistic working relationship with her co-founders
25:47 - Making the big decision to return to entrepreneurship after a long hiatus
28:04 - 2 big lessons learned from Vanessa’s early business journey
31:21 - Seizing on an opportunity to create a better experience for consumers
32:43 - Unique difficulties of running a business that serves the cannabis industry
34:27 - Why crowdfunding was a better option to raise capital than traditional fundraising
36:41 - What Vanessa says is the real story behind what it’s like to be an entrepreneur vs. what we hear 

Find Vanessa  at:

Website: https://dropdelivery.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessagabriel/
Drop Delivery Crowdfunding campaign: https://republic.com/drop-delivery

Visit Stephanie at: https://stephaniehayes.biz/

Follow me on Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to the Real People Real Business Show. My name is Stephanie Hayes, and I'm a business strategist who helps mature entrepreneurs design their wealthy exits. Whether that means building an asset-based business model for an eventual sale, or simply taking yourself out of your business while enjoying its continued growth. I love to speak with like-minded entrepreneurs to share their real stories and the gritty details on how they have navigated their own way through. On this show, you won't hear about the glamorized entrepreneurship journeys that you can see online. You won't be told how to make six figures in six weeks. Instead, you can expect to hear a real vulnerable and inspiring stories that you can relate to that have helped create the foundation for each of our guests businesses. Today I am so excited to welcome Vanessa Gabriel. Vanessa is the c e o and Co-founder of Drop Delivery. The cannabis industry's only all-in-one delivery technology solution for delivery companies and retailers. A 30 year old de self-describe serial entrepreneur. Vanessa previously co-founded Greenlight Technologies, a leading order ahead in digital loyalty software in the cannabis industry, which was acquired in 2018. She's been recognized by Forbes Next 1000 marijuana Venture, 40 under 40, and is a part of the Rolling Stone Culture Council, welcome to the show, Vanessa, and thanks so much for taking the time to share your story. Yeah. Thanks so much for having me here. Um, yeah, so grateful for this opportunity to be able to Yeah. Share my story. I'm so, uh, humbled by your list of accolades and all the things that you've done. So you know, if you're, uh, if you're willing to, I would love for you to share your story. And ter tell us how you kind of got to where you are right now. Yeah, yeah. So growing up I was around business a lot. My dad was a serial entrepreneur and. Literally a plethora of different businesses from like a flooring company to commercial development. Um, he wanted to start his own fashion brand at one point, and so business was always a talk around the dinner table. And even at one point I was helping him. Write payroll checks after dinner, um, at the table. And so I knew I wanted to get into business. I just had no idea what that would look like for myself. So when I went to college, uh, yeah, decided to study business and I loved fashion and shopping at the time. And, uh, but I was on a college student budget. And so I came across, uh, flash sale deal. Like guilt group beyond the rack hot look. Um, that was really big back in 20 10, 20 11, and I loved the business model, but it still just wasn't, um, my style. And so I was like, why don't I do this for college students? Um, and so yeah, that was kind of my first business that I started out of my dorm. And so I went back home the summer after my freshman year and just tried to get my friends to join my team. Um, had, uh, a friend in high school that did photography and I was like, well, I need someone to help me take pictures. And so, yeah. And funny enough, that's my CTO today, Mark Lopez. Um, and so yeah, we went to high school together and he was there at my first business and then my younger sister, Jade. She was, I think 15 at the time, 14. Um, wanted to become an intern. And so yeah, we let her help out with whatever she could and she's our C P O today at Drop. Um, and so yeah, that was our kind of first jump into business and I mean, it was amazing. I did a little friends and family fundraising round, um, and we got a warehouse. We built out a photo studio. We were going to fashion trade shows. All at like 1920 had no idea what we were doing. Um, and I think to our advantage, we were so naive and so brave, and were not scared to show up at these fashion trade shows and talk to brands and just be like, This is our website. Do you wanna be on it? We'd love to buy some inventory. Um, and yeah, I mean, it was just so, so, so fun. But we learned very quickly that a capital intensive business model, um, like holding, you know, actual inventory, um, is really hard to sustain and to scale. And we weren't moving product as fast as we, um, you know, would've hoped. And so eventually the business fizzled out and yeah, after that, It was kind of back to the drawing board for us and for me, we were kind of dabbling into fashion editorial media and shoppable media at the time, like before, um, you know, Instagram was really that big. We were working with influencers off a website called Lookbook Dou where like all these influencer, like, yeah, back then influencers were just posting their looks and we were like, okay, this could be something that we can go into is Shoppable Media. Um, and we're getting away from, you know, the, uh, physical good side of it. And so me and my sister and my whole family actually we moved to New York City and I think I was like, 22 and my sister was 17 and we tried to launch this Shoppable Media company and I mean, I was just so young, brand new to the city. We were from a really small town in Northern California, and I mean, life just like got the best of me. I was like just trying to make a living in the concrete jungle of New York. And so I'd never really got off the ground and I was. Back at Square one of like, what am I supposed to do? How am I even supposed to like afford to live? And so honestly, I just got like really random jobs. I became a personal assistant to a handbag designer. Um, I was a receptionist at a PR firm. I was helping someone do Amazon, F b A by selling products. Um, and then eventually I landed a solid gig as an, uh, e-commerce marketing manager for a Dutch beauty brand. And I was. Okay, I have something like solid. Um, I get to travel to Europe for work. Um, but I was actually really unhappy. I was in a basement working and then I also lived in a basement in New York City, so I was like in a basement like 24 hours of the day practically, and definitely not good for your mental health and. Yeah, I just always knew I wanted to get back into entrepreneurship somehow, some way. And, um, during that time, mark and Jade had been working on a few other businesses and projects, um, in like the vape space. And so Mark had moved to LA, was at a local dispensary and was like, This is taking forever. I have to wait in a really long line. I already know what I want. Why can't I just use an app to place my order for pickup and skip the line just like you can do with food? Um, and so they're like, we have this idea to create an app that does exactly that. And so I kind of just. Took the plunge and quit my job in New York and moved to LA and decided to join them. And that's how we got our start in cannabis with Green Light. Um, yeah, which was an app where you could find local dispensaries, um, in your area, place your order for pickup, if you already know what you want, skip the line when you arrive, and then earn digital loyalty, um, points and rewards at the same time for your purchases. Um, and so, yeah, that's kind of my, you know, Weird path to cannabis. Um, and then yeah, that kind of quickly took off. We launched that we, or launched Green Light back in 2017 and, um, right around when recreational use was being legalized here in California and it quickly took off, um, which was amazing. And yeah. as you had said, we got acquired shortly after and for us, we just love building technology and so we knew we wanted to continue building something else after the acquisition. Um, and so kind of decided to. You know, go to the opposite side of the spectrum of the consumer, um, experience and focus on delivery. Um, we knew that that was going to be kind of the next big thing. And this was back in like 2019, um, 2018, like pre pandemic. And so yeah, that kind of led us to. Drop. And what we had noticed was that a lot of business owners had a fragmented software stack. And so they were using a hodgepodge of all these different software platforms that weren't connected, that were really expensive, and, um, were honestly making their lives harder. Um, instead of, you know, really helping them optimize their, uh, day-to-day, uh, business activities and not really helping them scale and make more money. And so that's when we decided to. Go for this big idea of building Drop, which is an all-in-one delivery management platform that encompasses and provides po o s and inventory tracking, um, regulation reporting, s m s, marketing, uh, e-commerce, uh, last mile logistics and digital loyalty and rewards all in one, um, platform. And so yeah, that's, that's pretty much CliffNotes version, , . I mean, that's a lot in, in a small period of time. And, uh, where are you at right now? So you've launched the product? Yeah. Yes. We launched it in January of 2020. So we were building out in 2019. So, like I said, all pre pandemic. Um, we had done a be. Um, in Q4 of 2019 with 10 clients offered it for free and we were just like, please use the product. We just wanna monitor how you're using it, seeing if it works, what do you like about it, what you don't like. And then we were gonna try and convert them come January, 2020 to being paying clients. And that was kind of our first big test of like, do we have something actually real and tangible on our hands that people are actually willing to pay for? And we were a hundred percent successful in convert. Those beta clients. And so we were like, okay, we think we have something. And yeah, decided to launch it in January of 2020. Um, yeah, right before the pandemic hit. And I mean, I think what was, I guess in silver lining of ev all the craziness that kind of happened in 2020 was that, you know, delivery was kind of the lifeline. Not just for cannabis, but for, you know, many industries. Um, and so I think it was, Amazing catalyst for the cannabis industry too because, um, states and regulators and regulations that prior did not allow cannabis delivery. Um, now they did because cannabis was deemed essential. And so I think it really opened the door, um, for cannabis delivery. But I feel like we're definitely still in our it's infancy stages for sure. There's still some states that don't offer it, that are barely having the conversation now. Um, Yeah, we have clients in, um, seven states and three Canadian territories. Um, and yeah, just happy to see another year, um, of business for sure going into 2023. Lynn, one of the tricky things about working in the cannabis industry is that there are as many different regulations in as many different states as you know, it just adds this other element to trying. Build and plan your business. I know that when we were building ours, we were just starting in California and then, um, also offering up in Canada and we had to do almost a completely different business to be able to, um, offer the product in Canada versus in. California. And then, you know, as you start looking at other states, Denver was something different and you know, Oregon was something different and Washington State was something different. So how have you navigated, um, building a business with all those, those differing requirements? Yeah, definitely. So first off, we, uh, focused on California. That's where a majority of our clients are based and. We haven't done much marketing, to be honest, just because we wanted to really focus on the product. And so any referrals or any, um, organic leads that we were getting, you know, we obviously had to weigh like, okay, is this worth it? Okay, we've gotten interest from five leads in X State. Um, maybe it is something that we should look into offering, um, our software for them. And it's, yes, there is a laundry list usually of, you know, the regulations of each state. It doesn't differ too much, which I guess is nice. Um, you. It's either like, obviously the age requirements, um, could sometimes be different or the, um, purchase, daily purchase limits. And so taxes obviously, so we have kind of the foundation built in. It's just about tweaking those things, um, that are very specific to that state or like that are variable from state to state. Um, but yeah, it's obviously just. Making sure you're on top of those regulations. And then as they're changing and progressing and evolving too and staying up to date with whatever changes, um, too. So like I said, we're not in a ton of states yet, so it is easy to manage and hopefully eventually we can have like our own compliance team that really just focuses on that. But we're a pretty small team now, so we like to have, um, monthly meetings just about like, okay, what's changing in the states that we're in? What are we kind of hearing? What rumblings. You know, in other states, like for example, New York just announced a few days ago, um, that they're gonna be offering delivery prior to even opening dispensaries. Um, and that the dispensary holders can offer delivery, um, in the meantime until their store is set up. So that was just like announced and. that, you know, definitely changes the course of our sales strategy. Mm-hmm. and the new year. And like you were saying, like it's kind of ever changing. And so, um, yeah, this is definitely an industry that is, um, not boring, , that's for sure. It's not at all. No. Yeah. And so you, you uh, you got started pretty early as an entrepreneur and you were, you know, trying out a lot of different business models, a lot of different ideas. Yeah. And as you said, you know, not all of them were successful. Yeah. And, but you kept going. So talk a little bit about that, because I think that there's a nugget in there that's really, really important. Yeah, you know, the first one I thought was like the home run. I mean, I think every business that anybody starts, everybody kind of thinks it's the home run. And I don't think people, people should let go of that, even if it's not because it's about the journey and it's about the lessons. And I wouldn't trade it for the world cause I wouldn't be where I am today. Um, if I didn't go through all of that and maybe one didn't work out and. So I do like to look at it that way. And I also like to look at it as like every No leads you to the right. Yes. Um, so I've heard a lot of nos in my life and, but it always kind of led me on the right path in the right direction and the right journey that was meant for me. Um, and I know it's sometimes hard thinking, like when you really want something to work out or. Yeah, something to really go your way, but it doesn't, and having to realize like, it's okay, there's a bigger purpose, a bigger plan for me, and, um, I'm, I'm on the right path and I'm getting. To the journey that's like, you know, meant for me. Um, and so yeah, I guess it's always kind of been and stuck my mind too, seeing my dad. I mean, my dad's had many failed businesses. I can't even count how many. And he kind of just kept going and just kept. And so I was really lucky, I guess, to have, um, and, and seeing that in my environment and in my upbringing and to kind of have that resilience, um, as an entrepreneur, that's something that I think. We all face is, you know, having to be resilient in the face of, you know, really tough situations when your business doesn't work out. Um, when you have to close it down, um, when you know that's not what you want or expected when you first start a business. Um, but. Yeah. And like there's so much to learn in the journey, you know, whether it works out or not. Um, I think, I think that's the critical mindset is that yeah, there's a difference between people who are kind of born entrepreneurs and people who may end up in there by some other fate. Yeah. And I think that's the, um, I was having this conversation yesterday with another, another guest to, and you know, she said the, the thing that that distinguishes entrepreneurs is the, the tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty. And I think one of the things that I've talked about with my clients a lot is that, um, we, we have to look at failure differently and, and it sounds like motherhood in apple pie to say there's no such thing as failure, but mm-hmm. in my perspective, it's really just kind of good information, right. Like, , you're gonna try something, you're gonna invest in something and you may not get the outcome that you wanted, but now you know more. Mm-hmm.. Yeah. You know, it's just trial and like Yeah. It's such trial and error. And I think, like I would suspect what you would tell me is that each try, um, became a little bit closer to write Right. And to success. And now here you are. Yeah. So you've sold, you sold a business, and now you've started another. Yeah, exactly. And if, like I said, if I, maybe if I had worked out in one of the other ones, like I said, I wouldn't be here today. Mm-hmm. or I wouldn't have maybe sold the company or I wouldn't Yeah. Be building drop. So, um, yeah, it all led me here and yeah, I. Wouldn't know what my life would look like and you know, would I be happier? Would I be or not? You know? And I think, yeah, that's all part of the journey and um, I'm really grateful for all the experiences that led me here. And yeah. And it's being an entrepreneur, like I said, I guess having my parents be them, it has offered me. A different perspective because it's kind of what I grew up knowing. But I also have another set of parents that are very successful in corporate and love what they do. And so I've always known that that's also a possibility. So I, I grew up having both and so, And I dabbled in both, you know, I was an entrepreneur for a little bit and then I got a corporate job and then I kind of came back and who's not to say, you know, that someone's journey can't look like that and still be deemed, you know, successful at the end of the day. Um, and so, yeah. So tell me about the sale of green light. Like you, that you say that it happened pretty quickly and I do a lot of work with women who wanna build their businesses for the purpose of exits. And we're not talking like, oh, I'm, I wanna, I wanna sell my business now. It, it's more like, well, I think this could be something I do in five to, you know, two to five years. So did you have the intention of selling? Did it come up like, as a, an opportunity? Yeah, it definitely came up as an opportunity, especially just from, um, and like our current investors at the time and their kind of connections and things. And so we initially just went in like, you know, let's build this. We know it could be something really big and great and impactful for consumers, especially just the time that we launched it, um, with rec use in California. And so it really. Wasn't planned. Um, but so when it came about we were like, this is an amazing opportunity that kind of just fell in our laps and, um, what do we wanna do? Do we wanna continue building this or do we wanna build something new? And so for us, um, we are like a technology company at our core, and we just love building technology in general. And so we were like, let's, you know, let them. Acquire the company. We're not gonna stay on too long after just oversee the transition and then yeah. Um, do something new. And so with drop too, I mean, we would love an exit we're we hopefully planning for an exit, um, in the next, you know, few years. And, um, we have over 1900 shareholders, um, across the US from crowdfunding. Um, and so. With drop in mind from the beginning, we were like, you know, we wanna build it and scale it to be a successful business that can have a successful exit. Um, but yeah, I mean that one was green light, I feel like was just like a whirlwind op of an opportunity that we kind of just took advantage of at the time. Um, and so yeah, I think we were pretty lucky, um, that it happened the way that it did and how quickly it happened. Um, Because like I said, we kind of weren't planning for it, but for drop, we are planning for it now. So this is super interesting to me because I, I wanna talk to you a little bit more about if this is who this is an intentional business model, an intentional sort of future for the business. Yeah. What are you doing differently in the way that you're designing the business to facilitate that, um, that sort of capability or that, that asset growth. Yeah. Yeah. So especially too in the cannabis space, um, no one built what we have built because it. Massive platform. It's basically like building five companies in one. And so when thinking about the future of the company and a future, um, exit, you know, we would love to be acquired by whether it's like a bigger po o s or even um, Yeah, just a bigger company that instead of having to acquire five little companies that do what we do, they can just acquire one that does everything all in one. And so that's what we're building for and really owning that and being great at it. Um, and yeah. That's, that's really my vision for it, is that, um, someone who doesn't wanna build out what we've built, uh, because one, it takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of money and resources, um, will just hopefully look at us and be like, they've built out everything. They've proven it, it works. Um, a bunch of clients are using it all across the us. Um, this might be something good to, to add, add to our, you know, existing, um, uh, offering. and has that, if you think back and when you were building green light, um, do you think some of the decisions you're making now and the directions you're choosing now are different based on understanding that this is being prepared as a, as a sale? Yeah, definitely, because that with green light, it was just like, We know it can make an impact, um, in not only for consumers and for business owners, but it was more of like this fun idea, like kind of solving, you know, our own problem. And it was like wherever the wind kind of took us, we went, um, and we were just really excited to just seeing. You know, thousands, hundreds of thousands of people using the platform. We had never experienced that before. We, you know, we've had many projects that we've built, but we've never, you know, none had ever reached that level that they did with Green Light, and so we were just, Really excited to just be building something that people could be using. Um, and then, yeah, I think would drop more, much more purposeful and intentional with how things are built. And especially just because it's such a big platform, like Green Light essentially was like one piece, basically what Drop essentially is. And so having to build out. All these different platforms and managing such a big platform. Um, yeah, being intentional with everything to, to how everything's documented, how we build things out, how things are managed, um, just because, yeah. Preparing for that day that we do have to present all of that. Um, yeah. And so with green light, it was just like flying by the seat of our pants, just like building stuff. And then, you know, we were like just lucky I said, to have that opportunity for an acquisition and, um, it all worked out. But I think with, yeah, with drop from the very beginning, making sure, like from the get-go everything is pretty organized and clean and managed. For sure. So I wanna talk a little bit about your team. You have basically stayed with the same team Yeah. All the way through, and that's, that's quite unique. Yeah. Um, and so tell me a little bit about that. Is, is, you know, where's the synergy? Um, uh, Do you think that this and Further ventures is going to be the same team again and again and again? And what do you account for? How do you account for the synergy that you do have? Yeah, I think, you know, we're like a family and.. Yeah, like Mark's like my brother. And obviously working with my sister has been amazing and I think we really understand each other's strengths and weaknesses and the value that we each offer and don't undermine that and can acknowledge that, you know, in, in this type of setting. Um, you know, all being co-founders and all. Basically self-taught too. You know, mark started off as a photographer 10 years ago and then made his way into tech and Jade. Became a self-taught designer, had no, um, formal education around that, and she did that or started dabbling into design because she was managing a designer for a project she was working on and was like, I think I might be able to do this better than this person that I'm working with. And just pushed yourself and. Um, yeah. And then even for me Too, just joining back into their dynamic, I hadn't been part of it for, you know, a few years. They had worked on a few projects of their own, so I had to really ask myself as well, like, is this something I really want? You know, I, I had went and I deviated from the entrepreneurship route, and I was like, had. Really asked myself those questions. Like, this is risky. You know, entrepreneurship is not guaranteed. Um, it's not guaranteed it's gonna be successful. And so, yeah, and just, um, yeah, and being like really res respectful of each other. Um, it, you know, even though we're a family, I guess sometimes, like the lines blur a little bit and, um, Our dynamics are much more, I think, comfortable than like in a very rigid, like corporate setting. Um, and so, yeah, but it really works for us. And like I said, I think just understanding how each person fits in what each person offers and what their value is. And also respecting if people want to evolve and change and the roles change or they wanna explore different things, um, you know, and so because that's what got us here too, So, yeah. And then. I think as far as us sticking together, I mean, it was a no-brainer for us to stick together after green light, um, just after that success. And yeah, I, I do see us, but also like each one of us has like kind of passion projects too in, in other areas, um, that we're all supportive of as well. And so I think, yeah, it'll be interesting to see what the future holds for us, but, Right now. Um, yeah, I, I don't see it changing. That's amazing. And I think that, you know, one of the things that, uh, you learn when you spend a lot of time working with startups and mentoring entrepreneurs is that. The ideas come and go, but the team and the people is really what you're investing in. And I think with that longevity, um, you know, you have a, a massive advantage wherever you plan to go and whatever you plan to start up. And so I'm gonna assume that this has just been a super easy road for you with no, no problems along the way. No . I wish. Tell me a little bit about where you, like, what are some of the big lessons that you've learned? Like what are, what are the things you kind of wish that you had known at the beginning? Yeah. You know, we really focused on like no partnerships in the beginning because we were like, we're just gonna focus on just our technology. And I think that could. Um, changed our course a little bit, um, because now we're playing catch. And so we're like, now, you know, now we're, we've started to focus on partnerships and maybe, um, yeah, that could have maybe made a difference in the very beginning for us to be able to have, you know, partnerships and integrations and really relying too on the strength of like their own marketing, because we haven't really done any. But you know, when you partner with a bigger company, um, and they're pushing it to their clients or, you know, and you. kind of piggyback off of that. So that's something that was kind of a hard lesson to learn, um, because, you know, if competitors have all these partnerships and stuff, and then like a, a potential client comes up to us and they're like, oh, well they have X, Y, Z and we're like, okay, well we don't have that. If that's really what you want, then you know, you can go there. Um, so yeah, that's, that's one thing. Um, . What else? Two. I think we've been, yeah, just really focused on. Listening to our client feedback. Um, and that's one thing in the beginning that we were like, this what makes us different. We can move a lot quicker than all these other companies on client feedback. Um, but it has been a learning curve to figure out, you know, what is really important for the client and all the clients use it. Am I gonna lose a client if I don't do this for them? Um, and so really navigating that has, has. Yeah, a huge learning too, because initially we were like, okay, we'll do everything. We'll do everything for everybody. And then, you know, being stretched super thin and then being like, we built something out but nobody's using it. And we were like, oh my gosh, we just spent all this time, all this money. Um, so yeah, really getting down to, I guess, the cost analysis of what, um, is going to be valuable for us to build on. While still keeping our clients happy, um, while still being able to provide value, um, with the platform and yeah, keep evolving it in a way that, um, suits them. And I think what strikes me is that you're very like, Um, focused and interested on what the needs are of the client as opposed to, you know, what you would really want. And I think that, you know, you started out in the fashion industry and it seemed, you know, very passionate and, but when you, as soon as you noticed that there was an opportunity inside cannabis mm-hmm., you made the. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's just so much opportunity for technology to really modernize the experience, not only for cannabis consumers, but for business owners as well. Um, in many ways, we're very behind in the industry. I mean, like I said, like delivery's not even a normal thing or even offered in some states where cannabis is legalized and it's like I can literally get anything delivered pretty much at any time. You know, through an app. And so for cannabis to not be there. So that's a, we just wanna bridge that gap and really. Spring technology to Yeah, modernize that experience. And I think with, um, the pandemic, it really showed that cannabis delivery is an option that's convenient, it's safe and it's reliable. So if people didn't, you know, think of. Delivery as an option before. Um, hopefully they do now. And even if they still like to go in store, at least they know that they have it as an option and that it's normalized and it's just like, you know, any other normal delivery. So do, do you find yourself up against any sort of, um, resistance or any sort of, you know, extra challenges in the industry or in the business world in general because you're servicing. Yeah, definitely. I mean, obvi, you know, cannabis businesses in general struggle with banking. I mean, we, we see that too, especially with some clients and, um, you know, having to be cash-based business, most of them having to be a cash-based business. So that's really tough. And even too with, um, our second round of crowdfunding. Um, our first one was successful back in the summer of 2020. We raised a million dollars and it was amazing and we're in it now. Um, a second raise now to raise additional funding. And one thing that we did come across was that, um, the escrow company, that the. Crowdfunding platform that we're working with partners with, didn't, didn't wanna offer us, um, an agreement because we're cannabis. And so that, you know, kind of changed things for us because we had to. Um, adjust the security type that we were offering. We couldn't offer the same one as we did during our first round of funding through crowdfunding. And so that, you know, just like things like that come up just because, yeah, they're like, oh, sorry, you know, you're in cannabis. We don't partner with cannabis companies, or we don't work with cannabis companies. And it's tough because I'm like, I'm a technology company. I don't touch the. I'm literally just software. Um, you know, so I'm a tech company at heart just offering, you know, software in the cannabis space. So, yeah, I mean, I've definitely experienced stuff like that. Um, and too, I mean, even after selling a company and going out to fundraise, Definitely challenges there. You know, everybody's like on paper. We had kind of everything I think, um, would make us successful in the traditional fundraising. Um, Space, you know, we have a successful team with, uh, that has great synergy. We had a previous acquisition, um, you know, and we've already built out the product. We're showing revenue. Um, but it just like never worked out for us, um, traditional wise and, you know, not really sure why. Um, but yeah, and like never really gone into the details of why. And so I think that kind of led us into crowdfunding as a viable option and. It was really amazing to see that just, you know, normal people, if they believed in what we were building and our vision could be a part of it and had the opportunity to be a part of it. And so, um, it really was a no-brainer for us to do a second round of, uh, crowdfunding. Um, so, and I think that's a trend I'm seeing. Um, I, I am working with a, you know, a VC on building up a, another part of their business for just for bootstrap founders. And I think the finance world is becoming focused on making financing much more accessible to startups, to founders, you know, with revenue-based financing and with, you know, microfinancing and being, you know, being open to some of these smaller rounds. And, uh, so it's, it's really encouraging to see. You know, there's, there's, there's more, um, options available now to startups than there were, you know, 10, 15, 20 years ago. Yeah, definitely. You know, and so, um, I have a question that I ask everybody in this, uh, on this show that I would love to hear your, your perspective on. We talk a lot about what's real in business and you know, the. What's different about some of the big stories that we see out there? So what, what's the biggest thing for you that's different between what we hear out there in the business world and the online business world and what's real in business and what's real about running a business? Yeah. I think that even too, like, you know, not, I mean, A lot out of the pandemic, I think showed a lot with business and obviously business is struggling and being really vulnerable and honest about the state of their business. But yeah, I mean, . What keeps me up at night sometimes is like, okay, um, we need to pay our bills and I employ people and I like, those are the things that keep me up at night and it's hard some, you know, sometimes and have to like live that. And you know, even too, when I get together with friends, We all have different pressures from our job and those are just my pressures that I feel. And sometimes I don't feel comfortable sharing that cause I'm not sure if any, if anyone can even relate. Um, . And so I think, yeah, just even too, getting a good support system around you that you can share and be vulnerable about those things, um, because it is, can be very isolating, very, very isolating, um, to be an entrepreneur and to feel like I'm the only one going through this when chances are you're probably not. Um, and I think that's maybe a little bit of the shame too that comes around. You know, being an entrepreneur is all the hard times that you have, like the really low times, you know, a lot of people only see like all the really good times and uh, and stuff, and so, but that there are like very real things that. we deal with. Um, like I said, you know, I have to pay bills, I have to continue employing people. Um, I have to, you know, really grateful to see another year of business and how can I continue to do that, um, year after year. And so, yeah, I think that stuff's always on my mind. Um, and it's, yeah, not all like rainbows and butterflies and not at. Yeah, but that's part of the journey and that's like what makes the journey. And I think too, all of that has taught me to really enjoy the wins that you do have. Um, and it makes the winds feel that much sweeter is because. You know, as an entrepreneur you can get into such the day-to-day of things and literally it's just like, um, time goes by so quickly and then you're like, oh my gosh, another year has gone by. And so yeah, that's something that I'm really trying to focus on is like really enjoying the wins that we have as a company, bigger or small, um, and really being present for it because then the next day it could be a really big low, who knows ? Um, yeah, it's so true. And I think that.. Um, I know a lot of entrepreneurs like, we're just so heads down, right? And we're just so heads down with the next thing and the next thing, and that fear really can drive you, especially when you've started to take on people and started of, started to take on a team. Yeah. And I, you know, sometimes we sit back and we look back and two years ago, where were we? And that perspective is really, really critical. Most of the things that you've wanted to achieve, we've probably done already, but we never take the time to just like track that. Right? Yeah. So I, I really love that. I love that, uh, perspective. So we're coming up on time and I'm, um, really grateful for this conversation. Can you tell our listeners how they can find you? Yeah, you can find us at dropdelivery.com. Um, please connect with me on LinkedIn. Uh, Vanessa Gabriel is my name. Give us a follow on LinkedIn as well. Uh, you can check out our crowdfunding, um, raise@republic.com. And yeah, thank you so much for allowing me to share today. Awesome. It's been a real pleasure. And that's a wrap. I'm so happy we had the opportunity to chat with Vanessa today to hear more about how her business came to be, her experiences along the way, and what the future of the business entails. And thank you for tuning into this episode of The Real People Real Business Show, where we get the real entrepreneurial stories and journeys that you can relate to. Show notes, resources, and links from this episode are available on my website and social media platforms. If you've enjoyed today's content, I'd love for you to give us a review on whatever platform you're on to help us share these genuine stories with an even bigger audience. Until next time, keep building, keep dreaming and keep being real.