Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to Kaya Cast, the podcast for cannabis businesses looking to launch, grow, and scale their operations.
Tommy Truong: Ernest, thank you so much for joining me today.
Ernest Toney: Hey, thanks Tommy. Excited to be here.
Tommy Truong: So I, I followed you from afar and before our, uh, our call, I was really looking into, uh, BIPOCANN and what you guys do. And I love the work by the way. We work a lot with social equity licensees as well, and there's a huge need in our industry, not just with social equity, uh, licensees on how, on just the overall knowledge of the cannabis industry and as well as cannabis businesses.
So, can you walk me a little bit, you, you have a background working with some major, some pretty big trade shows. What, what was the impetus of stopping what you're doing and starting this, uh, this business?
Ernest Toney: Yeah, so that's a [00:01:00] great question. Um. So, um, you know, I started working in the cannabis industry around 2018 and, um, had a cool opportunity. I was hired to work for MJ Biz and, um, it was such a great time, you know, back then, you know, it's crazy when you say back then, it wasn't too, too long ago, but, uh, the state of the cannabis industry was so different, um, and it sort of fe felt like companies were making money hand over fist, and because of that it had attracted so many people from around the world who were interested in trying to get their, you know, start into the industry.
Um, so I know you've heard people talk about the green rush, but that's what it felt like. Well, I was working at MJ Biz on their marketing teams. I was in charge of like international marketing efforts. Uh, in 2018, we were launching events in, um. Actually we, we hosted our second [00:02:00] event in Toronto. Uh, and we launched events in Europe and Latin America, uh, as well as hosting the stateside events in New Orleans and Las Vegas, of course.
And, uh, everything was going great, you know, um, we were getting thousands of people from all over the world to come to the industry, to the, to the big trade shows. And it put me in a position where I was really at the center of it all. Um, working on the marketing team next to the journalists, I learned so much about the industry.
I made so many like great relationships and understood, um, pretty quickly that, um, we were in an emerging, um, mark emerging market and industry that was really just at the beginning of its growth stages and potential. Uh, and in 20 19, 20 20, we were really expanding on that work. Uh, well, we expanded on it in 2019, and then in 2020, uh, the pandemic came.
So that, you know, puts, uh, a lot of folks who are working at MJ B and other trade shows [00:03:00] in difficult situations because now all of a sudden you can have in-person events and, uh, the majority of our revenue stream was coming from a big five day show in Vegas at the end of the year. Uh, so, um, the company had to make some changes.
Um, there were some layoffs, there were some furloughs, uh, but it put us in a situation where, um, you know, I had to, I just was like, well, what do I really wanna do with my time? Um, there was so much uncertainty around whether we are gonna be able to have events anytime soon, and I really wanted to like lean into, uh, being able to help some of the underrepresented, um, entrepreneurs who were seeking entry into.
Uh, cannabis. Uh, so a lot of focus at that time in 2020 was around social equity and a lot of states were opening up programs which were designed to, um, give access to licenses for those individuals who were negatively and [00:04:00] disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. Um, I sort of felt that the policy efforts were cool, but it felt, I could see pretty quickly that, um, there was gonna be a need for people who already had relationships with business and insiders.
And I felt that I could really advance some of those equity efforts by, uh, creating a platform that allowed those prospective entrepreneurs to, um, navigate pitfalls, um, you know, find relationships and education and resources that can really accelerate their growth. And, um, that was the impetus behind it.
Tommy Truong: Oa, you started really as. The connector platform where you connected entrepreneurs with people that can help them in in their journey,
Ernest Toney: that's right.
Tommy Truong: how has that evolved to today?
Ernest Toney: Well, you know, yeah, you're right. [00:05:00] So in the first, probably first year, um, maybe first two years, the big focus was on, uh, like connections and relationships. And, uh, I thought it was pretty cool because it, it, for one, it created, it made the platform very valuable because. You had a lot of like new licensed seekers who were, uh, trying to find different services that could support their growth.
Uh, and this same, and meanwhile, you have service providers who were looking for newly licensed businesses that they could connect with. So, you know, you sort of put, uh, created a platform where I was sort of at the center of that. And, um, because so many of the, um, because I had such a strong, um, I had, I had a lot of great connections with, uh, ancillary businesses, um, and a lot of service-based businesses.
And it felt like, uh, all of the social equity programs were really focusing on helping people access licenses, but it wasn't really, none of them were [00:06:00] really focusing on, you know, vetting relationships with people that could really help them and not exploit them. Uh, so, you know, I ended up. Um, you know, finding something that worked and really within the first couple of years, what was cool is I, right from the beginning, even though it was more of a connecting platform, I always had that consulting hat on.
So whenever I would sit down and meet with someone, I wanted to learn who they were, what their goals are, uh, what their challenges were. So able to like, figure out a wealth of information very, very quickly on the best ways to support people over here and people over here. And, um, eventually, uh, in 2022, um, I had built a relationship with, uh, the cannabis business office, which is, um, a division of Colorado's Office of Economic Development.
And that business [00:07:00] office was, uh. Had announced that they were going to begin offering grants for social equity, uh, license holders. And those grants were really, uh, they're gonna go up to $50,000. And the whole point was to give them some resources that could help them, you know, get closer to opening up their doors or accelerating their growth.
One of the, one of the problems that I noticed immediately was they didn't have a lot of additional support and, you know, it was a small team. They're like, Hey, we're gonna solve this one problem and give people some money. And I was like, well, once people have those resources, then what? You know, it's like, can, so I approached them and we had a great conversation and wanted to see how could we actually make those resources go farther while also ensuring that the, um, you know, the grant recipients could be in a position where they could, um.
You know, achieve their goals. [00:08:00] Uh, so started a pilot program with them for about eight weeks in 2022. Had some good results. And, you know, ever since then, 2023, we've had an ongoing relationship and each year I do more and more education and it iterates and we just figure out how to get better and how to meet businesses where they are, whether they're, um, you know, pre-license and trying to navigate that process, or if they're like early stage, just made some revenue, or if they're in a situation where they're a couple of years in, but now trying to figure out how to, uh, scale or, um, you know, potentially find like, uh, uh, capital or investors, you know, we can guide them.
So we, it's really, really grown. Um, and it was sort of a natural evolution because after. Having enough conversations and connection points, you just, I just started to realize what the true needs were, um, that could help, uh, business owners, uh, especially the social equity license holders who are trying to get their [00:09:00] start.
So,
Tommy Truong: Well, so you actually help two different types of business in their, in their life cycle. One is the startup, which is a completely different problem than the scale up. Which one's more fun?
Ernest Toney: Uh, I like the scale up better, um, to, to, I'm being a hundred percent honest. Uh, the startup environment is so fun, right? Because, you know, people get this great idea, they're really excited and, um, and it's nice when they can get their, you know, MVP, like that minimum viable product and figure out how to actually make this, you know, a reality.
But I find that like so many of the connections that I have and the relationships that I have and the resources that are available to really help growth. Can't be tapped into until those businesses are licensed and generating some revenue. Uh, usually the startups, especially in cannabis, like it's hard to find, but you can't find banking.
It's hard to find funding. Um, unless you, unless they already have a lot of [00:10:00] capital or they're like existing, um, or existing backers. Every dollar is really being put towards just going through the, you know, the points to, to opening the door. Uh, so I'm very limited in how I can help, uh, accelerate their growth.
So once they're at that point where they're starting to make a little bit of money, or they met the licensing potential, then we can really fast track them.
Tommy Truong: So what are the, the sweet spot for you then? Really if, if I'm, uh, hearing correctly is after you open the door, and let's say you have your, you have some type of a reach health strategy down you, under, you have a baseline of unit economics and you're thinking, okay, well where do I go from here? Is that, is that your sweet spot where you come in and really help businesses step into the next phase of, of their life?
Ernest Toney: Um, [00:11:00] well, the sweet spot. Um, yeah, so maybe, uh, a good way to say this is, um,
I, I think it's easier, um, when businesses are, so, I think the sweet spot is within the first. Um, two years of business. So, um, depending on the type of like cannabis license that you have, you might, um, be farther along. So, you know, if you're applying for a retail license, you're probably spending 18 to 24 months just trying to get through the process of getting approved permits, opening your doors.
Um, there's stuff that we can still do to, to help, you know, maybe you're looking for like the right POS provider or accounting and marketing. Like, there's still ways that it can help, you know, um, those early stage, uh, license, those early stage entrepreneurs, um, make [00:12:00] progress. Um, but let's say you're like a brand, a manufacturer, um, and your lifecycle for, you know, to to getting into the market might be a little shorter.
Maybe it's 12 months. Uh, but once you are in a position where you have your packaging and your products and you're ready to get on the market, that's when I, I feel like it's a great time to start to work with them on marketing strategy, um, amplification strategy, um, you know, depending on where they're located.
You know, if I, we have enough like tentacles and enough reach and relationships, um, there's times where we can just pick up a phone and or do an email intro and say, you know, call a retailer and say, Hey, here's somebody that, you know, we really like, we've been working with them. Want to see if you can just, uh, get on the, you know, if you can, uh, meet and sample products.
And we found so many people go from, uh, you know, getting products onto [00:13:00] markets just because of the relationship as opposed to them trying to like. Cold call. So we still accelerate and we still like, still value like the, the community and the connections. Uh, but I think that's where I can help people. Um, like once they're at that point where they're close to opening or Right.
You know, or, or ready to, uh, start to make sales. Like, that's when I see it like a lot of magic because we can do so much. They can, um, take them from, uh, they can see they can drive their revenue pretty quickly. Yeah,
Tommy Truong: Yeah, so that really businesses that are in position to run, you're in the position, you have things lined up. You're past licensing, you have your doors open. Let's go.
Ernest Toney: yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.
Tommy Truong: That is, that is actually a really cool pocket to be in, just to be able to help these startups accelerate their business. What are some problems that [00:14:00] you see or some of the most common problems that you see entrepreneurs face when they, when they've just opened their door and now they're looking to grow?
Ernest Toney: Yeah. Um, well, there's a, there's a lot of challenges, um, that I see and, and maybe I'll say like, I'm gonna split this into, um, general entrepreneurial challenges and entrepreneurial challenges within the cannabis industry. Right. Um, so in general, I think, you know, I see a lot of entrepreneurs when they're getting started.
They're really, really excited. Um, almost. Almost like 90, if not a hundred percent of the time. Like their projections on how quickly, uh, they're going to make revenue is, are inflated. Uh, they think they're gonna earn a lot more faster and they think they're gonna spend a lot less. And usually it's the opposite.
Everybody is [00:15:00] very like, um, very excited that, you know, their business idea is gonna generate a lot of money quickly, and they're very conservative on their expenses and they need to actually, um, make, I, I, I think that has been a challenge because, um, I don't know, like, it feels like a lot of entrepreneurs don't, don't realize, um, um, especially like first time entrepreneurs.
They just don't know. Um,
Tommy Truong: No, it was true. You know what's funny? I remember looking at my deck when we first started and how absurd my numbers were like, Hey, we're gonna hit 10 in the first four years and we're gonna do this, and. And a reality kind of slaps you in the face as you go along.
Ernest Toney: Yeah, it's crazy. Um, and I'd say the other thing is if you're in like a B2B environment, um, just, um, like so much of that is, so much of your revenue could be dependent [00:16:00] on other, like, business cycles. Uh, and there's just more people that you have to build relationships with. And it typically, I've seen that the sales cycles and processes take longer as opposed to like if you're, you know, B2C or direct to consumer, um, I think within cannabis, like.
Some of the biggest challenges, uh, honestly, are out of people's controls. Uh, it could be like they could do everything right at the state level and get all of like the licensing done. Uh, let's say you have a brick and mortar location. It could be a retailer or a hospitality lounge, a cultivation, and you've done everything right at the state level to get all your licenses.
But then you find out that at the city or municipal level, there's some change in regulation that is gonna affect your, um. Start time to open and you might think that, um, everything's on track and now all of a sudden you're delayed by another three months and you have additional costs for improvements.
And it's those types of things too, um, that [00:17:00] I, I, I think are very difficult for new entrepreneurs and cannabis. Um, I think from the outside looking in, people think, okay, I wanna get a retailer and be, I wanna be a dispensary owner. This is gonna make so much money. And maybe they have never heard of two 80 DE and the tax code.
Uh, they don't understand, um, you know, all of the different challenges related to, um, local state taxes, what you can and can't write off. And, um, from the outside looking in, it seems like a really cool thing to do, but then they don't really understand like the numbers and literally like what is needed for them to break even, let alone make a profit. Um. So those are some of the challenges that I see. Uh, but I think, you know, something that is also, um, I think something that's also difficult is, you know,
[00:18:00] if you're an entrepreneur, you just have to have a certain level of risk that most people, you know, aren't really, um, a lot of people aren't prone to, you know, and it's, and, and you have to continue to grind and you, it's, you always have to have like this mindset where, um, you know, you gotta show up, you gotta keep going when things, even if things don't, you know, work out because things will not always work out.
Um, there's always a grind. There's always something that comes up. I can tell you about so many nightmares that I face, but.
Tommy Truong: You gotta be a crazy person that likes solving problems.
Ernest Toney: yeah, yeah. That's, that's, that's very, very important. Yeah. You gotta, you gotta solve problems, but, um, you also can't be unfazed and, um, if, when things go wrong, and one of the things that I feel like, um, a lot of entrepreneurs miss, and I think it's a, a value that we have added through our, our mentorship and accelerator programs is, uh, community and support system.
Uh, because when you're out on your own, especially if you're a [00:19:00] solo founder, you're in your head all the time. So, you know, if you're having a couple of, you know, bad days or weeks, or months, um, you know, it can be really easy for you to put on the blinders and not realize either a, like, what's the impact that you're making?
What's the progress that you're making? And, um, how can you know and to be able to look at something objectively. Uh, so I think that finding, you know, a peer group, a support group, um, some mentors is really, really important. And, and, um. I think that's a challenge that a lot of new entrepreneurs face 'cause they just don't know.
Tommy Truong: You know what, what, what? There's one common challenge that I, I find real retailers go through is the, when you're exactly what you said, the store bill though is always gonna take longer than what you expect. Expect six months longer, so six months, whatever you plan, add another six months to it. And that's probably about [00:20:00] right.
It could be even longer depending on where you are, right? There's a million things that do go wrong during the buildout just to count on that. But what I find that's very consistent is a lot of entrepreneurs put all of their attention in the build out. And not a lot of attention to the first six months after the buildout.
And that's consistent across the board. And it's unfortunate because there's a lot of time that you can have during the buildout to really plan post that milestone. But the buildout is the start of the, the race, right? And oftentimes that's, you know, the mentality is that's the end of the race until the next chapter, but the next chapter happens the next day.
And if you're not prepared for that, it can really hit you, um, hit you hard.
Ernest Toney: That's real. Um, I'm glad you said that. Uh. I've seen this, um, happen. Yeah, that's, that's really, really common. And, um, there's actually like a [00:21:00] good, uh, now, now good friend. Um, but I remember when I, I met him like three years ago, I was asking questions related to marketing and outreach and how to, you know, help him get into a position to build a brand.
And he was very, very diligent. His response was, all I can focus on right now is, you know, completing the construction of my cultivation. That's where I wanna put my attention. And I would try to push, but he's like, no, I gotta do this. And, um, did a good job. You know, he got it finished, but then he came back and was like, uh, I have no idea where to start.
People aren't buying. And I'm thinking, you know, if we had attacked the brand building and the outreach, how cool would it have been for you to already have demand and people that were already ready to work with you when you had your doors open? But. Um, but yeah, that's a common, that's a
Tommy Truong: So what would be your advice to an [00:22:00] entrepreneur on how to. How to section off priorities and time during this phase of their business.
Ernest Toney: yeah, I mean, it's challenging because usually when you're starting out, you're wearing all the hats and you know, you, how do you figure out like, which one to attack? And, and I do think that, you know, like if you can put, like, if you're just getting starting and let's say you, it's gonna take two years for you to open up your retail or your cultivation, like just what you said, like if you can put yourself in, okay, I know I'm just starting out today, but I wanna pretend as if, you know, um.
Next week, I'm gonna be open, like, or put yourself in that mindset where you're like, all right, it's two years from now. What are the things that I want to have ready to do? And then just start working backwards. It's like, okay, um, you don't have to do it all at once, but like, it's, it's sort of like working out.
If you do like a little bit each day, then you're gonna see gradual effects over time. But, you know, if, you know, you put it off [00:23:00] and, and then all of a sudden like you want to, you know, go from, you know, have immediate changes in a day, it's just not gonna happen. So, um, you can, I'd say just find a way to do a little bit, you know, at smaller intervals.
And it doesn't have to be a daily thing, but even if you're like, okay, weekly I want to, I wanna dedicate one hour towards big picture marketing strategy. Um. That should be, you know, an easy enough or small enough lift. And, you know, over the course of 2, 2, 2 years, if you did just like one hour a week, you would've given yourself over a hundred hours of work on your marketing strategy.
So it compounds. Yeah. Are
Tommy Truong: H how, how far should somebody plan, um, their goals earnest. So let's say, uh, you mentioned big picture, uh, marketing strategy. What should be the outcome that somebody is looking to achieve and how far else should they look at that stage in their business?
Ernest Toney: you, do you mean like when they're like just getting [00:24:00] started? Just
Tommy Truong: Yeah, just getting started. They're in the phase right now where they're, um, they're building out their location and they're starting to now tackle. Okay. I know that I have this build that I gotta take care of and it has to happen, but I want to talk, I want to think through about maybe branding, about marketing or even an outbound sales effort.
What does that look like? When should, when should someone plan for that, and how far out should they really have their goal set?
Ernest Toney: Yeah, I mean, that's a great question and I think it, and I can't just give like a, an absolute answer here 'cause it's really gonna vary based off of, um, like the type of business and also like the type of person you know, that you are. And I think that, um, you know, in general, I think it's a good idea to have, um, at least like a goal for, you know, the next six months to one year, you know, um, and.[00:25:00]
Anything under that. It's like, okay, what are like the immediate things I need to take up, take care of? 'cause people are usually thinking, okay, like I'll tackle the short term goals, I gotta get this done, you know, in the next 10 days, next 30 days. But if you can give yourself a little bit more runway and say, all right, what's my six months goal for here?
What's my one year goal for, for here? And write those down. And like, and I think, and, and really like, I would encourage people to, to have quarterly goals because then at the beginning of each quarter you can sort of say, here's what I wanna accomplish. And then at the end of the quarter you can say, did I do it?
And what are the goals for next quarter? And if you sort of dialogue that, you know, sort, not dialogue, but if you track it, then you're gonna see what that progress looks like over, over time. Um,
Tommy Truong: I love that you mentioned that because quarterly goals is long enough for you to be strategic, but short enough for you to measure results. So it, it's right in that sweet spot where you can see movement and still be, uh, [00:26:00] strategic.
Ernest Toney: Yeah, I like that too, because, and like you said earlier, like the, the industry is so cyclical and, um, I mean, it took me years to figure out like the, the business cycles and, and which work, what work for, for my, you know, business. But you know, like if you're a cultivator, then there's a season where you're gonna be spending more time on, you know, uh, the crop and the grow.
And, you know, maybe during that time, uh, in, in the lead up, you know, to that, like when you're post-harvest and it's like the end of the year, uh, that might be a great time for you to really double down on your outreach strategy so that, um, you know. Um, you're ready to, to go for like the upcoming season and the upcoming crop.
Uh, it's the same thing, like when you look at some of your other goals, like if you're, if you really wanna focus on networking or finding connections and you're plugged into a conference, you know, into the conference c scene, um, you know, so many of the conferences happen in the fall. So [00:27:00] use like those slower summer months, for example, to make sure that you are putting your, um, your efforts towards, uh, what you need to do to attract the people that you're looking for, vendors, partners, et cetera.
Uh, so, um, that could be tougher for a brand new, um, you know, entrepreneur. So somebody who gets a license today or who decides like tomorrow that they want to get into the industry, they don't know the, the cycle. Um, but, um, but they can still, you know, have those, um, quarterly or year long goals and. And start tracking their progress towards them.
Tommy Truong: You know what I found that a lot of early entrepreneurs make them, and when I say a lot of ear, early entrepreneurs, I mean even our, everybody, myself included, when I, when we first started our business was when we started creating OKRs or goals. Right. You go one year, you reverse engineer it back to a quarter and then you reverse engineer that back to [00:28:00] months.
And then two weeks was that we were very ambitious with the number of things that we can get done and we allocated two less time going deep into the most important things. Just like the uh, Warren Buffett team motto, right where he says, whatever your goal is, list out 20 things that you think are, will get you to your goal force.
Rank it one to 20, do the top five and make sure you forget about the last 15 'cause you don't have time for that. Are, are there any exercises that entrepreneurs can do when they're setting out their goals to better force, rank what's the most impactful to their business? And then, uh, measure that impact so that they know that they're walking towards the, the right direction.
Ernest Toney: Oh, that's a great question. Um, and, uh, let me think about that for a second. [00:29:00] Um,
Tommy Truong: It's a, it's a big one. And you know, I, I always say that entrepreneurship is, it's a game of infinite problem solving. That's the game that you're in. So just know that you are in a game of infinite problem solving. So there's a million problems for you to solve. And where you make your money is to figure out which problems are worth solving, which problems are worth your time and your resources.
And when I see successful entrepreneurs that not su uh, entrepreneurs that are not successful, it's really comes down to that, is unsuccessful entrepreneurs solve problems that do not impact their business,
Ernest Toney: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Tommy Truong: or they're not effective at solving problems that do impact the business. I guess those are the two,
Ernest Toney: Yeah. Yeah.
Tommy Truong: uh, the two parts of that equation.
Ernest Toney: Yeah. Yeah. And, but to your, to your point, like the exercise is trying to figure out what those, what are the things that are impacting and driving. So I'm really big on [00:30:00] measuring. I like data. Um, I, you know, I think that, um, it's, it's great to, I don't record everything, but I sort of got to a point where as time passed, it's like, all right, the things that are really important that I know or drive the business are the things that I'm gonna spend more time recording.
But to your point, it's like when I got started, um, I didn't know what was actually creating the biggest impact, um, and sort of had to figure that out. Um, one thing I will say is that I, I feel like a lot of entrepreneurs are, um, like. They just see opportunity everywhere. And it's a blessing and a curse, right?
Because, um, a lot of times the things that are most impactful to your business are the mundane, boring, day-to-day things that you need to do, but that is not exciting and it's mundane and it doesn't give you the dopamine rush that a new opportunity, you know? So I see a lot of opportunity, a lot of, [00:31:00] um, what do you call it, like the, the golden ticket, you know,
Tommy Truong: Yeah.
Ernest Toney: shiny object, right?
Like a lot of entrepreneurs wanna have a new idea and chase this. And, um, sometimes you have something that I've seen people who have a business model that is working just fine and, um, they're either stop doing it or they make unnecessary changes because I wanna chase something bigger and, um. I don't wanna say, you know, necessarily deter people from seeking new opportunities, but, uh, that's when it could also be helpful to have, you know, a mentor or partner or someone who could look objectively and push back and say, um, Hey, look, from what I see, like these are real positive impacts that are being made.
Like you really need to be doubling down on this and, um, before abandoning ship and chomping onto the next thing. So,
Tommy Truong: Well, it's, it's such a classic problem in for entrepreneurs, myself included. [00:32:00] Like I, I put myself in this pool right here, right? Where what made you, what makes a really good entrepreneur is seeing an opportunity and. Having action on it, right? So you, you know, you see an opportunity, you act, you're a good starter.
But that's a double-edged sword because, uh, the more successful you get, the more opportunities come your way.
Ernest Toney: It's true. Yep.
Tommy Truong: And you see this, you probably see this all the time, where you see a brand that's really successful in the state that they're operating. There's a lot of runway left in their state, but now they're thinking about expanding multi-state.
Well, there's a lot of problems when you go across state lines. You know, you have to have new vendors, new everything, okay? Right? And you have so much runway to grow in your state, and you're throwing that away for this, um, this new problem that takes a lot of capital and a lot of risk.
Ernest Toney: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. That [00:33:00] happens to everyone. Um, no, it's, it's funny. It, it is funny 'cause I, I will say, um, I can tell you something that worked well for my business and, um, it's, it's in alignment with what you were just talking about. But, uh, you know, when, when I came onto the scene and announced. Um, bipo can, and the work that I was doing, like I'd already been doing the work for probably two months before I told anybody about it.
You know, like one of the, like I did the whole, um, lean canvas model. I, uh, you know, like I said, it was the middle of the pandemic. We were all working from home. And then just one day I was like, I'm gonna run an Airbnb and I'm gonna take four days and I'm really just gonna be in, like, I gave myself a retreat and I was trying to get like all these ideas outta my head and I was like, okay, what are I really spent time, uh, trying to address, like what the problems were, [00:34:00] uh, the unique solution that we could bring, you know, to the market and really honed on, you know, honed on what the, um.
What, uh, like our unique strengths were. And for me it was, um, I had a large, large network effects, like that was a big one. And I knew that, um, if I could be authentic about addressing an issue that I felt was being overlooked and one that was becoming very, very big, like it was a big problem that, you know, this industry was growing and the, uh, majority of the people who were negatively impacted by it were on the outside looking in and didn't have a shot in ownership.
And I was like, you know, policy can help this, but it can only do so much. Like, how can we actually help drive business? And I really, really got super narrow on the problem and figured out how to address it. But, um, you know, when I started I was very vocal and. [00:35:00] Any, anytime somebody wanted me to speak or show up on a webinar or a podcast or if there's a conference, like I was there.
So I was traveling everywhere and I was doing all of the, um, making all the relationships and efforts to be that brand and to support the visibility of it. And as a result, we ended up having a lot of different, you know, um, members and clients and, you know, stakeholders that we were talking to in different states.
And, um, it was, and all I saw was like more problems and more opportunities and wanted to like be there to help all of them. And we didn't really get good at what we were doing, in my opinion, until we started to focus on where we were. And I started out very, very wide, very broad, and sort of landscaping the entire country.
Um, but. When I started working in the backyard in Colorado to [00:36:00] see, okay, what are the problems of the local social equity applicants and how can we address that within the community? Then I started, I started wide and ended up going narrow and like deep. And because we've done that, we've gotten so much better at what, what, um, what we do.
And, you know, I, I had the shiny object, you know, syndrome. Like a couple years ago we were applying for out state RFPs and places where we had been, you know, doing community work and we wanted to bring technical assistance programs there. And then you realize you don't know the politics and a lot of the politics are really, really bad.
And, um, you know, while I was spending time in other places, I was neglecting the needs that were right here. And, um, I feel like we've gotten so much better with helping you folks in Colorado because our focus has primarily been here. Um, and um, and now it's sort of at a [00:37:00] point where, um, when people from other markets are reaching out.
Um, I think because like we said no to all of the other opportunities for the past couple of years and got really good here, now it's a lot easier for us to go and help. So it's almost like you had to, you know, like we started wide, then went narrow. Now we're starting to go a little bit wider, but more calculated, right?
Tommy Truong: Yeah. No, I love that because you've, you went deep and truly solved a problem that would needed to be solved versus trying to solve too many problems and end up not really solving any problem.
Ernest Toney: Yeah. Yeah.
Tommy Truong: That's cool. I, yeah, that, that's the way we resonate with a lot of it Res definitely resonated with me because when we, you know, when we started out, you know, when you, when you were.
An entrepreneur and you first start out and really at that survival stage, you're just looking for [00:38:00] crumbs. You're just, is somebody gonna gimme money And for a problem, like, do I actually have a solution that somebody's gonna gimme money to solve? Right? So you end up solving every problem that comes your way and you know, you get to a point where, where hopefully you can get past that stage and start niching in a little bit more and really go deep with, uh, the problems that resonate with you the most.
Ernest Toney: Oh yeah, yeah. It's true. It's true. Um, yeah, and it's sort of interesting. I've, I've told this to people and, um, like recently it's like. If I was starting this business in this industry today, like knowing how much, if I knew how much work I had to put into this thing like five years ago when I started, if I knew that there's no way I probably, I would not have, I would not have started this
Tommy Truong: But there, there's that naiveness that, uh, that you have to have when you, when you start a business. Right? I [00:39:00] feel like that's why, um, a lot of it's hard for people that are, that have gone to become senior managers, senior executives, et cetera, uh, professors to start a business because they know too much,
Ernest Toney: Mm-hmm.
Tommy Truong: right?
You, you kind of know too much of, of, of what can go wrong and too many obstacles that, uh, you know, can be overwhelming. I.
Ernest Toney: I, you know, and I think that's also what makes it harder for entrepreneurs to go back into the, the workforce for. For people too. Um, I think that if you have several years of running a successful business and you've had to like do every single department, it can be difficult when you're going back to a place where folks are, um, they don't understand just how businesses function at every level.
And, [00:40:00] um, I can tell you, like, I used to be pretty, I used to be somebody that as middle manager be critical of supervisors or the owners and decisions that are being made. And it's like you really just don't understand, like their perspective tell hell
Tommy Truong: yeah,
Ernest Toney: you're in those shoes and you, you know, you have to make those decisions.
So.
Tommy Truong: yeah. You can appreciate now that, uh, there's always a balancing act that needs to happen when you're, you know, you have to take care of everything really, and be a little bit more strategic than, than a single problem. I wanna go back to the businesses that you are helping today,
Ernest Toney: Yep.
Tommy Truong: and you guys are doing such amazing work.
What are some of the big problems that you are looking to solve that we haven't spoken about?
Ernest Toney: Yeah. You know, probably the most commonly cited problem that, uh, I hear, uh, entrepreneurs, especially equity license entrepreneurs, um, say that they're facing [00:41:00] is access to capital and funding. And, and that's something that we've been leaning more into, especially like in the programs in, in Colorado. Um, you know, like in the beginning of 2025, like we hosted our, I guess it would've been our.
Our fourth mentorship accelerator program. And we, and what was neat about, like the one this year was, uh, it was a smaller group. It was like 10 businesses, but um, like nine outta the 10 were already like, revenue producing. And we could have more of like a different focus on what was needed to help them drive more revenue and potentially attract, you know, um, investors or funds and what was, and, and every, every single one of 'em still said that, like, or the majority of them still said capital was a challenge.
So, um, it's one of the things that, um, I think [00:42:00] this industry just needs more resources and education around. Um, I know that there are, uh, challenges around access to banking. Um, and lending. Uh, now there are some established like cannabis companies that do that. Uh, a lot of times, like on the lending, you know, side of things, like you already need to be at certain revenue thresholds.
So that can be tough for like the brand new, uh, business. But, um, but I think what I see is a, a big challenge is like, so many people say like, we need capital for this, and let's use an example. Um, uh, new state, you know, the East coast gives out hundreds of licenses. Um, everybody like might get a, a conditional license, and they're all, they all need capital.
Okay? So now you have like a hundred or so businesses that are all saying that they need capital. But, um, and if I'm one person, that's, if I'm, let's say they're all coming to me, you know, and I'm in [00:43:00] the means to provide that capital, how do you choose,
Tommy Truong: Well also there's a supply and demand imbalance there too. Huge.
Ernest Toney: It's huge. But I think what happens is, like so many businesses are, um, they don't understand, I don't wanna say they don't understand, but I see that there needs to be more work done on, um, the, the storytelling,
Tommy Truong: Yeah.
Ernest Toney: the problem and the solution, um, the team, um, the ways that like differentiate their business, um, and being able to present in confidence about why someone should, um, buy from them, uh, sponsor them, invest in them.
And I think, you know, getting to some of the root of those problems is, uh, a challenge that I see, um, that that's worth, um, taking on. So I know we're leaning more into that [00:44:00] financial education and also, uh, trying to strengthen our network of. Um, you know, people in the finance investing capital world, we're also trying to, you know, strengthen relationship with relationships with buyers at like retail, uh, locations because, uh, so many of like the brands or the cultivators or even like delivery, you know, are trying to find, um, relation and build relationships with decision makers who can actually drive some of that commerce.
So, um, yeah, that's a challenge that I see. Uh, and it's one that, um, I feel like, you know, we've had some successes with, uh, like earlier this summer. Um, the state had a pitch competition and um, they ended up having, you know, dozens of businesses in cannabis supply to participate. Um, there were eight businesses who had a chance to pitch for like three [00:45:00] grand prizes.
And all eight of them had participated in my program in, in, in past years. Uh, I ended up being asked to advise two of them, and, uh, the two that I advised finished first and third. So
Tommy Truong: Oh, that's awesome.
Ernest Toney: one of the businesses won a hundred thousand dollars and the other one 50 a
Tommy Truong: Oh, that's so cool.
Ernest Toney: Yeah. And we spent, I basically spent a lot of one-on-one time over the course of six weeks helping them improve and refine their pitch decks and recruit and improve their, their pitch.
And there was so much value that came from working with them because even though I'd known them for a couple of years, there was still a lot of gaps in like what they had created and the stories that they were telling and the assumptions they were making, and was able to like, go very, very deep one-on-one and say.
Um, no, actually I think the problem that you think you're solving is not really the problem that you're solving. Like [00:46:00] this is what you should be communicating. And it's been really interesting because I've seen shifts in the way that they've done business, and I've actually seen both of those companies that I advise, um, you know, take on like, uh, actually win more, um, uh, business with retailers just in the past two or three months.
So that's been cool.
Tommy Truong: And that's a wrap. Thanks everybody for listening to this episode. We, that was such a great conversation with Ernest. It was long, uh, that we went over so much that we could not fit it into one episode. We had to split it up into two in this episode. Just to recap for everybody, we spoke about, uh, Ernest's journey from MJ Biz Con, to founding BIPOCANN during the pandemic, so the struggles that he went through.
Starting his own business, particularly through the pandemic, as well as his work with Colorado Social Equity Program and what he sees entrepreneur, the struggles he sees entrepreneurs go [00:47:00] through, and the mistakes, the common mistakes that they go through when they first start their dispensary. We go through that as well.
Stay tuned for next week. Uh, we talk about investments, what to put in your pitch deck for investors, the need to make things concise as well as how many, how many investors that you should reasonably talk to if you want to be successful. Uh, stay tuned for that. We launch that episode next week, Tuesday at 10:00 AM.
And as we wrap this episode, I wanna take some time to highlight some budtenders that have absolutely crushed it. I wanna go over our August budtender Spotlight winners. So congratulations to Alex Penit, Gabrielle Hilly, Marissa Whitning, and Jan Acosta.
These four absolutely deserve to be honored. They go above and [00:48:00] beyond to help our customers and sh to share their knowledge and to make sure that customers get the product that they truly deserve. So, thanks again guys, and congratulations. If you guys have a team member that is deserving of recognition and is absolutely killing it, please nominate them. They can be featured next in a future episode. This is my favorite way of highlighting the true MVPs of our world, the people in the front lines, our bud tenders who, make this cannabis world go round. So again, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. Until next time, take care.
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