Cannabiz Credit Association

Let’s elevate the cannabis industry toward better business. 

The Cannabiz Credit Association is the primary, member-based organization that advocates for better business practices and credit standards for cannabis creditors nationwide. The CCA believes that through the sharing of data, we can empower cannabis businesses to make better business decisions and raise the bar for extending trade credit. 

Trust. Transparency. Transformation.

www.cannabizcredit.com

Founder

CannaBIZ Collects

As Founder and Managing Partner at CannaBIZ Collects, Brett Gelfand operates the nation’s first and leading cannabis-focused collection agency. He is passionate about advancing the industry forward to protect good actors from the bad in the cannabis industry. 

While helping clients recoup their outstanding accounts receivables is his core mission, Gelfand takes great pride in his leadership role towards improving credit and collection practices in the cannabis industry.

CannaBIZ Collects has worked with over 1,000 companies and processed over $100M debt to date. 

CannaBIZ Collects is a no collect, no fee agency. 

"Grow Your Green. We'll Collect It."

www.cannabizcollects.com

Managing Partner

PAQCASE

As Co-Founder and CEO of PAQcase, Brett Gelfand is responsible for articulating and steering the vision of the company that created the world’s first gasket-sealed, child-resistant case for rolled smoking material. 

His responsibilities at PAQcase including high-level stewardship for partnerships with industry leading brands including Canopy Growth, ZigZag, Alien Labs, Justin Bieber’s Peaches, Seth Rogan’s House Plant, and Snoop Dogg’s LBS.

Brett sold his equity in PAQcase in April of 2022 to focus on other ventures. 

Premium. Preroll. Packaging. 

www.paqcase.com

CEO, Co-Founder

Colorado Product Services

Oversight of 60+ employees and 5 brands, including Jimi Hendrix edibles, Mountain Flower and Double Black Extracts. Maintained investor relations, built sales team, managed payroll/expenses, established financial budget/projections, led overall strategy, and helped grow the business from $0 to $500,000 in sales in less than 1 year.

Chief Executive Officer

Executive Vice President

Assistant to the CEO of a start-up cannabis wholesale company in the Western Slope of Colorado. Colorado Product Services owns a newly built 43,000 sq ft high-tech indoor grow warehouse, a 7,000 sq ft marijuana infused product facility, as well as a retail dispensary located in Carbondale, CO. Direct involvement includes: new product development, financial forecasting, budgeting, accounting,  social media marketing, web design, marketing campaigns, branding, equipment/packaging decisions, HR/ recruitment, management and oversight, investor relations, and sales strategies.

Executive Assistant

Protiviti

•Created risk analysis survey to identify key risk areas impacting client

•Automized team’s project log dashboard 

•Drafted planning and scoping memos for multiple audits

•Reviewed and tested over 12 controls for interim SOX testing

Strategy Consultant

Caterpillar Financial

•Initiated and designed the first market intelligence report for Cat Power group

•Organized and segmented industry research 

•Actively participated in various client and deal facilitation meetings

•Presented market intelligence report to Cat Financial executives and employees

Business Development

Student Managed Investment Fund

•One of twenty students selected in the 2014 graduating class to manage the $200K portfolio for the University of Georgia Foundation

•Prepared and presented buy/sell recommendations through fundamental analysis of equities 

•Actively watched and managed six securities in the technology sector

Technology Sector Associate

Leech Gary Asset Management

•Assisted in allocation and management of portfolios ranging from $500K to $50 million 

•Analyzed client portfolios, researched stocks, and pitched potential buy and sell opportunities

•Participated in weekly meetings to understand short and long-term strategy goals 

•Compiled reports comparing performance of ETFs and REITs

•Promoted new business by cold call sales

Intern

Campus Protein

•Expanded Campus Protein to the University of Georgia campus

•Supervised the distribution, inventory, and sales of workout supplements

•Managed three college representatives to sell and distribute products

UGA Division Manager

Craze Entertainment

•Entertained small to large social events including mitzvahs, concerts, fraternity and corporate parties

•Avg event cost ranged from $1,000 - $5,000 

•Responsible for the marketing, production, and management of the company

Owner

Managing Partner @ CannaBIZ Collects & CCA | 🌎 Travel | Innovative Disrupter | Helping companies collect their 💰

I’m driven by the challenge to build great businesses with great people to solve real problems. 

My career began in 2015 after being promoted to CEO of a vertically integrated cannabis company in Colorado, where I gained hands-on experience and deep insights into the industry.

Later, I co-founded a specialty child-resistant cannabis packaging business, where I served as CEO. In 2022, I sold my shares in the company, achieving a personal exit while the business continued operating independently.

Currently I’m the Founder & Managing Partner of CannaBIZ Collects, the nation’s first and leading cannabis-focused collection agency started in 2017. In this role, I work to support cannabis businesses in navigating the unique legal and financial challenges related to A/R and collections.

I’m also the founder of the Cannabiz Credit Association, the first trade credit group in the cannabis industry, where we provide tools for risk monitoring and credit assessments to help businesses make better financial decisions and manage risk effectively.

I earned a BBA in Finance from The University of Georgia, and today, I’m based in St. Petersburg, FL. I’m committed to exploring new opportunities, improving business practices in the industry, and mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs who are looking to make an impact.

Brett Gelfand

I'm excited to be moderating an important panel at #MJBizCon 2025. Let's catch up in Las Vegas this December 2 -5. See you at MJBizCon and use my 15% off discount code to attend: SPR25. 

Link to Registration: https://lnkd.in/dEU86_Qv

Recovering unpaid 💰 and reducing credit risk for cannabis companies | Founder @ CannaBIZ Collects & Cannabiz Credit Association (CCA)

The NJ market is starting to feel the same collection pressures that operators in CA, MI, CO, MA, etc have been battling for years.

Glad to see leading brands in the state working with us to get ahead of the problem, and not wait for it to blow up. 

A proactive credit and collections strategy beats the reactive scramble that has become far too common in cannabis today.

View company: Cannabiz Credit Association

We’re excited to announce that Jersey Smooth has officially joined the Cannabiz Credit Association community!

Jersey Smooth is a science-driven, research-focused cannabis brand rooted in New Jersey, committed to producing premium, flavorful extracts and vape products with precision and care. Their “gold in = gold out” philosophy ensures they source top-tier flower and extracts, delivering outstanding quality in every product. 

Their portfolio includes disposable vapes, cartridges, and pre-rolls, all crafted for a smooth, richly flavored experience — whether you're chasing potency, purity, or terpene complexity. 

As a family-owned business deeply rooted in its local community, Jersey Smooth brings not just innovation but also warmth, dedication, and a commitment to wellness.

We’re proud to welcome their leadership, craftsmanship, and passion for elevating the cannabis experience.

#WelcomeJerseySmooth #CannabisExtracts #VapeInnovation #CannabisCommunity #CannabisQuality #CannabisIndustry #CCAMembers

Collections has always had a bad reputation.

But when we get feedback like this from our clients, it reminds us why we do what we do.

At CannaBIZ Collects, we take on the messy side of the industry: the unpaid balances, the tough conversations, the stress most operators don’t want to deal with. 

So our clients can focus on growth.

We appreciate the trust so many brands have placed in us, and we’ll keep pushing to raise the bar and move this industry forward.

It's been harder than ever not to lean on AI for writing content or emails.. 

It's almost like needing your big bro/sis to proofread everything you write, before you ship it. 

I kinda hate it...

But at the same time, I know the power of AI "polishing" up us humans. Esp in business. 

Making our ideas more clear. More concise. And potentially more impactful.

So if technology starts doing all the heavy lifting for us

Where not only do we not need to check our own grammar, we technically don't even need to write without a few bullets of an idea. 

It's evident our brains are starting to atrophy. 

For me, I notice my previous confidence of writing a badass email or proposal has dwindled. 

One of my strongest attributes to close a deal or mediate a situation in business.

And now, its like ehhh this could probably be written better. Or I don't feel like putting in the energy to look for a word or phrase. 

I'm already seeing more and more AI created profile pics on LinkedIn. 

And can guess that 90%+ of posts are AI generated or at least re-worked.

So not only are the faces "nonhuman" now the content is too. 

As exciting as the AI technology is.... 

I am least trying to write on my own. Once in a while..

Who else is trying to resist the new ultra comfort of AI dependency at work or in their writing?

Or are most just leaning in... and accepting their brains are being replaced by tech.  Cause I go back and forth on this one.

Insider tip... If you're trying to reach the MJBizCon audience this year, give this a look. Show directory that goes to every attendee with maps, booth listings, and notes pages. 

Contact sales@cannapages.com or 719-205-4127 for more info (you can get a 20% CCA discount if you mention us). Last call for ad placements is Thursday 11/13

Flipbook demo: https://lnkd.in/dEYKX9f8

CannaBIZ Collects and Cannabiz Credit Association will be in there... you should too. 

Always great working with Nathan Johnson.

Getting stronger every day to help push our industry forward. 

CCA provides the first and only way to check real-time credit scores and risk in the cannabis industry.

We’re excited to announce that Order.co has officially joined the Cannabiz Credit Association community!

Order.co is a modern, AI-powered procurement and finance automation platform that helps cannabis businesses streamline their purchasing lifecycle — from requisition to payment — with full visibility, compliance, and control. 

With Order.co, operators can:
- Eliminate manual ordering and invoice tasks with automated procurement and AP workflows 
- Gain real-time spend insights and enforce approval workflows to prevent out-of-policy purchases 
- Unlock flexible net-terms (30/45/60 days) for all purchases, improving working capital and cash flow 

Leverage AI sourcing to optimize supplier selection. The platform’s AI recommends cost-effective suppliers based on price, availability, and vendor reliability.

We’re proud to welcome Order.co’s innovation and strategic sourcing leadership to our association. They’re empowering cannabis businesses to scale smarter, save more, and operate with greater financial clarity.

#WelcomeOrderCo #CannabisProcurement #FinTech #CannabisFinance #CannabisOperations #SpendManagement #CannabisIndustry

Pumped to be holding a panel with this amazing group of industry leaders on Thursday at 10:50am at #MJBizCon 2025. Let's catch up in Las Vegas this December 2 -5. Will be posted up at CannaBIZ Collects booth #7112.

See you at MJBizCon and use my 15% off discount code to attend: SPR25 Link to Registration: https://lnkd.in/djfR2YdB

Proud of the work our team is doing to uncover the gaps that rescheduling won’t fix. Tax relief is great, but without true credit visibility, cannabis operators are still playing with one hand tied behind their back.

Schedule III may remove 280E, but it won’t fix one of the cannabis industry’s biggest financial barriers — credit invisibility.

Even with potentially massive tax relief, most cannabis operators will still struggle to be seen by the traditional credit system. The major credit bureaus remain cautious about onboarding cannabis-related data as long as federal law hasn’t resolved the gap between state-legal markets and federal compliance frameworks.

And without credit reporting, improved cash flow doesn’t translate into better lending terms, lower interest rates, or stronger credit profiles.

In short:
 ✅ Better financials
 ❌ Still invisible to the U.S. credit system
Until federal banking reform addresses this gap, rescheduling alone won’t unlock true financial access for the industry.

📘 Read the complete analysis here - https://lnkd.in/gDH5pm2m

#CannabisIndustry #CannabisBanking #CreditReporting #ScheduleIII #CannabisFinance #CannabisBusiness #BankingReform

This poll may sound silly… but you’d be surprised by what we see everyday. Since these credit insights are now available for cannabis sellers.

Curious to hear from you, and any specific feedback on this via comments.

If you knew in advance that a buyer rarely pays their bills on time… would you still extend them terms? 

Terpli Inc. (acquired by AIQ)

- AI-powered product recommendation engine for cannabis e-commerce, designed to personalize and optimize the dispensary shopping experience.
- Advised Terpli from inception—supporting fundraising, GTM strategy, key hires, and a major pivot that fueled scale and profitability.
- Acquired by AIQ, June 2025.

Investor/Advisor

SmartWork Media

- A global media platform focused on elevating the cannabis industry through journalism, storytelling, and insights on policy, business, and culture. 
- Editorial features spotlighting emerging trends, regulatory shifts, and market innovation. 
- Shaped content strategy to engage founders and expand cross-channel audience reach.

Editorial Board- Global Cannabis Times

FlowerHire

- Talent and strategic advisory firm serving the high-growth and regulated cannabis industry.
- Founding Member & Managing Partner — Scaled firm and revenue across 30 states. 
- Led organizational design, exec comp strategy, and advisory for hundreds of companies from startup to IPO. Built compensation models, board dashboards, and operational systems that shaped hiring, budgeting, and growth.

engin sciences inc

- AI-powered platform transforming recruiting workflows with voice tech and intelligent automation.
- Founding team member and board advisor—supported product direction, early adoption strategy, and go-to-market partnerships.
- Driving 2–3x recruiter productivity and faster, smarter hiring at scale.

Board Member

Fortis Partners

- Executive search and advisory for venture-backed tech firms.
- Partner  — Advised Series A-C companies on org design, hiring roadmaps, and compensation frameworks.
- Created lightweight leveling structures, functional org maps, and hiring systems aligned to scaling plans.

Partner

Team(You), Inc.

- Digital incentive platform advancing student learning outcomes through gamified engagement and curriculum integration.
- Led go-to-market expansion into major school systems across LA and NY, scaling usage from hundreds to 5,000+ students in under two months. Managed offshore development team to implement UX and data architecture upgrades. 
- Built strategic partnerships with education authorities and delivered talks nationwide on the future of edtech innovation.

Managing Director

The Big Apple Pie Baking Co., S'more Bakery

- Premium CPG dessert brand scaling into national distribution.
- Co-Founder, COO & CSO (2016–2018) — Bootstrapped to 7-figure revenue. Led sourcing, logistics, fulfillment, and CX.
- Secured enterprise clients (Spotify, BuzzFeed), built scalable systems.

Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer

Quantum Designs, LLC

Senior Associate for Domestic Distribution, Sales Operation Coordinator 

Goldcrest Films

Assistant to COO, Junior Production Coordinator

Board Member at engin sciences inc

I work where business gets built from scratch: new markets, unfamiliar rules, scaling teams, tight margins. Cannabis. Tech. Talent. CPG. Startups to public companies. One-location founders to domestic operators. I’ve seen exits and I’ve seen flameouts. Both teach you something.

My focus is on organizational design, compensation architecture, and operational alignment. I help companies translate complexity into forward motion and build structures that don’t collapse under growth.

The industries change. The tension doesn’t. How do you build something sustainable inside systems that weren’t designed for you to win? What should scale, and what shouldn’t? Where’s the real leverage and who benefits from it?

Strategy is often just interpretation. Business competition isn’t just strength or stamina. It’s a competition over insights and competencies. You need models that match the moment, not just what worked last time.

My role isn’t to predict the future. It’s to prepare for it. I work with teams to acquire new salience, raise their perspective, and make decisions they’ll still believe in under pressure.

AI is leverage, not liberation. Scale is not strategy. And being underestimated is a valuable thing. I’ve built a career making the most of it.

Mike Siebold

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Partner, Brightpoint Advisory, LLC at Brightpoint, leading our restructuring practice.

After more than a decade building and advising businesses from launch to scale, this chapter is about something different: helping operators and investors navigate inflection points that aren’t always about growth but also clarity and value realization.

Right now, cannabis businesses are facing a structural reckoning. The capital isn’t flowing as it used to; regulatory headwinds remain, and consolidation, reorganization, and liability rationalization are no longer worst-case scenarios but the focus.

At Brightpoint, we help management teams, Boards, equity holders, and lenders assess what’s viable, what’s noise, and what can actually be rebuilt. We’ve been inside these operating systems. We know how to steady the wheel when the map no longer matches the terrain.

I’ll occasionally share updates here: frameworks, field notes, reflections. But mostly, I’m in the weeds doing the work.

If you’re navigating complexity, especially in cannabis, and need real strategic support, reach out: mike@brightpoint.co.

Structure and scale | Systems that endure | From startup grit to public complexity | Designing teams that work and last

Cannabis is generally not built by cool kids. It's actually built by geeks. And the role of geeks, nerds, the quiet obsessives, etc., our instincts come from the Urtext of this whole thing. People who grow weed are essentially a guild of geeks. Same with extraction. We've been around from the get-go.

We like learning, improvising, documenting, and sometimes failing. Some of us are OGs, but most aren't, couldn’t be if we wanted to; the weed’s too strong to smoke and breaking the law is something you just don’t do, despite all the obvious benefits. Not OGs, just useful squares.

And we do have a particular kind of vision for the space. It’s not loud and it’s never rushed, more patience than bravado, a strong willingness to sit with complexity long enough for clarity to surface. Most of the national authorities we trust in this space are geeks in this sense: credible, deeply informed, quietly rigorous.

Overall, intelligence in cannabis alone has never been enough. You need a network, not for advantage per se, but for continuity. The work is too intricate, too interdependent, to navigate alone. That’s why geeks find one another. Call on us sometime. We have all the trappings of a cabal, but it’s really just another clique of people who refuse to phone it in.

#cannabis #cannabisgeek

MJBiz, our yearly pilgrimage, a trade show dressed as a homecoming, is upon us.

Vegas never made sense, which is why it does. Fluorescent, allergic to nuance. Maybe that’s exactly why it works. Cannabis has always had to exist in contrast too.

The early years were exuberant. Deals in hallways, no-cover nightclubs, access chips, penthouses, lines. Expansion was the operating word; margin was a small detail. Every direction pointed up and to the right.

MJBiz 2025 won’t be a carnival. It’ll be a checkpoint, more sobering if the AWS showcase and the rodeo didn’t turn the place into an absolute zoo.

I’ll be there attending FlowerHire’s HR Summit (my alma mater), getting the next iteration of entrants and descendants dialed.

If you’re heading in, let’s find a minute.

Hemp’s on the verge of prohibition, and it shouldn't be construed as solving a policy hiccup. It’s not. It’s a seismic shift for an industry that generates billions in products, taxes, and payroll, yet holds no real political capital. 

The truth is, we can’t fund a movement. The economics don’t allow for it. We’re an industry of operators, homegrown heroes, not oligarchs. Most days are spent dodging insolvency, not designing influence campaigns or political machinations. 

If survival means organizing politically, it won’t come from capital alone. It’ll come from coalition. That might mean standing with organized labor, using the leverage of shared precarity to make our relevance unavoidable. Cannabis can’t buy a seat at the table, but it can build one, or at least rotate a seat.

What's happening is symbolic and economic. Billions in enterprise value, billions in state revenue, billions in private reinvestment, all on the chopping block. To watch something this large treated as disposable makes this clear: neither side of the cannabis equation holds real power in Washington, and pretending otherwise is self-delusion. 

Cannabis is a movement, a business. If we want progress, cannabis has to become a political animal.

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