Brett Gelfand's Linkedin Analytics

Appreciate Benzinga's Cannabis Capital Conference having me and the team out in Chicago this year. Enjoyed the interview to shed light on how we are tackling the AR & collection epidemic infecting our industry today. You can listen here:

If you think brands have a tough time with AR right now, marketing and SaaS companies are in a collections nightmare. They're dealing with the hardest collection cases I see because a lot of what they deliver gets disputed. It's not like selling flower, which is “I gave you product, you give me money, done.” With tech services, clients can claim "this software wasn’t good" or "the marketing didn't work" and suddenly you're fighting over a 12-month contract. These companies are stuck in an impossible spot. If they’re not mission-critical—like POS system, for example—they have relatively little leverage to get paid. Cannabis companies can survive without a marketing platform or data analytics, so these services get axed first. I see this pattern constantly, specifically with annual contracts on monthly billing. Client stops paying after six months, claims the service didn't meet expectations, and now you're battling over the remaining payments. Your contract says they owe you, but they're disputing quality and results. A brand can cut off a dispensary when someone doesn't pay, but service companies typically can't create that same pressure. Cannabis operators know they can dispute, delay, and drag things out while focusing on keeping their core business alive. If you're running tech or marketing services in cannabis, this is probably your daily reality. If this sounds like you, give me a call. CannaBIZ Collects works on contingency and might be your best chance to get paid.

If you're not in survival mode, now is the best time to focus on rebuilding internally. Every cannabis company I talk to is exhausting themselves fighting against the tide. They're pounding on doors, chasing discounts, trying to force sales that aren't there. When you're scrambling to survive, you can't think beyond next week's payroll. If you’re fortunate enough to be profitable today, this is the moment to step back and fortify your business. Trying to force growth when conditions are this tight will burn your team out. But if you're in the black, now's the time to take a hard look at: — Systems — Processes — Product This is what we’re doing at CannaBIZ Collects and Cannabiz Credit Association. We're improving the plumbing that supports the companies, and the product that we sell. (I've got updates on changes we've made coming really soon!) If you're fortunate enough to think beyond survival, use this slower buying period to prepare for the next phase. When the market improves, who's going to be ready? The companies that spent months chasing reluctant prospects, or the ones that used this time to regroup and prepare for scale?

Question: How long do you wait before sending a friend to collections? This is a really sensitive topic which has no right answer. The cannabis industry is beautiful because of the many tight knit relationships that hold it together. But that is problematic when there is debt between the two friends. A couple of weeks ago we gave advice on this very subject on LinkedIn and in more depth in our email, which more than 3500 of you read. This was our most popular newsletter this year, so it clearly struck a nerve. Because this topic came up again at Benzinga's Cannabis Capital Conference, I wanted to see what you guys think. Vote in here and chime in in the comments if you’ve dealt with this before. Respectfully refrain from naming names. Let’s share best practices and war stories.

Every cannabis operator in Massachusetts should read this: MA cannabis businesses are enduring one of the worst AR problems in the state. Companies are bleeding cash because outstanding invoices aren’t being collected. It’s a highly competitive and fragmented market. That means lots of brands willing to give cash strapped dispensaries terms. And cash strapped dispensaries are borrowing from Peter to pay Paul… Which means brands can’t pay their vendors… And so it goes. Here are three ways MA operators can protect cash flow: 1. Define and enforce payment terms—early and hard Institute clear, written contracts with precise deadlines, penalties, and remedies. Set net terms and stick to them—don’t let "one-off" deals slide into unpaid cycles. Follow up at 15, 30, and 60 days proactively. Internal collections are always our preferred route; CannaBIZ Collects is here when it hits 90+ days. 2. Use a credit check system Cannabiz Credit Association is an amazing resource for helping you avoid bad actors. Our database consists of real time AR information from some of the industry’s biggest companies. Jeeter, Kiva, The Cannabist Company - all sharing information about who isn’t paying on time. Don’t go to market without it. 3. Don’t budge Sure the market is competitive on the brand side, but it’s also competitive on the retail side too! There are 650 stores in MA. If one is being a stickler on your terms and you suspect they might not pay, no problem, take your product elsewhere. Have the confidence to walk away if the signs are pointing to a debt hole. Look, you didn’t start this business to chase debt. That’s why I started my business! But know that you can minimize the chances of having to chase debt by doing credit checks on the front end. And if you do have some “customers” who are over 90 days late, that’s what our collections business is for. You need to run your company. Not run around after late payments. Anyone in MA have some boots-on-the-ground updates on the AR situation?

We’ve just made a huge update to the Cannabiz Credit Association: it's now way easier for you to search for companies. And to know who is who. Previously, if you'd search for a business you’d get, for example, "Speedy Weedy" in one place and "Speed Weedy" in another. This was a reflection of how things were reported from a member’s QuickBooks. Most entries had no addresses, no license info, nothing. And the amount of naming variations and DBAs made this a puzzle. Users had to figure out if they were looking at one company or three totally different ones. So we spent six months completely reconstructing this. Now companies map to an actual license number and you can search by state, license, or location. We got over 80% of addresses filled in and have a “north star” through intensive data hygiene. This goes way beyond just cleaner searches. We rebuilt the foundation for pulling credit scores - you gotta know exactly who you're dealing with before you can figure out if they'll pay you. But what I'm really excited about is what we can build next: — Real partnerships, integrations, and APIs based on coherent data We can add license status, license types, news about companies, all of it. Everything builds from having this foundation right. For our users, this means no more guessing if "Green Leaf Co" and "Greenleaf Company" are the same business. No more wasting time on searches that go nowhere. You can finally trust that when you pull a credit report, you're getting info on the right company. What other updates would you like to see us tackle in future?

Cannabis companies would rather risk a $50,000 loss than pay $150 for credit checks. It’s like cancelling health insurance to save $200 p/m. Sadly, the chances of someone stiffing you in cannabis are WAY higher than your chances of needing that hospital visit. Yet most operators treat credit checks like an unnecessary expense. Look, when you're focused on survival, anything that costs money upfront feels like a burden. And if it gets in the way of a “sale”, I can see why you’d resent it. But let's talk real numbers. Cannabiz Credit Association costs around $150 per month. A bad debt from a major customer can cost you $50,000 to $100,000 (or more). Plus all the time, energy, and damaged relationships you'll deal with trying to collect. The companies doing credit checks avoid losses and build stronger customer relationships from the start. When you set clear payment terms based on actual credit profiles, you prevent problems instead of fighting them later. I’ll keep making this point for as long as I have to. If we can all accept that there are bad actors—some intentionally so, others just over their skis—surely the only logical approach is to ensure they don’t owe you a lot of money. And the only way to do that is to only extend terms AFTER you’ve checked their credit history. Otherwise it’s COD. If you're not running checks on new customers, you're gambling your cash flow on complete strangers.

The belief that I needed a partner to succeed in business was one of the biggest lies I told myself for years. I thought I needed equal partners to build anything meaningful. The turning point was taking 100% control of CannaBIZ Collects. My father always taught me that I should build something myself and be my own boss. So it felt like a full circle moment that I would put this in motion by parting ways with him. I realized I had more capability than I'd ever given myself credit for. Most of us are figuring it all out as we go, with the difference being who's willing to take the risk of being the buck stop. Building entrepreneurial confidence means getting comfortable with standing alone and making the wrong decision. You can have support, advisors, and team members who believe in your vision. But someone has to be willing to own the final outcome. It took me a long time to believe that I was that person. Chime in if you’ve felt this imposter syndrome before and how you overcame it.