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

Principal

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 💰

Brett Gelfand is an entrepreneur who has honed in on the cannabis industry to pursue his pioneering impulses. In the course of this quest, he has iterated through several ventures and developed as many as eight brands in the legal marijuana industry.

He dedicates his time as Managing Partner of CannaBIZ Collects, the nation's leading cannabis-focused collection agency.

Brett experienced his first exit in early 2022. As Co-Founder & CEO of PAQcase, Brett created the world’s first gasket-sealed, child-resistant case for rolled smoking material. His stake was sold to dedicate his time and attention to CannaBIZ Collects.

Before his own ventures, at the age of 24, Brett was appointed CEO of a vertically integrated cannabis company in Aspen, Colorado. Brett was given a holistic view of how to start a business from scratch in the fastest-growing industry in the USA. Here, Brett helped raise $20mil+, hire 60+ employees, build out three physical facilities, and develop over six brands.

Prior to settling on the cannabis industry, Gelfand explored a number of industries and entrepreneurial ventures, including financial consulting, asset management, marketing, event management, and video production – amassing valuable exposure that stands him in good stead today.

His skillset encompasses leadership and management, sales and marketing, risk and financial management, and the myriad arts and sciences that go into hatching a start-up – or ten.

Gelfand earned his BBA from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, majoring in Finance. He may be contacted via email at brettg@cannabizcollects.com

This is what a credit report from Cannabiz Credit Association looks like.

So let's say that you are about to sell into a new account.

They're taking $20,000 worth of product from you and they want net 30 terms.

If you're a member of the credit association, you can run a report on this retailer.

This gives you a full picture of their credit worthiness BEFORE you extend terms.

You can see if they've had claims filed against them, to what degree and how the AR is aging.

Armed with this knowledge, your sales and finance team can determine if this store should get terms or COD.

At this point, the industry's AR problem is too widespread to fly blind.

Do your company a favor, hit me up and we'll schedule a call to show you around the platform.

We can save you thousands of dollars per year.

Brett Gelfand

Helping cannabis companies collect their 💰 | Founder @ CannaBIZ Collects & CCA

Another AR related topic no one’s talking about: How hard it is to actually find out which entity owes you money.

This is half the battle in cannabis collections.

I've seen single operators running under multiple DBAs, different license numbers, and various corporate entities - all while shifting ownership structures.

This is confusing AND it's also costing you money.

When you can't connect the dots between businesses, you can't verify payment history, check references, track ownership patterns, or assess real credit risk.

Easiest thing you can do is: 

— Get a credit application filled out with all relevant information (license #, email, address, etc) to VERIFY who you’re actually doing business with BEFORE extending terms.

To help you, we’re upgrading the Cannabiz Credit Association in 2025.

1. We're cleaning our data
2. Connecting related entities
3. Mapping ownership structures
4. Building complete business profiles

Because if you can't figure out who you're really doing business with, you're GAMBLING, not trading.

Our team specializes in untangling these webs.

We've spent years building the largest database of cannabis business relationships in the industry.

And we're about to make it even better.

If you’re not using the credit database yet and you’re still extending terms this year, PLEASE let us help you.

We can save you real money.

Here’s some advice I probably shouldn’t give you because it’d put me out of business….

This is how you hire an internal AR person for your cannabis company.

Start by understanding your needs.

If you’re managing 20-30 accounts with occasional payment issues —you probably only need a part-time professional.

But, if you’re tracking 70+ customers with worsening AR problems, we’re in full-time territory.

An important thing to know is that collection experience trumps cannabis knowledge every time.

Debt is debt. Understanding terps or sounding like an OG isn’t as important as knowing the communication and escalation tricks to get the debt paid.

Great collectors share key traits like:

✔ Exceptional persistence
✔ Strong negotiation skills
✔ Professional communication
✔ Ability to stay cool under pressure

The reality is that a full-time AR manager costs $60-70K annually at least.

You need to weigh up how bad the situation is getting and how much of your team’s time is being wasted on this.

If it’s not the time to make that investment, consider starting with a part-time professional.

Many experienced collectors work independently, managing multiple clients efficiently.

They can handle your 20-30 problem accounts while you scale.

As your business grows, they can either scale with you or help transition to a full-time hire.

The key is matching your AR function to your current needs - not where you hope to be in a year.

—

There you go. Do this and you won’t need CannaBIZ Collects!

But you will still need the Cannabiz Credit Association to make smart decisions before extending terms, so HMU and I’ll explain how it works.

Presenting at CannaDataCon 'Cutting Edge Uses of Cannabis Data' on Friday at 9:55am ET. 

With the plague of credit/collections in cannabis, Cannabiz Credit Association and CannaBIZ Collects are leveraging the industry's only mass aggregated AR and collection data to help 200+ active operators finally make better credit decisions. 

If you are in Miami this week, let's connect.

How do you know when your debt should be handled internally vs externally?

Understanding the difference between first and third party collections could save your business thousands of dollars.

"First party collections" start before an account goes delinquent.

Think of it as proactive account management - calling customers at 15 days, checking in at 30 days, addressing concerns early.

This preserves relationships and keeps cash flowing.

This should be handled by someone with a dedicated AR role.

"Third party collections" come into play when accounts hit 90+ days and internal efforts have failed.

At this point, you're dealing with a different situation entirely.

The customer has broken their commitments. 
Communication has likely broken down. 
Your internal team has exhausted their options.

By the time you need third party collections, you've already lost valuable time and money.

First party collections a) cost less, b) maintain customer relationships, and c) keep your AR from spiraling out of control.

Third party collections, while necessary, mean accepting a percentage loss on recovery.

The solution to build a proper AR strategy before you need one.

Whether you handle it in-house or partner with an agency, early intervention through first party collections is your best defense against mounting bad debt.

(I wrote a post about how to hire an AR specialist last week. Give it a read!)


How many of you have a dedicated AR person working on your team? 

Has it been helping keep the problems under control?

I want to do a quick shout out to our latest members of the Cannabiz Credit Association!

Grasshopper Farms
The Premier Group (TPG) 
Growtown Cannabis
HTG Supply
Netwatch
Garden Remedies Cannabis
Tend.Harvest.Cultivate.
Sauce Essentials
Keef Brands
Little Tree
Plug Play
Pabst Labs


You’ll notice that these are NOT just brands selling to retailers.

These are companies from all across the supply chain. The reason for that is simple: AR problems are spreading.

Store doesn’t pay brands > brands don’t pay suppliers.

These smart companies are joining Jeeter - a DreamFields Brand, Kiva Brands, Inc., The Cannabist Company, Jushi Holdings Inc. and dozens more top operators in the space.

For just $125 per month, these companies are getting to view the most accurate and up-to-date AR database in the industry.

That means they're making smarter decisions about who to extend terms to.

Which in turn leads to better cashflow management.

Don't make credit decisions blindly. Let's talk.

One of the best ways to avoid giving retailers aggressive terms is to have a hot, unique product that flies off the shelves.

That's the take from John Arriola at Custom Cones USA on the latest episode of UOWEME - our podcast series from Cannabiz Credit Association.

It should be the goal of every company to have a hot product people want, obviously.

But what we're talking about here is LEVERAGE.

As a brand, you NEED to have some leverage over the retailers.

If customers want your product so much they'll drive past their dispensary to get it, you have leverage to negotiate better terms.

And better terms means a higher likelihood of getting paid.

And getting paid means staying in business.

Focus on getting leverage to avoid having AR problems.

Which products are "must haves" in dispensaries these days?

Our Michigan membership base is exploding with leaders in the space such as Grasshopper Farms. 

Michigan has been plagued with credit and collection struggles, and proud that brands in Michigan are finally being proactive versus reactive with regard to their cash flow.

View company: Cannabiz Credit Association

We’re excited to introduce Grasshopper Farms as a new Cannabiz Credit Association community member!

Grasshopper Farms was founded with a vision to bring premium sun-grown cannabis back to the forefront of the industry. With a commitment to sustainability, quality, and community, they cultivate cannabis under natural sunlight, ensuring a clean, consistent, and affordable product. Backed by over 60 years of combined cultivation expertise, their team is passionate about delivering top-tier strains while supporting local farmers and retailers.

Let’s celebrate Grasshopper Farms and their dedication to natural, high-quality cannabis as we continue to elevate the industry together!

#WelcomeGrasshopperFarms  #SustainableCannabisCultivation #CannabisIndustry #CannabisBusiness

Last year, $0.50 of every $1 in cannabis sales didn’t getting paid within the agreed terms.

Read that again.

HALF of every payment was late.

This shocking/not shocking stat comes from real payment data from thousands of cannabis sales - not projections or guesses.

What this tells me is that the big market correction we’ve been expecting will be in 2025.

It’s already started crushing companies.

Payment delays are climbing, collection cases are skyrocketing, and everyone's begging for longer terms.

My collection desk is flooded with more cases than I've seen in seven years of collections - and these aren't small players going under.

I'm watching good companies get dragged down. 

They trusted accounts without checking their payment history.

Brands keep handing out payment terms like candy, hoping they'll be the exception when accounts have to start picking who they pay.

Because I run a collections agency and a credit agency, here’s what I can tell you: 

— Companies that run credit checks are 60% less likely to land in our collection system.

Basically, if you work with Cannabiz Credit Association you are far less likely to work with CannaBIZ Collects.

And it’s much cheaper on average to work with the Cannabiz Credit Association.

You can't control cannabis market prices or regulations, but you absolutely control who gets terms from your company.

2025 will expose every cannabis company that ignored basic credit practices.

What's your plan to verify accounts before this correction takes your cash flow with it?

Thanks Custom Cones USA for your membership and participation with Cannabiz Credit Association in order to help lead this industry to better financial oversight and credit standards.

How does Custom Cones USA extend credit terms? Brett Gelfand sits down with John Arriola from Custom Cones to talk about navigating payment terms and collections in the cannabis industry. 

🚀 Get an inside look at how Custom Cones USA streamlines credit applications, leverages software, and ensures a solid payment history before offering terms.

This episode is exclusively available to Cannabiz Credit Association members! Find the link in the Members menu on our website.

Taplio

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