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In this episode we interview Brian Holmes of First Ascent Associates. Brian is an angel investor who invests a significant portion of their million fund in cannabis startups. He is one of the few investors actually putting his money where his mouth is in the cannabis industry. He has taken 3 cannabis companies public, and he continues to support and evaluate cannabis startups everyday. Brandon and Brian also dive into his father’s first cannabis investment with an ex-con, his recent investment into GrowCondos, and the exciting world of angel investing.
Show Notes:
1.14 – First Ascent started from being a startup founder
2.06 – the dreaded vice clause
2.20 – the line between vc and angel
2.54 – writing checks for 0K+
3.02 – we are seed and pre-seed investors
5.45 – pogoseat investment
6.16 – 7 investments so far
6.25 – goal is to 30-60 investments in fund 1
6.38 – initial fund is 3 million$
8.05 – my father’s partner is an excon
8.33 – my dad asked for his mom to meet the excon
9.05 – CBDS ticker symbol
9.15 – CBD medical company
9.35 – strains were proprietary in some way
9.53 – stock started at $ .25, peaked at
10.48 – Taken 3 companies public, 1 through the fund
11.05 – Tech focused fund
11.10 – Growcondos investment thesis
12.35 – first Growcondo warehouse in medford, OR
13.00 – grey market people trying to go legal
13.30 – is medical cannabis going to persist?
14.10 – cannasys investment thesis
15.05 – The founders started as growers, had a dispensary, then started software company
16.30 – Hemp market is bigger than cannabis
17.10 – companies are going to pivot and shift
18.40 – whats your fail estimation for cannabis startups?
19.00 – in this busineess all about the outliers
20.00 – CBDS, Growcondos, Cannasys – all 3 have gone public
20.50 – Public cannabis is not like a tech ipo
21.32 – Startup Pitch decks
21.43 – review 10 decks, 2-3 in person meetings
22.00 – 1/50 they invest in
22.15 – what should founders send to investors?
23.13 – Funding Bottleneck is series A financing
23.45 – Numbers that Investors Like: 50-100k in revenue with strong MoM growth
24.35 – The best deals don’t always have the best #’s
25.14 – Average a mill cap for seed stage investments
25.40 – Bridge Rounds
26.35 – Due Diligence – What matters to you?
27.55 – how do bigger investors start writing checks?
First Ascent Associates: http://www.firstascentassociates.com/
Cannasys: http://www.cannasys.com/
GrowCondos: http://www.growcondos.com/
Learn more about and subscribe to the Investing in Cannabis podcast: http://investingincannabis.tv/
Contact us with any questions, thoughts, ideas for our show here: investingincannabis@gmail.com
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This article was first published on http://www.cannabisworld.biz.