[USA][OPS][15] Subscription membership for regulated industry.

We're launching a membership subscription box in Michigan (We're Recreational). See The Marijuana Regulatory Agency Problem: Budtenders (think baristas for cannabis) are not knowledgeable on products. I try to go to a new dispensary a few times per month and each new one I go to, I find that most budtenders don't know which products are Indica v sativa and what are the benefits of the product mix. I usually get the "oh, X is really good" pitch. Also, dispensary cannabis product prices are extremely high. It is literally cheaper to buy cannabis products from the streets, but there are other risks involved with that. On the B2B side, its hard for cannabis stakeholders to market products and brands due to regulations for obvious reasons. Solution: A cannabis subscription with curated flower, extracts, edibles, and other swag, based on user preferences (Medicinal users v Rec Users). Users will be able to curate subscription based on their needs (medicinal user can curate box for healing benefits for ailment). Platform will give descriptive information and benefits for each type of product to drive CE. On the B2B side, customers are willing to give away products for cannabis users to try. We positioned the company as a "membership" that allows us to market B2B customer's products and brands in (legal) ways they aren't able to. Value Prop: Curated cannabis box, delivered to your door based on frequency and state regulated allocation usage (Residents can purchase up to 11oz per 30 days). On the B2B side, we're marketing your brand and product by getting it in the hands of cannabis users in Michigan through guerrilla marketing, events, and subscription box. Co-Founders: Me - I founded 2 failed, revenue generating startups, co-founded another (sort-of) with the co-founder of this project. Spent another 10 years in ops in family biz (MM retailer). My role in this project is doing everything the other co-founder isn't doing (Accounting, branding, outsourcing, regulatory stuff as it comes, project managing, etc). Once we start gaining more traction, my goal is to take on an operational role, leading customer experience and making sure the business is staying in good fit. We eventually may want to bring on a 4th co-founder (still up in the air). Other Co-Founder - Founded successful athletic training business but wanting to exit soon because he hates his customers and wants to do something else. He will be leading Marketing and Partnerships which is a crucial component to all of this. He's the cool guy everyone wants to be friends with. His methods of doing business are not traditional (nor illegal), but it works and takes some time to get use to from co-founder perspective. He holds the network of the dispensaries and other producers. He's already set us up with 2 major dispensaries & cultivators that want in, but both want exclusivity. We're working this out as this won't be viable in long-term. I've learned to let him do his thing and all will be well. What We're Looking For: We're looking for a tech co-founder to join the team to run the tech side of the business. Our plan is to bootstrap during the first couple of months until we can work out a legitimate deal with our first interested customers on the B2B side. Down the road, we're looking to build out a marketplace for B2B cannabis stakeholders. As this is still somewhat of a new industry in Michigan, it is, nonetheless, GROWING. Opinions of cannabis are becoming less negative, not only here, but across the country. 1:5 Michiganders are cannabis users. submitted by /u/Adetroitthrowaway [link] [comments] https://www.reddit.com/r/cofounder/comments/subr8h/usaops15_subscription_membership_for_regulated/