In our tenth episode, host Benjamin Ballinger sat down with Grant Schuster, the co-founder and CEO of Accelerant Holding, a PAAS (production-as-a-service) company specializing in pre-roll manufacturing for the cannabis industry.

Prior to founding the company, Grant helped build Curio Wellness in MD over the course of 4 years as the Director of Lean Manufacturing and Supply Chain, after which he went on to oversee the manufacturing division at Parallel.

These experiences, along with his prior background in culinary spice manufacturing have given Grant a strong foundation on which to build his new, revolutionary company.

For the episode notes, transcript, and linked resources, please visit ⁠https://podcast.diamondminers.co/episode-10/

In our ninth episode, host Benjamin Ballinger sat down with Samantha Robinson, the Chief Operating Officer of Santa Fe, NM-based vertically-integrated cannabis operator Best Daze.

Samantha, an accountant by trade, joined this family-run operation earlier this year as the head of operations, after having provided them with accounting services as a client of her firm. During her tenure with the company, she has leveraged her financial and at-scale operations background in other industries to bring tried and true best practices to Best Daze, allowing them to continue their growth while improving operational efficiencies, quality management, and consistency.

In this episode, we explore the challenges Samantha and her team have faced with maintaining an "access-to-the-underserved" focus as a company, while also expanding their footprint across the state, as well as the unique relationship between the slower-moving culture in the state and the rapid pace that the cannabis industry often demands.

Samantha also talks about how strategic partnerships with out-of-state brands—like Old Pal—have been advantageous for growing the manufacturing side of their business.

For the episode notes, transcript, and linked resources, please visit https://podcast.diamondminers.co/episode-9/

In our eighth episode, host Benjamin Ballinger sat down with Nathan Russell and Ben Richards, the owners of the cannabis packaging company formerly known as CUSTOMPACKCO (now a subsidiary of AE Global), as well as the Michigan-based cannabis processor The Lab, and innovative pre-roll brand Road Trip.

In addition to running their production facility like a well-oiled, lean manufacturing machine, Nate and Ben are vocal proponents of regulatory reform in the state, particularly regarding the newest regulation updates proposed by Michigan's Cannabis Regulatory Agency.

The duo has managed to win on several fronts—successfully selling controlling interest in their packaging company, launching their pre-roll brand into some of the biggest dispensary chains in the state, and growing their co-production facility to become one of the top pre-roll producers in Michigan.

In this episode, we dive deep into the strategic decisions Nate and Ben made to stay non-vertically integrated, the importance of operating with lean principles, and why more cannabis operators need to get involved in their state's regulatory conversations.

For the episode notes, transcript, and linked resources, please visit ⁠https://podcast.diamondminers.co/episode-8/

In our seventh episode, host Benjamin Ballinger sat down with Lex Corwin and Sabrina Wheeler—CEO and COO of Stone Road, respectively—a quickly-growing, multi-state cannabis brand from Los Angeles, CA that has been rapidly gaining fans from across the country.

Sabrina and Lex have a particularly unique approach to building their cannabis brand—most notably, being the only two full-time employees of their company! This hasn't stopped them from quickly expanding outside California into several other state markets, including MA, OK, MI, and NM.

They've been able to expand with only their tiny team by leveraging coproduction and distribution partners in their markets. In this episode, we explore what they look for in their partners, and how they are able to maintain quality control and product consistency in these expansion markets.

For the episode notes, transcript, and linked resources, please visit ⁠https://podcast.diamondminers.co/episode-7/

In our sixth episode, host Benjamin Ballinger sat down with Michael "Mikey" Towey, VP of Cultivation at Good Day Farm—a vertically-integrated, Southeastern US-based multi-state operator headquartered in Little Rock, AR.

Mikey has a rich background of experience in cannabis cultivation, starting with his time in the WA legacy market, followed by several roles overseeing progressively larger facilities, including the opening of the 250k sqft Salinas-based facility that is now the home of Lowell Farms.

Mikey covers a wide range of topics, including GDF unique lighting approach that allows them to produce exceptionally-high yields from their grow facilities, as well as the challenges he's faced building leadership teams in an industry filled with many first-time leaders.

He's also managed to create a unique culture in his teams by combining the passion and artistic expertise of the legacy industry with the efficiencies and business acumen of executive-level strategic thought and tactical planning—something that's helping Good Day Farm stand out as a dominant player in their markets.

In our fifth episode, host Benjamin Ballinger sat down with Kevin Forde, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer of Fireball Cannabis, which first launched in Las Vegas, NV. Most people know the brand Fireball as the hot cinnamon-flavored whiskey loved by college kids. Kevin and his team built an edibles brand through a licensing deal with Fireball and brought that same iconic flavor over to the cannabis world.

In 4 short years, Fireball Cannabis has expanded into more than 10 states/territories and has established a strong foothold in the gummy segment—primarily due to Kevin's integration of customer service and success into his team's sales cycle. As of today, the brand is currently available in CA, CO, IL, MA, MI, MO, OK, OR, and PR.

Fireball's success is unique—most alcohol brands that have tried to transition into cannabis have struggled to succeed. In this episode, Kevin outlines why they picked the brand in the first place, and how he has approached sales and marketing to ensure that Fireball efficiently gets on shelves, and then into consumers' hands—even in expansion markets where the sales are fully outsourced to a partner operation.

For the episode notes, transcript, and linked resources, please visit ⁠https://podcast.diamondminers.co/episode-5/

In our fourth episode, host Benjamin Ballinger sat down with Jonathan Kane, PhD, co-founder, and Chief Scientific Officer of Lion Labs out of Lansing, MI. Lion Labs is one of the state's most prominent processing and manufacturing operations, with a portfolio of retail brands, including their flagship brand Element Extractions—one of the best-selling concentrate brands in the state.

Rooted in Michigan's caregiver market, Lion Labs represents an artful combination of legacy knowledge and corporate/academic acumen—between three of the executives' previous roles at PepsiCo, and Jonathan's background in scientific research.

Unlike many operators in the state, Lion Labs chose to grow slowly and strategically and avoided vertical integration—instead focusing on processing and manufacturing operations in-house, while partnering with third-party cultivators and retailers. In retrospect, their choice was a solid one—as the company is profitable, self-funded, and in a good position to expand to new markets where they plan to repeat the same winning process all over again.

Jonathan discusses how Lion Labs has stayed true to its core mission—providing accessible, high-quality products to its target consumers—in everything they do, from product innovation to customer service, to the way the team approaches partnerships with suppliers and retail customers.

For the episode notes, transcript, and linked resources, please visit https://podcast.diamondminers.co/episode-4/

In our third episode, host Benjamin Ballinger sat down with John Lafata, Chief Executive Officer of Big Oil Co—a Type-7 cannabis contract manufacturing operation out of Los Angeles, CA—and the cofounder of BEAR Labs—a long-standing concentrate brand from the legacy market days.

John's cannabis journey started as a consumer when he was a motocross racer, and quickly morphed into a series of entrepreneurial ventures in the medical market—starting with a greenhouse grow operation after he graduated from university in 2014, all the way to today, where he's now at the helm of one of the largest manufacturing operations in CA.

John has a track record of success with bringing high-quality products to market—first with his brand Bananaberry Farms, which won several Cannabis Cup awards from 2016-2018 in CA and MI, and then with BEAR Labs—a brand that has won more than 20 awards and holds a spot as one of the 5 most-sold concentrate products in CA.

John goes into depth about how Big Oil Co has managed—through operational discipline and focus—to withstand market challenges, bad partnerships, and mistakes made along the way, in a market that has chewed up and spit out more than its fair share of cannabis operators.

For the episode notes, transcript, and linked resources, please visit https://podcast.diamondminers.co/episode-3/