Black entrepreneurs don’t have resources to take advantage of million-dollar opportunities

The cannabis industry is booming but many businesses are struggling due to poor infrastructure. Moreover, dispensaries owned by people of color are failing to launch in areas where cannabis markets are legal and lucrative due to a lack of resources such as capital, real estate, and technology. Less than 1 in 5 of dispensary owners are people of color. 

As more and more states legalize cannabis, there is a huge opportunity to cultivate and train entrepreneurs of color, especially those affected by the war on drugs, so they can begin to sell, manage, analyze, and expand their businesses under a nationally recognized brand.

Growing Talent is designed to create dozens of Black-owned retail stores throughout America

We develop talent through our equity incubator and assist minority business owners, many of whom have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs, in the following areas:

• Licensing support
• Compliance and regulatory training
• Patient care with a focus on medication therapy management
• Property procurement
• Operations and supply chain development
• Secure funding
• Direct-to-consumer marketing

Our systematic approach combined with our proprietary technology increases the efficiency in which equity partners become Good Tree Owner-Operators, new stores are opened, and place products in customers’ hands in record time.

As seen in

World-class, professionally managed cannabis dispensaries

Growing Talent’s equity incubator is a turnkey solution to starting a Good Tree dispensary driven by a state of the art operating system. Our intensive training and software guide minority business owners through the entire process from concept to opening their doors similar to franchising opportunities by America’s most successful companies including Chick-fil-A, Edward Jones, and McDonald’s.

Equity partners become proficient in our operating system deemed “Systems as a Service” which is highly competitive with other cannabis SaaS platforms in that we provide a single solution for various business operations and compliance workflows while others only focus on one or the other.

We've applied our expertise to delivery services which can easily be mirrored in dispensaries. This system assists equity applicants and entrepreneurs in nearly every functional area of business, including but not limited to:

• Point of sale
• Inventory tracking
• Delivery logistics
• Hiring, onboarding, and time-tracking
• Accounting, payroll, and tax preparation 
• Compliance management
• Security

We also have a trained pharmacist on our executive team with over 15 years of medication therapy management, accreditation preparedness, operations development.

Through social equity, we’re able to provide our technology and mentorship at a fraction of the cost to people of color who otherwise wouldn’t have the means to do so.

Good Tree as a minority-led brand

Our retail partner, Good Tree, is a digitally native vertical brand powering cannabis delivery through our technology and systems. Since its launch in 2018, Good Tree has grown in reputation, talent, and resources.

By the numbers:

• Over $200K MRR with $3.5M in total revenue since inception
• Over 22,000 deliveries with an average delivery time of ~60 minutes (industry average is 90 minutes at best)
• Serviced over 8,500 customers in key markets including Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Francisco
• Established relationships with cultivators in Emerald Triangle (Humboldt, Mendocino, and Trinity Counties)

Los Angeles

• 3 licenses for cultivation, manufacturing, and distribution
• 25,000 sq ft cultivation, manufacturing, and distribution facility minutes from Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles (Verified Tier 3 Social Equity Incubator)

Oakland

• 1 license for retail non-storefront delivery
• 1,900 sq ft retail delivery-only shop minutes from Oakland Coliseum (Verified Social Equity Incubator)
• Incubating licensed distributor equity partner providing free rent and technical assistance

San Francisco

• 3 licenses for manufacturing, distribution, and retail storefront dispensary
• 4,000 sq ft manufacturing, distribution, and retail dispensary minutes from Chase Center in popular SoMa district (Verified Social Equity Applicant)

How Growing Talent has helped:

• Pitch deck development that has generated ~$500K to date in funding
• Package design and manufacturing for branded products
• Access to a pharmacist with over 15 years of adult and pediatric care experience 
• Technical support with point of sale, logistics, accounting, compliance, human resources, and more
• Inbound and outbound marketing strategies with expertise in paid advertising
• Licensing and permitting processes in Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Francisco resulting in 7 cannabis licenses throughout the supply chain
• Hiring and onboarding processes as well as opportunities to increase employee retention and decrease turnover resulting in a consistent staff count of 30 drivers and dispatchers other more 

Future minority business leaders in California, Illinois, Washington DC, Massachusetts, New York, Texas and beyond

Growing Talent can bring a dispensary to your city and state. We help women and people of color, especially those affected by the war on drugs, to navigate the cannabis industry with ease. As a result, we create ecosystems that improve the socio-economic conditions of those communities which create the high potential to build generational wealth that has been nonexistent.

In partnership with Good Tree, equity partners serving as franchised Owner-Operators are the backbone of our business. Growing Talent stands ready to support each equity partner by fostering their dreams. Taking that commitment seriously, we are looking for long-term partners who are a good fit–and we know our Owner-Operators are, too.

Turnkey cannabis dispensaries "Good Tree" built on Systems as a Service

We know that many traditional software companies won't allow cannabis operations leaving it up to manual processes to get the job done. Without hi-tech operational systems and integrated technologies, retail dispensary owners will not be able to scale forcing them to be acquired far undervalue, especially people of color.

We offer equity partners access to our operating system, documentation, and equity incubator which allows people to access our online training fully equipped with videos, printables, and online support to accelerate them through our Good Tree franchise program. 

Upon completion, graduates become owner-operators and receive help securing property for their business, establishing a supply chain, assistance with administrative tasks, and help in securing the financing they need to launch. We generate revenue from owner-operators via a 3% technology fee and 6% royalty where both are based on monthly gross sales. We also offer debt-based lending with interest rates of 10-15% depending on the market at that time. Lastly, we have a 5% equity interest in Good Tree Holdings, LLC (d/b/a Good Tree), our retail partner, which possesses a strong brand in the marketplace making it easier to open up more stores resulting in high volume direct-to-consumer sales while keeping the entire process equitable.

Future Good Tree dispensary locations are determined by Good Tree in agreement with Growing Talent based on the goals of both companies and equity partners for system-wide expansion in specifically targeted markets. Below is a list of areas we're targeting in the coming 12-24 months.

• California
  • Los Angeles
  • Oakland
  • Sacramento 
  • San Francisco
• Illinois
  • Chicago
• Maryland
  • Baltimore
  • Baltimore County
• Massachusetts
  • Boston
• New York
  • Brooklyn
  • Harlem
  • Queens
• Texas
  • Austin
  • Dallas
  • Houston

Cannabis is now legal in 10 states and growing

Medical and recreational marijuana is a fast-growing and popular market. Medical is now legal in 34 states, while recreational marijuana laws have been passed in 10 and Washington, DC.  It is estimated that the North American cannabis industry will be worth $16B+ by the end of 2019. This opens doors to thousands of investors and entrepreneurs who are interested in being on the cutting edge of this new industry.

The only minority-owned cannabis SaaS company with an established brand and incubator

National Good Tree dispensaries  owned and funded by the community

Community re-investment + Generational wealth. Technology has the power to mobilize and restore communities. We aim to expand upon our world-class technology and create new opportunities for minority business leaders to launch and own franchises in their communities. We’ll expand to different states and grow our company to focus on real estate, debt-based lending, and innovation.

Seeking $3.5M to create and develop more minority-owned businesses

Our goal is to raise $3.5M in seed funding ($1.07M of that on Republic) to grow our franchise network and increase our support of local minority entrepreneurs. 

*Proceeds reflect funds from Republic only