Editors’ Note: This is the transcript version of the podcast. Please note that due to time and audio constraints, transcription may not be perfect. We encourage you to listen to the podcast, embedded below if you need any clarification. We hope you enjoy!
This week we are joined by Socrates Rosenfeld CEO and Founder of Jane Technologies, Inc. to discuss:
- How Jane is optimizing Dispensary Experience
- Personalizing Cannabis as Spotify does for music
- How 1$ invested in Jane returns 7$ for the brand
Jane Technologies, Inc.’s digital ordering and delivery programs connect cannabis brands to the on-demand world. Our platform allows customers to place orders directly into the dispensary through all order origination points – from a dispensary’s own website, a brand’s own website, third-party marketplaces, and iheartjane.com. Jane also provides dispensaries and brands with analytics and advertising services. We believe in the cannabis industry’s ability to bring well-being, health, and love into this world, and it is our mission to bring confidence to the cannabis shopping experience.
At Eighth Revolution (8th Rev) we provide services from capital to cannabinoid and everything in between in the cannabinoid industry.
8th Revolution Cannabinoid Playbook is an Industry-leading report covering the entire cannabis supply chain
The Dime is a top 50 Cannabis Podcast
Contact us directly at [email protected] Bryan Fields: @bryanfields24 Kellan Finney: @Kellan_Finney
[00:00:00]Bryan Fields: What’s up guys. Welcome back to the episode of the dime I’m Brian Fields. I’m with me as always as ke Finney. And this week we’ve got a very special guest Socrates Rosenfeld, CEO, and co-founder of Jane technologies. So thanks for taking the time, how you doing
[00:00:14]Socrates Rosenfeld: today? Doing well, brother. Great to great to be on with you and Brian Kellen, then
[00:00:18]Bryan Fields: glad to connect.
[00:00:19] And four of the record, your
[00:00:21]Socrates Rosenfeld: location, sunny Santa Cruz, California. This warm day today. You guys are feeling on the east coast though now.
[00:00:29]Bryan Fields: Yeah. Shout out to ke for another west coasters in a hat, but I think the scale still remains on the east coast. So can we get a little background about you for our listeners were unfamiliar?
[00:00:39]Socrates Rosenfeld: Sure. I grew up in, in Boston. So east coast roots now live in Santa Cruz. I was in the army for a while. From 18 to 30. I was I flew helicopters in the army. Got out of the service, went back home to Boston to go to grad school. And it was the first time I actually consumed cannabis. It helped me really come back home, fully, [00:01:00] find my balance, connect with my loved ones and ultimately set me on a path to heal from my time in the military.
[00:01:04] And then, we all have healing to do growing up, et cetera. Became very passionate about the plant. During my time at grad school at MIT. I graduated, met my co-founders there along with my brother. Who’s an engineer. And we all shared a real passion for the plant and what it was doing.
[00:01:20] Not only for myself, but other veterans and people that we knew. The more research we did, the more we discovered that this plant was actually helping people. And shifted out to Silicon valley, did some consulting for for tech companies all the while, thinking about how could we help this industry that was just starting out in 20 15, 20 16.
[00:01:39] And our big push was was making, shopping online for cannabis as good, or if not better than shopping online for anything else in this world. And then we decided to go and do it and Launched a product in 20 17th of April. And haven’t looked back since man, it’s been a trip of the lifetime truly.
[00:01:55] And now, about 180 employees, we power about 3000 [00:02:00] operators in the industry and continuing the mission to provide access to a plant that helps a lot of people,
[00:02:05]Bryan Fields: any hesitation to take your background and credentials from where you were, and then move into the
[00:02:13]Socrates Rosenfeld: cannabis space, there was an initial what am I doing with my life kind of deal?
[00:02:17] I went to, these quote unquote prestigious universities. I was consulting for this company, this firm called McKinsey. And I, number one, I wanna start my own company, which was crazy. Cause I’m, I’m not an engineer. I. Consultant was the closest thing I got to business. And then on top of that to do it in a federally illegal industry, and at the time it was pretty, not scary, but it was uncertain of Hey, am I gonna go to jail for this?
[00:02:43] But really what drove me, Brian was the truth. And when you taste the truth, when you feel it, and I felt it with cannabis, if this helped. And the more I people I talked to who used this plant as a medicine, it helped them out a, after that it, everything was [00:03:00] simple and it said, cool, this is where I want to go.
[00:03:02] And we’ll see what happens with my career. We’ll see what happens, with the Le legality of this. But. At the end of the day what matters is pursuing the truth, in my opinion. And for me, the truth was, Hey, this plant helps people. And I wanted to do some part in helping have this plant reach the mainstream and that, that passion hasn’t stopped.
[00:03:24] And in fact, it’s I have a lot of team members here at HQ for an offsite onsite and they share that exact same passion people who I have never even actually. They’re here signed up for that same mission. So it’s fun. And yeah, I don’t think about it too much anymore. It’s all about the mission now and pursue it.
[00:03:39] Pursuit of the.
[00:03:40]Kellan Finney: I’m a, I wanna dive a little bit into kind of the inception of the idea was that originated from kind of some of the stigma that’s associated with actually going to a dispensary and walking in there to actually go pick out the cannabis where you’re thinking like, Hey, we create this platform where you can from the comfort of your own house, go through, explore all the products and then [00:04:00] like help curb that cultural stigma associated with getting your feet wet with
[00:04:03]Socrates Rosenfeld: cannabis.
[00:04:04] You, I was first exposed to cannabis in California, where it was, it mainstream. Yeah. Relatively mainstream. That was a consideration ke really what it was though was I was I was a sorry consultant. And I say that, tongue in cheek a little bit. Yeah. Flying out Monday morning, sometimes Sunday afternoons, which cuz you know, why not?
[00:04:28] To go to some meeting and I’m out, in the hotel I get back on Thursday night and man, I had no time. So everything was like, cool, I got a book of flight. I’m gonna do that for my phone. I gotta find a place to stay. Cool. I’m gonna get on Airbnb. I need to buy like a, set of headphones.
[00:04:46] Cool. I’m going on Amazon, right? Or I gotta get a meal for my team. Cool. I’m going on door dash. Everything I was doing as a consumer. Gave me this sense of purchasing power, right? I could [00:05:00] search for stuff broader, specific. I could re get, read like real reviews from people who stayed at the Airbnb house.
[00:05:07] Like how helpful is that? I could read reviews from people who were like using their, the same headphones that I was gonna purchase and hear here there real verified. You could get recommendations from algorithms that knew exactly who I was and how I shopped. And I could, you could compare by price.
[00:05:24] You could decide what delivery time you wanted. All those things. I was like, my God, this is so convenient. And then I would come home on the weekends and I would try to purchase cannabis online. And it was like, I was back in 1990. With MapQuest and asked GEs, it was pretty archaic.
[00:05:40] And and no fault to the industry. It just, it was it, the regulations didn’t allow for it. And now we timed it. We get lucky with timing that states like Colorado and Oregon and Washington, California started opening up. And we made this bet, this hypothesis that the people.
[00:05:59][00:06:00] In 20 22, 20 23 and beyond would expect, not want, but expect a online shopping experience that replicated that of any other platform that you use to buy anything online. And we set forth to do that. Easier said than done. I’ll say because, and I won’t nerd out with you guys just yet, but like the data’s really dirty and the integrations we’re lacking.
[00:06:23] And thank God for the team that we have, particularly my brother who came outta MIT and you had to connect systems, and that was the issue that had played the industry for a long time, while was like, you had this software system and this software system and that one, nothing was connected.
[00:06:40] And that’s why you as a consumer, you couldn’t really have the seamless experience. We, think of Jane as that connective tissue that brings all these disparate systems together on a single platform to allow consumers to find any product that they want to search. However, they want to compare by price, to read, verify reviews, to get the curated personalized recommendations.
[00:06:59][00:07:00] And we’re just getting started, man. But yeah, that’s how it got started. It’s more about convenience, but now that you say that Kell as, as well was. Now we have, people like my mother who were very intimidated walking into a dispensary and now can do the research, read about how consumers re relate to a certain product, find out her delivery times, read about the store and then place an order which is really exciting to see.
[00:07:24] It’s great. And it’s, I will I’ll ramble just for a little bit longer is in researching the other software platforms out there. And I’m not trying to throw shade, but it and I won’t name any specifically, but usually it’s the tech platform and I’m not talking about cannabis specific.
[00:07:40] I’m talking about outside of cannabis. It’s usually you see the tech platform, quote, unquote win, and everybody else loses the restaurants, lose the brands lose. So on and so forth. And we made a promise to ourselves that we love and respect this plant too much [00:08:00] to gouge retailers and brands or undercut them or withhold data or all that, in my opinion, bad business practice.
[00:08:09] We said, Hey let’s get rid of that. Let’s take care of our our partners here. And then we’ll see what happens. But really what we want to do is continue to get big, continue to gain more market share, but do it in a way that we can prove to the world technology and analog can actually work together rather than technology eating the analog business and getting rid of the analog business, IE ghost kitchens, right?
[00:08:33] It’s not, that’s not helping restaurants out and that’s not what we are ever gonna do, cuz we want to take care of this plant and the best way we know how to do it is take care of the retailers and brands who.
[00:08:42]Bryan Fields: Before we dive into, I heard Jane, I wanna stay with the original business plan, given your background.
[00:08:47] I’m sure it was detailed and tactful. And unfortunately in cannabis, there are obstacles everywhere. So yeah, when you first got started is the company the way you had foresaw it halfway pivoted in which direction and what obstacle led you in those moments of taking [00:09:00] that hard.
[00:09:00]Socrates Rosenfeld: Pivot.
[00:09:01] That’s a great question. And it’s a great, yeah, it’s just building on what I, what we were talking about just now we were anchored by the door dashes and the the Amazons of the world where we thought, the only place where consumers can go to shop is at this, these aggregated marketplaces.
[00:09:18] But what we quickly realized was that if we wanted to be good partners to our stores, We actually had to make the shopping experience at the specific stores online ecosystem, as good in my opinion should be better than our marketplace. Cause we really wanted to take care of them, ultimately cuz quite frankly, number one, we thought it was the right thing to do with our thesis and our vision of kind of bringing the supply side into our marketplace.
[00:09:46] But number two that’s where cannabis. That’s where people find their cannabis is at their local. I’m sure you guys have it telling you’re out in Colorado. Yeah. Brian coming to you soon, man. Yes, hopefully. Hopefully. Yeah, hopefully. But you got a local guy I’m sure. There’s a cell.
[00:09:59][00:10:00] There’s a, Hey, I’m connected to my seller. It’s like a grocery store. You go local. Like I have my local new leaf here in Santa Cruz that I know the aisles and I know all that stuff. So we initially, when we launched, we didn’t have any software. To help the first party ecosystem for that store, their website.
[00:10:18] And now we really, I wouldn’t call it a pivot, but we reshifted our focus to say, Hey, let’s go be the digital infrastructure for these retailers and brands. So now we have things like in-store kiosks and headless eCommerce, and we’re doing some very interesting things with digital merchandising for the brands.
[00:10:36] That will always be the case. And that was a wonderful learning for us. We felt very lucky to have that learning up front, say, Hey, you’re not just building a marketplace for Jane you’re building software to enable thousands and thousands of retailers. And I’m grateful that we heard that lesson loud and clear and That was very early on.
[00:10:53] So that was I think a pretty pivotal moment in, in the company’s evolution.
[00:10:56]Bryan Fields: Yeah. And I appreciate you sharing that. So let’s dive into some of the specifics. Can you [00:11:00] give us from a high level perspective, the value that Jane brings to the cannabis industry?
[00:11:07]Socrates Rosenfeld: That’s good question. I should probably have some stock answer lined up. I don’t it’s better that you don’t yeah. Yeah. I agree with you. So let’s break it down. For stores retailers, right? What we provide for them is an automated e-commerce system where they can take on average, a store has about 700 skews that sits on their, that sit on their dispensary store shelves.
[00:11:28] We’ll take all that merchandise. We’ll cleanse it. Meaning we’ll standardize the taxonomy. Here’s the serving size. Here’s the category. Here’s a lineage, et cetera. We’ll put content around it, photos, descriptions directly from the brands, and then we’ll load that up. This is all happening in real time.
[00:11:44] We’ll load that up onto a menu for their website. And we’ll also take their merchandise and we’ll push it to Leafly. We’ll push it to different points of online order origination, our own app, et cetera. And these stores don’t have to do anything about it. So that’s our kind of core value [00:12:00] prop to the.
[00:12:01] In addition to that, we can tell them exactly how their products move and perform, not a brand, not a category, but a specific individual skew. We could say, Hey, people buy these SKUs this often, water mill and flavored fill in the blank, gummy brand their price sensitivity. They’re willing to spend X amount for this.
[00:12:21] If people who buy this also buy this product. So you might wanna bundle that stuff. We’re trying to take data. That, has you need a McKenzie consultant to break down and automatically transform that into actionable insights for these stores to take action on for brands, we allow the brands to automate their content.
[00:12:42] So they’ll update their new photo or description of their new product. And that will permeate across 3000 store menus automatically. So they don’t have to send a store like, Hey, use our new photo, use our new logo, use this asset. It’ll be automatic. In addition to that, what we allow for them to do is digitally merchandise, [00:13:00] their products, meaning.
[00:13:02] You were walked down like a grocery store, snack aisle, and like lace potato chips at eye level. Every time that’s a shelving slotting fee. They call it. Now we can digitize. So we can take all the brands out here and we can push them up to the top of the menu or eye level for Brian.
[00:13:20] Because we know Bryan is gluten free and he loves edibles and he shops edibles 14 times whatever a year. Guess what, when Brian sees a menu, we’ll take that. Yeah. At a zero on that. We’ll we’ll take that brand who wants to advertise to people like Bryan and we’ll push that up to good.
[00:13:37] You. Decision points across the buying behavior. That’s wonderful for the brand drives conversion way up over 400% increase in conversion. It returns a in on their investment on average about we think not, we think we know on average it’s $7 for every dollar spent on our program.
[00:13:56] We’ll give them back $7 in the form of a sale. You wanna say that one more [00:14:00] time? Yeah. So $1 invested into the program. On average, spits back $7 back to the brand in the form of a sale. So this is a, you could call in arbitrage and we can actually prove this out with our data, because we can watch how customers shop and we’re like, Hey, we showed them this product and they actually bought it.
[00:14:18] And to be very clear, it’s not I don’t I don’t really consume extracts live resin and things like that. So I’ll never see an advertisement for live rosin but Kelly, who might be. Really into dabs when he sees a menu, that’s what will show. So we’re trying to get more and more curated.
[00:14:36] Our goal is to be more personalized than Spotify is for your music. So that’s the goal. We had a long way to go, but good. Early start there. And then lastly, for the consumer, what we’re able to do is exactly what we talked about. We give them purchasing power. We give them education. We give them verified reviews.
[00:14:51] We have over. Million verified reviews from customers all over the country. Talking about specific products that you’re looking at. We’re gonna have [00:15:00] personalization and a curated playlist of products specific just for you. There’s gonna be some very interesting things that we’re gonna bring to market here over the next year or two, in terms of just connecting consumers with the brands that they.
[00:15:12] And the stores that they love and that’s all we’re trying to do. Think of Jane again, just being that invisible tissue, that’s connecting the store with the customer and the customer with the brand, et cetera, et cetera. Tho those are the value props or at least the core value propositions that, that we bring to the industry.
[00:15:27] And again, we’re just getting started, man. So it’s a lot of.
[00:15:30]Bryan Fields: Personalized experience I think is gonna be so invaluable because for me, I’m an edible purchaser, right? So I can imagine what Juan or wild would be willing to pay because I’m there to purchase edibles. I am here to purchase edibles and if they can be positioned first and they have like maybe a slight sale, boom, it’s gonna go in the card and I’m a hundred percent gonna do that.
[00:15:48] And then we talk about like brand loyalty and how it’s still so new, establishing that current presence and locking down those early consumers. People make those decisions. They find a product they like, and they likely will continue [00:16:00] to try those products in the future. So I can’t even imagine, how that conversation with them go on.
[00:16:04] As we’re talking about trying to establish, brand, staying power over the future.
[00:16:08]Socrates Rosenfeld: E exactly. And you go back to that grocery store aisle that, that shelf doesn’t move and that shelf is fixed. And so you only have one brand that can occupy that space. And let’s say I walk down the aisle and I hate potato chips.
[00:16:22] Which is a lie who doesn’t like potato chips, but let’s say you look popcorn or pretzels. Man, I can’t find my popcorn or pretzels because it’s not at eye level. It’s not as convenient for me. The store doesn’t get the sale. The brand just wasted money advertising. The digital world, the shelves aren’t fixed and the shelves are infinite and the shelves can move up and down.
[00:16:42] And now we can have little brands say, Hey, I’m a beverage company. And I just want to target this niche of customers, right? Or, Hey, I’m a woman’s health company. I wanna target the specific niche that, that woman’s health company is not gonna pay the dollars to be the top shelf of a [00:17:00] physical storefront, across thousands of stores.
[00:17:02] It’s very expensive that’s only why you see Budweiser and Coors light and all those occupying that, that shelf space. We’re trying to democratize that. And we’re trying to. That’s how to democratize. Here’s another buzzword. We’re trying to optimize that so that we can optimize the ROI for that brand.
[00:17:20] We can optimize the conversion for the store and we can optimize the experience for the customer. So it’s not just fixed and you don’t just see the Budweiser of cannabis at eye level everywhere you go. That’s all we’re trying to do. And we think we think we, we have the right infrastructure, the right.
[00:17:34] Kind of data cleanliness to be able to do this. And we’re proving this out to the market. It’s really exciting then. I think the
[00:17:39]Kellan Finney: other thing is your software travels, right? So say I’m a big brand in Nevada and I’m looking to expand in a new market, like New Jersey instead of having to go put boots on the ground and get into all leads, dispensaries, and play that kind of shelf space game.
[00:17:53] They already have a relationship with you. They give your team a call and it’s pretty seamless. Correct?
[00:17:57]Socrates Rosenfeld: Bingo.
[00:17:59]Bryan Fields: One of, one of [00:18:00] the challenges that we’ve heard is that walking into a dispensary, the bud tender consumer relationship is so paramount, obviously shopping online. There’s no bud tender. So how does your team help alleviate those challenges for consumer who thinks they know what they want, but it just really has no
[00:18:16]Socrates Rosenfeld: idea.
[00:18:17] Yes. Great question. So a few things on that. Number one, the bud tenderers are. Not all bud tenderers, but most bud tenderers are pretty, it’s a pretty special role. If you think about it ever go I don’t drink anymore. But it’d be not too dissimilar to go. And it’s different cuz alcohol, in my opinion is not in medicine, but it like no one’s going to a bartender and be like, Hey man, I’m having trouble sleeping.
[00:18:39] Can you help me? They might, it just not, might be the right way to do it. Yeah. Yeah. You might get to sleep. You’re not gonna have a great time waking up, but but here you have a bud tender. That’s like working retail, which if you’ve ever worked, retail is not easy. Plus you have to have product knowledge to help a consumer decide on their wellbeing, [00:19:00] right?
[00:19:00] Not Hey, does this shirt look good on me? It’s Hey, I I have arthritis. What’s the product that’s gonna help relieve my pain and make me feel okay. And we’re talking like surface of there’s more heavier conditions. So a button needs to be prepped with that. So what we wanna do is take our software and actually empower bud tenderers to make really smart recommendations based on data.
[00:19:24] So there’s no reason why. If Brian, you walk into the store and I’m a bud tenderer, I’m using Jane’s software and you check in, I can be like, cool. Here’s Brian’s shopping history. Here’s his favorite brands. And now Jane’s gonna help me create this curated list of products that I can inform and educate Brian with.
[00:19:45] That’s pretty powerful. So by no means, are we thinking, Hey, let’s get let’s technology should replace the bartender. We think the technology should augment and empower the bud tenderer and make even smarter personalized recommendations. If you’re going pure online, [00:20:00] man, I, you guys use Spotify.
[00:20:04] Love Spotify. We love Spotify, not just cuz we play our favorite Kendrick Lamar song. But when I play Kendrick and I say, Hey, make me a radio station off this. Or I like it and now they’re gonna build playlists off this. That’s why we keep coming back and cannabis.
[00:20:21] And I’ve said this before, so apologize if I repeat myself, but I I I don’t know. I dig this analogy. Cannabis is less like alcohol, more like music, if you and I drink a Coors light, we’re just gonna, I don’t have, I have zero tolerance. So I, if I drink half a can of course, light, I wouldn’t be able to drive, but we feel the same way.
[00:20:38] But if you consume Santa Cruz veterans Alliance, grown kosher cush really rich, and me and I consume it. Now we’re gonna react to it differently. And so I want to have as a consumer, that real personalization to say, yo, I love this product. Or actually, no, it did not help me go. So gimme anxiety, show me something else.
[00:20:59] That’s what we’re [00:21:00] trying to build. And we think we can, we are best positioned to do that. Cuz we’ve seen eh, 50, 60, 70 million orders go through our system and we can connect those dots. And so let us build these playlists for you. And that will be coming here very soon. Not only just for.
[00:21:16] Marketplace. But now put it in the hands of the bud. Tenderer Hey, and put it on the actual stores online menu. We think that’s pretty cool. And we’re excited to bring that to market here soon. I think that’s
[00:21:26]Bryan Fields: underrated in the importance that’s needed for mass adoption because yeah. You speak to people here.
[00:21:30] At least around me, they’ve had previous experiences with cannabis. A lot of them have had bad experiences because they got anxious. Yeah. And then even unaware that there are other products out. That aren’t gonna do that. They just assume this is what cannabis is, because this is their experience. And they’re almost hesitant to consider trying again, without that fear, because they had such a poor experience.
[00:21:49] So if we can get there, it would be such an unlocker for mass amount of people. And I always go back to my mom who calls it is this scary pot. It’s like mom, like I hope not
[00:21:58]Socrates Rosenfeld: like nobody wants to see, oh man. Is [00:22:00] that is that Ben’s. That’s Ben’s
[00:22:01]Bryan Fields: aunt. Yeah. That’s oh shout out to Ben.
[00:22:04]Socrates Rosenfeld: shout out to Ben. Shout out to Ben’s aunt, your mom, but that’s it. She doesn’t listen. she doesn’t
[00:22:11]Bryan Fields: listen, but thanks for that. All right. What is one challenge operating in the cannabis space that would shock or surprise the outside industry? Ooh,
[00:22:26]Socrates Rosenfeld: I, man, it shocked me. I entered this space in 2015, no idea what I was doing. And I was so blessed to be able to meet guys like Dennis Perone and Steve DeAngelo and Val down here in, in Santa Cruz, veterans Alliance. And the reason why I feel very lucky to have done that is there was a they were.
[00:22:51] They were the founders of this legal industry. They were the ones getting arrested. They were the ones getting beat up by cops. They were the ones getting ostracized by society [00:23:00] to fight like Dennis Perone was a Vietnam veteran who fought for the right, for his folks who were essentially dying of aids to give them some relief on their way in, into the next chapter.
[00:23:13] And he won 30 years. No, like you go into any store right now and you’re like, Hey, who’s Dennis Parone. They don’t even know. So what was surprising to me was how quickly and yes, cannabis is a CPG item and I get it. We gotta package this up for the mainstream. I get it. But let’s not forget that what, we’re not selling cheeseburgers.
[00:23:36] We’re not selling Pepsi Cola. This is a plant and it’s a plant that helps a lot of people. It’s a medicine, it’s been a medicine for millennia. Like we, I, we don’t have to get on our high horse and do this, cuz there’s no way, this is gonna make it into the mainstream, but I think there’s a way to get it into the mainstream without losing our sense of spirit, the spirit of the industry, the spirit of the [00:24:00] plant and those who know no.
[00:24:02] And we. We remain committed to that at Jane to make sure that we do not forget what we are selling and why we’re here. Cause if you lose sight of that, man, you turn out like every other industry and it’s just gonna Whit down to how cheap can we make this product and push it onto people when the plant won’t let that happen, in my opinion.
[00:24:25] And so those that realize that and protect the integrity of the. Are the ones we wanna partner with, but I’ve been surprised that people just don’t care about that or just not knowledgeable about it. And I hope they do educate themselves before they take a step into this industry, cuz it’s a special industry and we don’t wanna lose that in
[00:24:43]Bryan Fields: the military.
[00:24:43] You are trained to minimize uncertainty in cannabis. Everything is uncertain. How do you balance both sides?
[00:24:52]Socrates Rosenfeld: Let go. I’ve been I’ve I’ve dabbled in psychedelics. And if you’ve ever been on a psychedelic trip, a real, [00:25:00] like a real one, you realize that shit gets very uncertain. You’re like, whoa, I and SAR, swearing, but your mom’s not listening anyway, so it’s okay. Yeah, we it’s. But the more you dwell on the uncertainty and obsess about it and try to make the UNC certain you’re gonna go crazy. And the more you let go of the uncertainty, cuz uncertainty is just assumptions for the future.
[00:25:24] What is this? What if that, what about this? What about that? If you’re doing that cool. There’s a time and place for that. Like, all right guys, we’re gonna put together a plan. Cool. Now let’s live in the future and game plan. But not have it buzz in the back of your head 24 7. So I, and it’s a practice man.
[00:25:41] Some days are better than others where I’ve just learned to just not believe what’s in my head with all the uncertainty in the, what is, and just be here on this podcast with you on my next meeting, be there, right? If I’m talking about product, let me be there. Cuz too much in this world is Hey, what about this in the future?
[00:25:59] And that [00:26:00] yeah, plant medicine has taught me to let go. And that’s how I’ve been dealing with uncertainty. Not turn away, not ignore it, but embrace it. Be like, yeah, cool. I have no, I people ask me all the time. What how’s Jane gonna turn out? I will actually say, sorry man, for rambling, but this is what I do.
[00:26:15] No. They taught me this at business school and I thought it was. I’m gonna say it. I thought it was dumb. Okay. They said every entrepreneur needs to know what their exit is before they get in the game.
[00:26:30] Okay. That’s crazy to me. That’s yeah, cool. I’m gonna do this podcast. This is exactly how I’m gonna end. This is how it’s gonna wrap up. How boring is that? We’re gonna start a company to IPO. What about the in between that’s where the that’s where the beauty is. So in my opinion is don’t worry about the exit, worry about the mission.
[00:26:50] What do you want to do for this world? Focus on that and be able to dance with the lefts and the rights and the ups and the downs to get there. That’s the [00:27:00] dance. It’s never a straight line, right? We’ve all seen that weird graphic on Reddit. It’s the. And letting go is a practice. Let go.
[00:27:08] So that’s what I’ve been trying to practice. And again, some days are better than others, but yeah, letting go, man is is fun, scary and exciting. And, but it’s certainly not boring. And if I told you my sister just had a baby shout out to Marcella my nephew. Congratulations. Thanks man. It was the easiest job I ever had to do.
[00:27:25] , you’re an uncle, I’m an uncle. It’s a great position to play on the team. Really? My, my brother, who’s an uncle too. He says it’s like being the guy like eighth on the bench for the golden state warriors. You get the you’re in the game. Maybe you play a couple minutes, but that’s it. And you’re good.
[00:27:41] But anyways, if I asked Al Hey, What’s how’s it gonna turn out for Marcello? What a ridiculous question. That’s the, that’s what life is all about is the uncertain dance of it all. So play with it, enjoy it. And don’t let it overwhelm you. And then when it starts to do that, just let [00:28:00] go and be here.
[00:28:01] Cause it’s a beautiful place to be most of the time. Yeah, that’s my soapbox. Sorry man. But that’s how I deal with. Before we do
[00:28:06]Bryan Fields: predictions, we ask all of our guests, if you could sum up your experience in a main takeaway or lesson, learn to pass onto the next generation, what would
[00:28:13]Socrates Rosenfeld: it be?
[00:28:15] The journey is the reward and the journey is inward. And yeah, that’s it.
[00:28:22]Bryan Fields: All right. Prediction time. So five years from now, what do you see? Cannabis eCommerce landscape looking
[00:28:30]Socrates Rosenfeld: every single store has the ability to create a custom online experience as easily as they do as directed to consumer sellers have with Shopify. There is a very large aggregated app that is welcoming new mainstream customers into the industry and pushing them down to the local retail. Brands will have a direct relationship with individual consumers and we will be able [00:29:00] to leverage that relationship.
[00:29:01] I’ll say. And one thing I hope doesn’t change is this the flower? I hope it stays good and better. And we’re not just chasing THC, but we can actually come back to our roots and create really nice full bodied flower that I. That I’ve been enjoying here in Santa Cruz, California for a very long time.
[00:29:21] Yeah, that’s where I think it is sorry that was cop out answer, but that’s fine.
[00:29:25]Kellan Finney: I think it’s gonna look almost identical to your standard shopping experience now. I know stock mentioned getting earbuds on Amazon or ordering food on door dash. I think that you will be able to potentially order items from a door dash or an Uber eats.
[00:29:39] And I think Amazon will probably get involved with the last mile as far as shipping it. And you’ll see this kind of
[00:29:45]Socrates Rosenfeld: I think.
[00:29:48] Kind
[00:29:48]Kellan Finney: of almost like a fork in the road where there’ll be consumers that prefer shopping from specific dispensaries and those kind of items. Almost like your seven elevens, if you will.
[00:29:57] And then you’ll see this whole [00:30:00] new wholesale market that gets formed, where you see distribution hubs, like an Amazon warehouse that hold a ton of inventory just for that last mile. And so I think that’s the direction it’s gonna go. And I’m excited for it, honestly. What do you think
[00:30:15]Bryan Fields: Brian?
[00:30:15] I’m stoked for personalized recommendations. I can’t wait for when I can go on and have someone say, Hey, you love this THC, C B D low dose edible. Try this one. And I am so stoked about that because now I walk into dispensary. I’m completely overwhelmed. I know I’ve gotta buy every single thing I can because it’s a little harder for me back home.
[00:30:34] But when I find those products that I love I grip onto them and then I go into another dispensary and then they have we don’t have that. We have something like this, but it’s not that same type of personalized recommendation. So once we can get there, I’m just beyond stoked about just the availability of a wider range of products.
[00:30:49] And then the recommendations that come with the beautiful engine of having a clean data set that can revive those insights.
[00:30:57]Socrates Rosenfeld: Yeah. Brian, we’ll sign you up for the beta. [00:31:00] That’s it’s coming. Let me know
[00:31:00]Bryan Fields: I’m in. I’m in. I will. Cool. So for those listeners, they wanna get in touch. They wanna learn more about iHeart Jane, where can they find you guys
[00:31:07]Socrates Rosenfeld: hit us up on on Instagram at underscore iHeart, Jane, trying to get rid of that underscore and then hit us up at info at iHeart jane.com.
[00:31:15] We love hearing from everyone what we can be doing better. What you guys love, where you wanna see the product, or just to say. Hey just let us know. We love hearing from everyone. Cool. We’ll link it all up in the show notes. Thanks for taking the time. Thanks so much, guys. Really love your show.
[00:31:30] Appreciate it. You doing what you’re doing? Appreciate it. Thank you.
