Marijuana Business Magazine - January 2017

NEW HlRES & PROMOTlONS New CEO Shakes Up Leafly Workforce When Chris Jeffery was determin- ing what to do after selling his food delivery tech firm OrderUp to Grou- pon for $69 million in 2015, he sought guidance from one of OrderUp’s board members and lead inves- tors. That investor happened to be friends with the management team at Privateer Holdings and arranged a meeting for Jeffery, who had expressed interest in the cannabis space. A few meetings later, he joined Seattle-based Leafly, the popular strain informa- tion website owned by Privateer, as CEO. He started his new job in mid-October – and soon after shed more than a dozen employees. Why the layoffs? He needed engineers. Jeffery said he was drawn to Leafly by the opportunity to “define a space” but felt that if he and Leafly were to succeed, he would need to hire more engineering and design resources. “There are some things that we do really well right now and some things that some people think we do well but that we have to do better,” Jeffery told Marijuana A look at some recent hiring moves in the marijuana industry by Omar Sacirbey & Movers Shakers Business Magazine. “We have to continue to build out our engineering team, which is the primary focus for me.” The only way to hire engineers was to cut other posi- tions, however, so Jeffery cut 15 people in mid-November. “That was my decision,” Jeffery said. “I have a different view on how you build a company, and it's bringing more design and UI and UX, and data teams and engineering teams. We needed to find those resources somewhere. It was a tough situation, but I’m doing what I think is best for the company in the long term, and hopefully that will pay off.” The cuts were made in almost all departments, includ- ing marketing, sales and editorial, Jeffery said. “We had to get a little bit leaner with most departments,” he said. The engineering team, however, is hiring. In related news, shortly after the Leafly layoffs, Seattle-based Privateer laid off an unspecified num- ber of workers from its information technology, human resources and legal departments. Also, Leafly’s former CEO, Drew Reynolds , became Privateer’s chief operating officer. Kampia Steps Down – but Not Out – at MPP The founder of Marijuana Policy Project, Rob Kam- pia , has bowed out as executive director of the Chris Jeffery 104 • Marijuana Business Magazine • January 2018