Marijuana Business Magazine July 2018

ANC¬LLARY BUS¬NESS STRATEG¬ES A s someone who has success- fully created three businesses from the ground up, Ryan Smith knows plenty about raising money. Last November, the 27-year-old co-founder and chief executive of the cannabis-focused e-commerce platform LeafLink raised a cool $10 million in a Series A funding. Investors included rapper Snoop Dogg and a venture capital firm that has made early investments in several non-marijuana companies, including the popular news website Buzzfeed. Smith, whose company serves as an online inventory and ordering platform for marijuana businesses, likes to tap a mix of investors, including veteran funders that already have wagered on cannabis as well as newbies to the industry. The young entrepreneur also says a big part of his fundraising success comes from building on the relation- ships he established with venture capitalists when funding his two previ- ous endeavors. “I built relationships with men- tors and investors through my last two companies before LeafLink: one during college called EcoCampus that we later sold to other students and turned into a legacy business, and then Trulopy, an investor-relationship- management platform that was ¬nvesting in Relationships LeafLink CEO credits funding success to personal introductions, a mix of investors and asking the right questions By Margaret Jackson acquired by an NYSE public company in 2014,” Smith said. “There’s an old-school element to it – a lot of personal introductions. You start with investors you know well or get introductions through people who know what you’re building. It’s defi- nitely a smart idea to maintain strong relationships with investors over time. Investors who experience a positive outcome with you in one venture will be more likely to invest in future companies.” Taking It on the Road To date, LeafLink – which was founded in 2015 – has raised a total of $14 million and used it to build out the Ryan Smith, left, and Zach Silverman are the co-founders of LeafLink. Photo courtesy of LeafLink 90 • Marijuana Business Magazine • July 2018

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