The Real Cost of a Social Equity Cannabis License with Michael Marinaro and Tara Hopper of Bada Bloom!

The Real Cost of a Social Equity Cannabis License with Michael Marinaro and Tara Hopper of Bada Bloom!

Michael Marinaro and Tara Hopper raised $600,000 in one weekend and then paid $20,000 a month for five years to hold a building before Bada Bloom! could open. Now they are fighting for the rest of the capital while the Massachusetts cannabis industry consolidates around them. In this episode of High Functioning, Mike and Tara walk through the real cost of a social equity license, why investors keep saying no, the helicopter story, the delivery law flip, and Mike's theory on who is going to fund the MSO repeal campaign. For Massachusetts cannabis operators. 21 and older.

The Field Marketing Playbook Nobody Writes Down | Rae Russell

Rae Russell runs customer success for PAX in Massachusetts. She treats field marketing as a sales job, not glorified event staff. In this episode, she and Jason Reposa break down what separates a brand ambassador who moves product from one who just shows up. They cover how she knows which budtenders sell before she walks in, how to measure whether a pop-up worked, when an activation wastes money, and why good people quit the role. Rae came up through ten years of Verizon retail and dispensary floors before taking the brand side. This is the field marketing playbook nobody writes down. Topics: field marketing, brand ambassadors, customer success, pop-up ROI, retail cannabis, budtender training. 21+ where legal. Nothing for sale. Full episodes: https://highfunctioning.show [https://highfunctioning.show]

Stop Losing Dispensary Sales to Dirty Data | Socrates Rosenfeld, Jane Technologies

Most dispensaries run on broken data and never find the leak. Socrates Rosenfeld, co-founder and CEO of Jane Technologies, built a decade of infrastructure to fix that. In this episode he breaks down the protocol Jane built to unify fragmented SKU data across every POS and CRM in the industry. He explains why online average order value runs nearly double in-store. He reveals how Jane Gold lets brands fund consumer loyalty without touching retailer margin. He makes the case for open ecosystems over walled garden tech stacks. If your store revenue is flat or dropping this episode is required listening. Topics covered: dispensary data strategy, cannabis ecommerce conversion, Jane Gold brand loyalty, Dutchie, Flowhub, Treez, Alpine IQ, cannabis attribution, discount strategy, open ecosystems, AI in cannabis retail. 21+ where legal. Nothing for sale. Full Episodes: highfunctioning.show Subscribe: tr.ee/highfunctioningsubscribe Spotify: tr.ee/highfunctioningspotify Apple Podcasts: tr.ee/highfunctioningapple

How to Get CBD Into 34 Dispensaries Without Paid Ads | Michael Mulkern, MAVZ Naturals

Michael Mulkern built and sold a CBD company, lost his investment in a bad acquisition, got laid off with a newborn at home, and launched MAVZ Naturals the same week. He now runs 34 dispensary accounts across Massachusetts with zero ad spend. In this episode he breaks down the sample jar tactic that wins retail floor space, why he bought his own product back off dispensary shelves during his rebrand, how he keeps manufacturing lean enough to survive market swings, and what independent hemp operators need to do now as the 2026 federal hemp deadline approaches. If you sell into dispensaries or manufacture hemp products, this is the operational playbook. Topics covered: * How he rebuilt from a failed acquisition with no outside investment * The sample jar strategy that converts buyers without paid media * Why he targets 10 to 20 core accounts instead of chasing volume * Skincare and New York distribution as hedges against the hemp cliff * Writing a children's book named after his son as a legacy project 21+ where legal. Nothing for sale.Full Episodes: highfunctioning.show

This Artist Walked Away From a Cannabis Contract Over AI. Here's Why.

A cannabis label company asked Adam O'Day to design their packaging. He said yes — until he saw the rest of their branding was AI-generated. He walked.That decision is the center of gravity for this episode. Adam O'Day (muralist, fine artist, 13 years full-time) and Allan "Alz" Sousa (fine artist, gallery director at Black Walls Gallery) sit down with Jason to talk about what authentic creative work costs, what AI is actually doing to both the art world and cannabis branding, and why the intersection of cannabis and the arts in New England is an opportunity nobody is moving on yet.Alz lays out a direct argument: if a cannabis company has enough capital to bring a product to market, it has enough to pay a local artist a few thousand dollars instead of prompting a model. He's already building he framework to connect cannabis operators in Massachusetts with real artists — and explains exactly why that matters for brand equity, not just optics.They also get into the pay-to-play reality behind Art Basel ($80K to get in the door), why Alz deliberately makes certain pieces unsellable, how Adam's daughters outsell him at a Provincetown gallery, and what it actually takes to run a community art program inside a dispensary without the drama. No theory. Two working artists, one B2B cannabis host, zero filters.Chapters below.Adam O'Day: @adam_oday | SCAPES solo show at Black Walls GalleryAlz (Allan Sousa): @alz_next | Gallery Director, Black Walls Gallery | alzandkitty.com1:49 What Makes Someone an Artist6:25 The Real Artist's Day16:15 The Business of Art: 13 Years Full-Time Without Selling Out29:01 Social Media Is a Trap If You Need the Validation41:49 AI Art in Cannabis: Where the Line Is and Why Adam Walked Away47:15 The Cannabis–Arts Pipeline Nobody Has Built Yet56:34 Don't Make Painting Your Only Income1:04:00 What's Next: Shows, Books, and Art Basel21+ where legal. Nothing for sale.🎧 Full Episodes: highfunctioning.show🔔 Subscribe: tr.ee/highfunctioningsubscribe🎙️ Listen on Spotify: tr.ee/highfunctioningspotify🍎 Apple Podcasts: tr.ee/highfunctioningapple