Eric Standlee

How Bitcoin Can Power Cannabis Companies   Few emerging technologies are as talked about and misunderstood as Bitcoin. This digital asset has many personal, finance and commercial applications. 💡 This post focuses on the role Bitcoin can play in the nascent cannabis industry, specifically the corporate treasury use case.   The corporate treasury function includes cash and liquidity management, operational risk management, and capital optimization activities. These functions must address a variety of known and unknown risks including economic headwinds like inflation, new tariffs, and rising interest rates as well as geo-political instability and 'Act of God' shocks like Covid. 💪 A Bitcoin treasury reserve strategy will allocate a portion of a firm’s balance sheet to Bitcoin as a long-term reserve asset.   Bitcoin provides some important advantages to a company’s balance sheet and risk profile-    1️⃣ Long-term balance sheet appreciation: Bitcoin has significant long-term growth potential. From July 31, 2010, to July 31, 2025, Bitcoin has an annualized return of 158%.    2️⃣ Diversification: Holding Bitcoin provides exposure to an asset that is uncorrelated to a firm’s P&L strategy and many other asset classes. Bitcoin’s correlation to large-cap equities is 0.29, to gold is 0.14, and to bonds just 0.03.   3️⃣ Macro hedge: Bitcoin is a valuable hedge against growing fiscal deficits, currency debasement, and geopolitical risks.   Over 100 publicly traded companies leverage Bitcoin, including some in highly regulated and stigmatized industries. Some cannabis and psychedelics pubcos are using Bitcoin in their treasury strategy: atai Life Sciences, Red Light Holland, and LEEF Brands, Inc.    Let’s explore what LEEF Brands, a leading California and New York-focused MSO, is doing.   Their vision is “to become the world’s largest vertically integrated extraction company.”  To my knowledge, LEEF is the first cannabis firm to incorporate Bitcoin into their strategic plans.   The CEO, Micah Anderson, is a bitcoin and weed pioneer: “The cannabis industry has faced relentless headwinds for years, with change always just over the horizon. By adopting Bitcoin, LEEF is strengthening our balance sheet with an appreciating, uncorrelated asset, harnessing a tailwind we can use now." Incorporating Bitcoin also adds strategic value. LEEF has been able to stand out in the crowded cannabis field and generate excitement among a new community of investors. According to Micah, “This proven asset brings a new kind of capital energy, allowing us to plan for the long term rather than react to short-term volatility. As global monetary policy shifts into a new digital age, I want to ensure LEEF is at the forefront of this transformation.” Call me.  I'll help you understand and implement a bitcoin strategy for your business. 🔔 Ring the bell on my profile page to get VIP notifications #bitcoin #cannabisindustry #MSO #cannabis #treasury #risk

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MSOs & LPs: Don’t Let AI Take Over Your Strategic Thinking Many cannabis workers are embracing AI for tasks like content generation, automating workflows and research.  Early adoption is valuable for its productivity gains and learning. However, AI-powered strategy development and planning can be a ‘weapon of mass destruction’ in some firms 4 problems arise when firms put too much faith in AI: 1️⃣ AI hallucinations and problematic recommendations Google these terms, or do you own experiment.  I used GPT-5 to generate a map of North America, a map that hasn’t changed in decades.   How many errors can you count in the accompanying picture? I stopped at 40. I grant you AI is still a work in progress and will get better.  My concern for cannabis is that the outputs are only as good as the inputs.   AI scours in order Reddit, Wikipedia and YouTube for its knowledge (see chart in comments).  One doesn’t find the most current, relevant and accurate cannabis data in these sources.  Reddit and Wikipedia dominate because they are overflowing with user discussions, definitions, reviews, and advice, much of that generated by AI. However, citation frequency is not the same thing as a quality knowledge source. 2️⃣ Regression to the strategic mean The strategic impact goes deeper than errors.  When people in different companies match prompts and the LLM draws on the same data, businesses end up with copy-cat strategies.  This is the antithesis of what’s needed: bespoke, practical strategy that outflanks the competition. 3️⃣ Dumbs down organizational talent An over reliance on AI reduces your team’s critical thinking, communication skills, and curiosity. This is fine if the employee already has the competencies. But if they don’t, they could turn into a robot-like worker.  Firms that become dependent on algorithmic thinking will lose the capacity for judgment and creativity. 4️⃣ Hurts the user AI is a people pleaser.  GPT-5 won’t say your prompts or questions are dumb when they are.  This dishonesty gives the user a false sense of their abilities.  When this deceit is mated to a senior but inexperienced person the results could be dangerous. Maybe worse, companies may inadvertently be training their employees for obsolescence. When your primary skill becomes prompt engineering rather than providing functional or cannabis expertise, the boss can replace you with a $20/mo. GPT-5 subscription. Moving forward The solution is not to ban AI or add more review layers. AI is valuable and here to stay.  Cannabis firms must understand that driving business performance requires preserving and enhancing uniquely human capabilities plus strategically deploying AI. Those that master this balance will thrive.   🔔 Ring the bell on my page to get VIP notifications Call me.  I help leadership teams develop AI programs that reduce cost, improve productivity and enhance decision making. #AI #management #cannabis #cannabisindustry #artificialintelligence

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How Do You Build a Cannabis Business Warren Buffett Would Invest In?   The Oracle of Omaha recently announced his retirement as the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.     In his honour, I want to highlight some of his investing axioms and why they are important for cannabis firms aiming to bought by Buffett-style investors or looking for smart, patient capital. I am joined by Morgan Paxhia, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Poseidon Investment Management.  Morgan is a student of BH and a long-term investor in cannabis companies.      Our 5 Buffett lessons for cannabis operators:   1️⃣ Bet the jockey AND the horse.     Management must be rock solid operations-wise and be congruent with your values.  Great management teams are the ones you want to go on vacation with. “You can’t make a good deal with a bad person.” Warren Buffett    Many Cannabis firms are challenged here.  Their teams may be cool and sociable, but they often lack gravitas and management skills.  Buffett looks for head down operators who want to build great, sustainable businesses. “Trust is very important to BH and to us at Poseidon. Assessing trust is an effective lever of saying “no” a lot and that is a common answer from BH in their process.” 2️⃣ Get real about your value    These days, you are misguided if you think you can sell an average business at inflated prices.  Buffett-like investors will smell this out fast and pass on you.  Instead, focus on building a great business – cash flow, margins and capability - and demonstrate its advantage over your competitors.  That’s how you get the valuation you are looking for. “Balance sheets matter, especially in this phase of the price compression cycle that is strongly in force in the US…I like to look at the balance sheets...before I even look at the income account because there's certain things that are harder to hide or play games with on the balance sheet." Warren Buffett   3️⃣ Know how Buffet-style investors think   When evaluating businesses, BH employs a unique approach to risk: its called inversion, or looking at things upside down and planning for the opposite of what you want to happen.  Instead of emphasizing the upside, BH focuses on how to avoid failure.    Risk mitigation is strategic. It will help you avoid trouble and attract smart money from funds like Poseidon.   4️⃣ It’s a process   BH-style investors work hard to identify investments they think are as close to a sure thing as possible.  They are comfortable with long time horizons, which enables markets to reflect the business’s true worth over many years. It takes a while to build and sell a great business. Be patient, both in identifying and nurturing relationships.     5️⃣ How they come in   BH typically go in slow with small minority positions and the right of first refusal. They take over-sized Board positions, and bring expertise to help optimize the business, improve governance etc. #cannabisindustry #MSOs #LPS #cannabis #WarrenBuffett #capital

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The Tariff Trap: Tariffs sound patriotic — protect jobs, boost local production, keep money at home. But as Reagan warned, “protectionism is destructionism.” Over time, tariffs create dependence, raise prices, and weaken innovation. And here’s the modern twist: many “local” factories are now foreign-owned and staff-light. Protecting them doesn’t necessarily protect workers or national wealth — it often protects global shareholders and machines. Yes, targeted tariffs can buy time for new industries or counter unfair trade — but make them permanent, and they quietly erode progress. Real economic strength comes from skills, competition, and innovation — not insulation. #Economics #Trade #Innovation #Leadership #Reagan #Automation #FutureOfWork #GlobalEconomy https://lnkd.in/e4hAcib2

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