Episode 013: Brad Melshenker

Introduction:


The time has come to get mellow and kick back my friends, as
today we are lucky enough to have with us the Luke Skywalker of
the cannabis industry, namely the cannabis pioneer Brad
Melshenker. Brad is the founder of California and Colorado based
710 Labs, which in short is a standard-setting collective of
passionate artists and cannabis rock stars renowned for its
award-winning innovations and obsession with producing a myriad
of quality products as they play a starring role in evolving the
cannabis craft. On a side note, for those who are non-consumers,
new to the industry or simply trivia geeks like myself, “710”
happens to be not only the second most popular weed holiday, but
“Oil” (i.e., a catch-all term for concentrates, extracts, and
other hash products) spelled backwards and upside down. When Brad
isn’t blazing new trails in the cannabis industry, creating
boutonnières or dog collars made primarily of marijuana buds and
leaves worn, respectively, by him and his groomsmen and three
dogs at his wedding, or metaphorically passing the pipe around
the country as he shares his knowledge of the history of glass
pipe making and the artists who have created them, in a book
aptly titled “This is a Pipe,” his passions are those of his wife
Lauren and his daughters Callie and Lucy, rooting for THE Ohio
State University football team and his beloved 2018 Stanley Cup
champions, the Washington Capitals.


 


Episode Notes:


At 3:25, Brad touches upon incarceration due to cannabis related
offenses, and how taxation could alternatively provide tax
dollars to improve schools and infrastructure. At 5:01, Brad
talks about the “fun rollercoaster” he has been on thus far, and
moving to Boulder, Colorado to open the fourth ever dispensary in
Boulder (and the first to introduce concentrates to Colorado). At
7:33, he discusses finding a landlord that was ok with his
business, and ultimately the “battle” with the landlord that
later ensued. At 8:45, Brad describes the situation in which the
city of Boulder approached him and notified him that he couldn’t
operate his business in a mixed-use building due to new code that
was put in place. At 8:59, he shares the hurdles he faced in 2014
when his recently relocated 15,000 SF grow facility was robbed
overnight, and sadly as a consequence, the city revoked all of
Brad’s licenses. At 11:09, Brad discusses his failures and the
lessons learned along the way, which lead to selling his business
in Boulder and relocating to Denver. At 12:39, he touches upon
the joy of waking up every day getting to do what he loves. At
14:16, Brad advises how 710 Labs is pushing boundaries, stepping
outside of the box, setting trends, and going the extra mile to
create quality products. At 15:58, he talks about his great
partnership with Jason Post, the financier and active partner
behind the business. At 17:12, Brad points out the importance of
being true to yourself, happy with who you are, and not trying to
be someone that you are not. At 19:33, he dives into how he and
710 Labs master their craft, quality and production. He compares
it to the 2011 documentary, Jiro Dreams of Sushi (specifically
perfecting one task for some time before moving on to a new task
to perfect). At 21:00, Brad gives us his take on risk, how to
mitigate it, and why entrepreneurs have to take risk. At 21:54,
he said, “We are just [...] entering the first inning of the
baseball game. It’s been pregame [...]. Now it’s really when we
have to start addressing those risks a little more seriously.” At
23:47, Brad notes that his company is 100% compliant - don’t
break the law when technically you’re breaking law (meaning those
of the federal and not state governments)! At 24:10, he sees this
business as a once in a lifetime, generational type of business,
and would love to see his kids run the business. At 26:01, Brad
shares that little or no research has been done on “the plant,”
and thus far the United States has only given the University of
Mississippi a license to grow and conduct research on cannabis.
At 27:57, he explains the risk on the real estate side, and how
he has to be upfront with his investors in regards to the risk.
At 30:44, Brad tells a story of the time where he and his
partners purchased a piece of dirt in Desert Hot Springs,
California. At 34:08, he talks about branding, evolving products,
and 710 Labs newly introduced ice pack program. At 35:18, Brad
discusses his recently released book, “This is a Pipe,” and how
glass artists are taking their games to a new level. At 39:08, he
points out that money has never been the driving force, and
instead the motivation is in building a successful company and
culture where employees are happy and creating great products. At
40:44, Brad touches upon compliance, and not dipping in the grey
area. At 42:09, he dishes on how to handle rejection; simply by
keeping your head down, blocking out the noise, and pushing
forward. At 43:48, Brad informs us of his mantra of not making
decisions out of fear or shame. At 44:34, he said that hard work
is part of the game. Work at what you love and it will come! At
45:37, Melshenker paints us a picture of his happy place - the
crashing waves at the beach.