Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference - Spring 2024

I attended Benzinga’s Cannabis Capital Conference for the third time earlier this month. It took place in Hollywood, Florida, April 16th and 17th. It’s a long flight to the east coast from Vegas, so I spent a day in the plane and got some work done with in-flight wifi. Arriving at my Airbnb late Monday night, I caught some of the sunset over the beach and did some last-minute conference prep for the two days to come. One aspect of Benzinga that’s very unique and appreciated is the networking app they have; I was able to message many people before the conference and have my days booked out. This helped me to feel like the conference was efficient and to plan my schedule out a little more. Not everyone responds in the app, so results were a little hit or miss but ~70% of my messages were responded to and ~50% led to short in-person meetings.

Before I get off on a tangent, what is Benzinga you may ask? Well, it’s the largest conference for cannabis investment, banking and business. With a much different audience than your standard cannabis conferences, Benzinga brings in the leadership and decision-makers across the board while also drawing innovators and entrepreneurs in the space. Many deals are started in the halls of Benzinga. As a leader in the cannabis industry, it’s a wonderful opportunity to meet with peers and competitors and to come together as a culture and community, albeit briefly and mostly for profit. As a software entrepreneur, podcast host and writer in the space, there’s plenty for me to get out of each conference.

My first Benzinga Miami 2023 was all about breaking the ice, attending sessions and understanding just what Benzinga was all about. For my second Benzinga in Chicago 2023, I attended fewer of the sessions and did a little bit of networking and SaaS pitching with investors. For this third round, I only attended 3-5 sessions including the keynotes and found that the networking opportunities were far more lucrative and exciting than the panels. I was able to pitch a SaaS solution I’m building for a client to five different investors and present some early prototype ideas for a second SaaS solution to three others. Feedback was great and the opportunity to pitch and really show folks what I’ve been up to was a lot of fun. While pitching and seeking investment was my primary goal, the secondary goal was to meet and connect with the folks.

It was awesome to see the industry again and check-in with previous podcast guests while setting up interviews for new guests later this summer. I booked ~10 episodes throughout the two days and met some great people to bring on the show and potentially collaborate with. The first day, I had lunch with Luke Scarmazzo and his team behind Prophet Brands, and the second day, I had lunch with the Beard Bros themselves, Jeff and Bill Levers, along with Joey Brabo from RMR. It was excellent to get Apt 113 out there in the mix and discuss collabs with other media platforms in cannabis. For the second time, I had a few folks mention that they were listeners of the show or already knew about it before I explained it. It surprised me how much this meant to me, so if you listen to the show please reach out and let me know or leave a review. It was very motivating to meet a listener or two and to connect with them after 60+ episodes of the podcast.

Now for the other side of Benzinga…the “darker” side. The MSOs want to dominate the world and control the cannabis market, so that they can be the ones profiting from it. It’s not a secret; it’s blatant and discussed as a given, folks are here to make money. Plain and simple. Some folks only see profit and have little interest in cannabis culture, community, healing or anything. It’s all about margins, expansion and conquering. Trying to drive costs down lower and lower to offer low-priced products with good margins means ruthless business practices and operational efficiency that don’t play well with culture or only pretend to on the outside. This is a topic worth more exploration, but I just wanted to include it here as a word of warning for those with footing in the culture that Benzinga can be a little harsh at times.

I applied to speak at Benzinga with the intent to discuss cannabis connoisseurship, cannabis software and their importance to the market and the longevity of the industry. Turns out most of the panel slots for benzinga are paid sponsors, Apt 113 isn’t quite ready to foot that bill. Sponsored panel appearances means I’ve heard from the same people three Benzinga’s in a row which is fine and all, but I’m ready for that third stage for new voices to enter the space. I know events come down to sponsorship and branding, so I can’t knock Benzinga for doing what they need to do, and I’ll continue to apply to speak.

The focus on profit and finance at times can be a little off-putting from a cannabis culture perspective but a necessary evil to go global and truly enact the change we’ve all wanted. That being said, it’s painful to watch at times. When asked how he was planning out his strains and his brand one celebrity owner said, “I find the best cultivation facilities in the world then I buy those, I don’t do that planning.” Heartbreaking to hear that, man. People buying into the industry, and then just buying their way through it. I could never imagine running a cannabis company and not even caring about the strains and varieties we offer, madness.

There were some missing conversational threads at Benzinga about consumer health, consumption moderation, the ecological impact of the industry and the cannabis connoisseur. To be fair, those things may get more stage time at other conferences, but unless we push for these aspects of the industry to be considered by the leaders, bankers and finance world of cannabis, they will continue to get the backseat to profits.

Each time I go back to Benzinga, I know more and more people; it’s starting to feel like a class reunion of sorts. As much as I can critique or comment on the conference, it’s done very well and handled with a lot of respect. I appreciate the event organizers and the opportunity to attend. I only suggest improvement because of my passion for the industry, the culture, the plant and the conference. It’s always good to catch up with peers and tap into the current political landscape while pushing my projects and pitching for investment. No conference facilitates networking better than Benzinga! I’ll be attending the next one in Chicago this October. I’m planning to apply again to speak about the connections between the “cannabis connoisseur” and the “cannabis industry.”