Decontaminate This: Willow Industries' Plan to Make Dirty Cannabis Obsolete

11/18/21 • 41 min

When Jill Ellsworth, founder and CEO of Willow Industries in Denver, looked to bring her food and beverage safety knowledge to this new industry, she noticed a huge gap in the process of getting safe, clean cannabis to consumers: a “kill step” to eradicate pathogens. Legalization might be spreading rapidly, but testing is still trying to catch up – and the lack of regulations at the time Jill launched Willow required the creation of such a step. In this episode, Jill talks about how initial process failure eventually led to a product and process with global aspirations. She shares:

The steps she took to figure out the best mechanism to meet a broad industry need.
How she blended bootstrapping, outside investors and debt to finance her startup.
Why consumer safety should be front of mind for any cannabis entrepreneur – and how it helped her land investors.
How she figured out the best operating model for her company.

Who is Jill Ellsworth?

Before getting into cannabis, Jill founded and ran Vibrant Earth Juices, a producer of cold-pressed fruit and vegetable juices. That experience in nutrition was critical to Willow’s formulation. She also founded and led Vibrant Earth Distribution, whose alcoholic kombucha was sold in Whole Foods Market and Kroger before she decided that driving a truck just wasn’t for her and sold the business to Sunrise Beverage.

The steps she took to figure out the best mechanism to meet a broad industry need.
How she blended bootstrapping, outside investors and debt to finance her startup.
Why consumer safety should be front of mind for any cannabis entrepreneur – and how it helped her land investors.
How she figured out the best operating model for her company.

Who is Jill Ellsworth?

Previous Episode

Private vs. Public: How Harborside Navigated New Challenges

Oakland, California-based Harborside is one of the oldest cannabis dispensaries in the U.S. But when the company went public a few years ago, it had to adapt to some new challenges – and new challengers. In 2020, for example, a group of disgruntled shareholders challenged leadership and ultimately overturned the board of directors. In this episode, Matt Hawkins, Harborside’s chair and interim CEO, talks about how the company faced the new challenges and laid the groundwork for future growth.

Matt shares:

The different challenges that private and public companies face.
Why going public isn’t always the best option for companies.
Steps Harborside has taken to become a fully vertically integrated platform cannabis company in California.
How to navigate the complex regulatory environment in California.

Who is Matt Hawkins?

Matt Hawkins currently wears several hats. He is the founder and CEO of Entourage Effect Capital (formerly Cresco Capital Partners), a cannabis-focused private investment firm, and he also serves as chair and interim CEO of Harborside, one of the most iconic businesses in the marijuana industry.

Before Cresco, Matt was a partner and president of a private real estate investment company that acquired real estate-owned and nonperforming loans from banks and financial institutions across the country. He was also co-founder of San Jacinto Partners, a fund focused on the bulk acquisition of single-family residential assets. He got into cannabis early, after seeing opportunities related to real estate in Denver.

Next Episode

Winning Licenses: How One Industry Pro Used Storytelling As Strategy

Sara Gullickson didn’t have much business experience of any sort when she got the chance to buy DispensaryPermits.com. She jumped at the opportunity, working and learning furiously to build it into a successful cannabis consultancy. But when an industry big shot told her no one would want to buy what she had built, she doubted herself - but only briefly. She ultimately sold that firm for an enviable sum. Today, she’s back in the cannabis industry with a new boutique consulting firm, The Cannabis Business Advisors, and as a license holder herself.

In this episode of Seed to CEO, Sara shares insights into:

Aligning your company’s strengths with your market’s needs.
Why having the right team around you is critical.
How “telling stories” can make your application stand out in competitive markets.
How to prepare your company for sale.

Who is Sara Gullickson?

Sara Gullickson is a marketer-turned-cannabis success story. At 27, she broke into cannabis even though she knew little about business. She led DispensaryPermits.com for nine years before selling it to a publicly traded company in 2019. Sara then took some time off to have children but realized she had a passion for the cannabis industry and the opportunities it provided. Then, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she launched her second firm, The Cannabis Business Advisors.