With marijuana now legal in Oregon, we’re seeing the beginnings of a whole new industry taking shape. New players are entering the market and defining the rules of that market (with the loving oversight of the OLCC) as they go along. It won’t be long before Oregon has put its own stamp on the industry. We think the same energy that has built our wine, craft beer, and now craft 
distilling industries will shape this new product, and the qualities that set our current Oregon offerings apart will spread to the world of cannabis as well.
But there are piles of money to be made in this new world, and not all beer sales are Oregon microbrews. There’s a large market that won’t care about craft or care, just commodity weed. We’ve seen Big Corporate takeover farming of other products and it’s not even a matter of time before they start with cannabis… it’s already happening. Our book spotlight this month, a suggestion from client Edwin R., takes you inside the world of someone building a marijuana company in Denver and his encounters with the still-embryonic-but-already-scary Big Weed. And as always, click the link to be taken to our Oregon-born Powells.com for the book site.
Big Weed: An Entrepreneur’s High-Stakes Adventures in the Budding Legal Marijuana Business
by Chris Hageseth
Legal marijuana is the hottest story in the US today. Twenty-two states have authorized sales in some form; Denver has more legal marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks franchises. We are witnessing the dawn of a new industry. And like the early days of gourmet coffee chains, the rules and players are being established on the fly.
Christian Hageseth is the face of the revolution — an entrepreneur and father of three who worked in the white-collar professional world for 20 years before opening his first dispensary. The Founder and Chairman of Green Man Cannabis, the fastest-growing marijuana company in the country, he’s the perfect tour guide through the wild frontier, where police hardly know what laws to enforce, or parents what to tell their kids. He paints a colorful picture not only of how he got into the business, but of the big interests that are eager to do the same — namely Philip Morris, Monsanto and a who’s who of Big Pharma. He predicts a future where the marijuana market splits in two: the high-end, artisanal market, supplied by individual growers and small farms, and the mass market, covered by the cigarette giants and anyone bold enough to compete with them. Much like beer and coffee, your brand of weed will be just one more reflection of your lifestyle. It’s an entrepreneur’s dream, and Hageseth invites us along as he pitches skeptical investors, negotiates a shaggy cast of colleagues, and builds the biggest business he can. It’s an inside look at the legal marijuana industry and the huge economy its creating — from the founder of Green Man Cannabis, the fastest-growing marijuana producer in the country.
About the Author
Christian Hageseth is a seasoned entrepreneur in the food, finance, and real estate industries, and the founder of Green Man Cannabis, the fastest-growing and most innovative legal marijuana company in the country.
