Marijuana Business Magazine - February 2018

HEAD IN THE GAME D espite their executive status, Headset founders Cy Scott, Scott Vickers and Brian Wansolich remain deeply involved in the nitty- gritty workings of their Seattle data-analytics firm. “I’m definitely in the code all day, every day. It’s a complicated sys- tem, and three engineers aren’t enough to handle it,” said Vickers, the company’s chief technology officer. “At some point a handoffwould be OK as long as it’s in capable hands. We’re not total control freaks, but we don’t want to hand it over prematurely.” “Everything is growing. The team is growing, the customer base is growing, but we’re still not at cruising altitude,” Vickers added. “We’re still climbing. Startups are inherently difficult endeavors. But it’s easier as a team then as an individual. You have to wear many hats.” The trio is also still involved with sales and talking with individual business owners and networking, though perhaps a little less than when they first started. “Now we have a great sales team. But we still talk with customers and reach out, getting feedback to know what customers want,” said Scott, the CEO. “Networking is essential. Because the industry is still pretty small, relationships are key.” – Omar Sacirbey states and Washington DC legalized rec by the end of 2016. “The markets are more sophisticated than they were just seven years ago. You have more sophisticated operators. You have brands being developed, some that operate in multiple regions. And the product and brand diversification is so much bigger now than when we first started,” Scott said. “When we started in 2010, it was cannabis out of a jar, and you really didn’t know the source. Edibles meant brownies in Ziploc bags and branded packaged cannabis edibles were pretty much nonexistent. Now the landscape is very different.” Scott, Wansolich and Vickers also reasoned that more sophisticated busi- ness operators would translate into new services to help these entrepreneurs build their companies. Industry data, in particular, was in short supply. Ryan Lowe is Headset's director of business development. (Photo by Steve Dykes) February 2018 • Marijuana Business Magazine • 53