Marijuana Business Magazine November December 2018

management and leadership back- grounds. We both have business acu- men. All we need is to recruit a couple technical people to help us build some of our vision out.’” Using online job listings, GreenStop attracted an electrical engineer, a soft- ware engineer and a mechanical engi- neer. The company sought out profes- sionals who were excited about the industry and the company’s business model but did not specifically look for those with previous experience in the cannabis industry. One engineer was a recent college graduate who hadn’t worked on a major product before. The team built a prototype in-house and then took the early technology to manufacturers to build the final version. GreenStop did not disclose which manufacturer(s) it worked with or the cost of the kiosks. The founders said they’ve spent more than $500,000 on the business so far and can get a demo version of their kiosk produced in three to six weeks. Long term, they hope to be able to produce about a kiosk a week. Disrupting the Traditional Model Island and Edwards are naturally enthusiastic about the Smart Dispen- sary, going as far as to call the system “the future of the cannabis industry.” “We got as creative as possible with our kiosk, which is pretty revolutionary just for the fact that multiple people can use it at once,” Edwards said. Technology industry publisher Tech- Crunch included GreenStop as a top pick for the retail space at its Disrupt SF 2018 event in September. The Smart Dispensary’s potential lies in its ability to clear up some early issues with buying and selling cannabis, Island said at the conference. GreenStop hopes to let users make in-store purchases in less than five minutes by allowing customers to explore products ahead of time using an app, make their selections and then come to the store to purchase the items at a Smart Dispensary kiosk. Those new to cannabis or people who want to talk about products on the market could still go through the normal channel of buying from budtenders. “There’s a big chunk of the market that, if they had more of a self-service experience and purchasing was put back in the control of consumers, Visit us at MJBizCon booth 3719 convironcannabis.com Proven. Profitable. Precision Grow Rooms Advanced Control Systems 142 • Marijuana Business Magazine • November/December 2018