Marijuana Business Magazine November December 2018

How did the B2B pivot happen? Milton founded Baker in 2014 as an online ordering tool for dispensaries. It allowed dispensary customers to place an online order and then pick it up once the desired products arrived at the store. Milton watched business grow in 2015, though that year, he said, “We had just six employees, zero dollars in revenue and just 15 stores on the platform.” By early 2016, however, Milton started thinking about changing the company’s direction – in a major way. “We recognized there was a bigger problem,” Milton said of the company’s dispensary customers. “We realized they were spending so much money on customer acquisition but were doing nothing to keep people com- ing back. They didn’t even know what customer retention was.” Milton set out to help dispensaries fix that problem. He focused less on attracting new dispensaries to Baker’s platform and more on helping them drive traffic to their websites. Baker saw an immediate uptick in sales – and the company overhauled its business model. Raising Cash a Struggle Since the beginning, the biggest challenge for Baker has been raising money to expand the business. When he first launched Baker, Milton had to raise $250,000, which proved difficult. “We essentially pitched people on a concept. On top of that, it was during a time when cannabis was far less accepted nationally than it is today,” Milton said. “Fortunately, we found a few people who believed in our vision.” Luck was on his side, too, thanks to an early stage venture fund and seed accelerator. “We nearly ran out of money and would have likely struggled to raise our next round had we not been accepted into 500 Startups, the accelerator program in San Francisco, which comes with $125,000. After Joel Milton founded Baker Technologies in 2014. Photo courtesy of Baker Technologies Relief for your cannabis plants has arrived. Surna climate and biosecurity systems maintain precise environmental parameters and allow for sealed environments, protecting air quality and yields. Breathe easy knowing you will achieve more profitable yields. See our systems now at Surna.com . INFO@SURNA.COM POOR CLIMATES CAN BE SUFFOCATING. ESPECIALLY FOR PROFITS. REDUCE EXPOSURE TO CONTAMINANTS PRECISE CLIMATE CONTROL PASS REGULATORY TESTING