Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders Kyle Kazan, Founder and CEO at Glass House Brands – High Hopes: Growing the cannabis industry in California and beyond
Summary:
There are a lot of things that California produces well: movies, wine, and now cannabis. Today's guest knows all about that. Kyle Kazan is co-founder and CEO of Glasshouse Brands, a vertically integrated sustainable producer of cannabis products. In 1991, he began investing in real estate, and became a manager of private equity funds. He's now launched a total of 23 funds with a current estimated value of almost $3 billion.
In 2016 Kyle pivoted to the regulated cannabis industry. Since his early service as a special education teacher and law enforcement officer, Kyle's been a vocal advocate for police reform and ending the war on drugs.
He makes frequent appearances on CNN and Fox and has been a guest professor at NYU, USC, and UCLA's business schools. Kyle's a graduate of University of Southern California where he played varsity basketball, and his long and varied career made for a great conversation.
Highlights:
- Kyle talks about his early years as a basketball player, then a police officer turned real estate investor (2:57)
- What led Kyle to move into cannabis (5:38)
- The assets that Glass House has today (8:58)
- Glass House's vertical integration (10:49)
- Kyle discusses the brands of Glass House (13:37)
- How growing the product in California figures into Glass House's marketing (15:41)
- The challenges in this industry and the state of the market now (18:31)
- How the current political climate might affect Glass House (20:05)
- The total addressable market for Glass House (22:06)
- Kyle talks about his great team at Glass House (24:20)
- Their unique approach to investors (27:01)
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Feedback:
If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, marion@lowerstreet.co.