The Leaf Forward Start-up Story

Start-up Stories

Canada’s cannabis sector is innovative, high tech and ready to compete globally. Here are a few of the visionaries.

Leaf Forward

Alex Blumenstein

Tell us about Leaf Forward. What do you do?

Leaf Forward is a global launch pad for cannabis entrepreneurs — we’re working to build a nationwide ecosystem that supports the growth of cannabis startups. Our Cannabis Startup Bootcamps provide intensive training for early stage companies and our programming includes monthly speaker and networking events in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver.

Our 12-week accelerator program is focused on ancillary and downstream products. At the beginning of the program, we invest $50,000 each into a cohort of companies who participate

in intensive training, networking and mentoring. Our team, along with our network of mentors, help the start-ups hit key traction points in a short period of time. The program culminates with a chance for the founders to show off what they’ve accomplished with a demo day for industry and investors.

Tell us your start-up story: when and how did you get into the cannabis sector?

Before moving into cannabis full-time, I ran a small public affairs agency with clients that included airlines, tobacco, land use, ground transportation and a small cannabis project. This is where I caught the itch for the industry. Along

with my partners Brett Chang and Taylor Scollon, we began searching for opportunities to become more involved in the space. Looking at Toronto’s booming tech community we saw that no such infrastructure existed for the professional cannabis industry. We ripped off the model to launch our first meetup event in January 2017 with guest speaker Vic Neufeld of Aphria.

We grew out the events from there, quickly realizing our strongest assets were our network of entrepreneurs and network of industry leaders who attended and spoke at our events. It only made sense to throw both sides together in a room to start an accelerator. Since then we’ve organized four programs, worked with 50 start-ups and will be making our first investments as part of the 12-week accelerator program in mid October.

What’s ahead for the cannabis industry?

At Leaf Forward we’re focused on companies who solve problems. As the industry scales up to serve the recreational adult-use market, we unfortunately see plenty of growing pains. We’re excited to see new software, technology, hardware, brands and other start-ups who will solve

Our Cannabis Startup Bootcamps provide intensive training for early stage companies and our programming includes monthly speaker and networking events.

these problems by improving producer processes, helping consumers better understand their choices, improving delivery mechanisms and much more.

Leaf Forward by the numbers:

• Worked with 50 cannabis start-ups

• Five city chapters

• 3,400 event guests

What will you be doing on Oct. 17?We’ll be keeping our heads down on October 17, as it will be day three of the accelerator program. Nothing changes for us, our sights are set on longer-term opportunities.

Where can we find Leaf Forward?leafforward.orgTwitter: @leaf_forwardInstagram: @leafforward