5 Things You Didn’t Know

THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW

Blake considers himself a professional disruptor. “If you’re trying to find the common link between mp3.com, ProFlowers, WWE and dosist, they are all techfocused, high-growth businesses that disrupted their respective industries (i.e., music, floral, sports entertainment and health), and offered incredibly diversified and challenging roles. I’m always drawn to entrepreneurial pursuits that are poised for massive growth and that are daring to change something dramatic in their industry.” 1

Blake never saw himself working in the cannabis industry but is now a convert. “I was completely unaware of the breadth of therapeutic benefits that cannabis offers when I first encountered dosist. Yet the industry has only just begun to scratch the surface of understanding these benefits, at least from a scientific perspective. dosist takes the simple concept of using targeted formulas and precision dose control to help people naturally manage their health and happiness through cannabis. We have some great proprietary tech and formulations, and our dose pen even won a Time magazine award for being one of the ‘25 Best Inventions of 2016.’ Fast Company named us one of the top-ten ‘World’s Most Innovative Companies 2018’ in the ‘Health’ sector (not just for cannabis). The product looks and works amazing and is changing lives.” 2

dosist is led by a powerhouse team of executives from top well-known brands. “I had no idea what I was becoming a part of until I started to meet some folks and realize who they had assembled. 3

Blake Bilstad Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary, dosist

Blake Bilstad joined dosist in 2018 as its CLO. In this role, he has taken on unexpected challenges leading legal for a health and wellness company focused on delivering the therapeutic power of cannabis to the world. Here are five things you may not know about Blake, dosist and what it’s like being a lawyer in the cannabis industry.

For example, the chief marketing officer was previously the CMO for Burton, the winter sports company that completely dominates its category, and our COO was a high-ranking ops leader from the dairy industry who had thousands of people reporting in to her organization at Land O’ Lakes. Our CEO, Gunner Winston, who was an investment professional managing assets in multibillion-dollar funds, started investing in cannabis and then took a deep look at this company and became completely inspired. In turn, the board got very inspired by him and recruited him to be CEO. Gunner has been the driver of this great talent acquisition that we’ve been able to enjoy. We’ve landed a number of top folks from Apple, Starbucks, Pepsi and Tesla. I was able to recruit my top two legal lieutenants from senior roles in global pharma and the other from Toyota and United. LinkedIn also just named us #2 on its list of ‘Top Startups 2019 – The World’s Hottest Companies to Work for Now.’”

This is the most challenging legal job Blake has ever had. “I’ve had some doozies at mp3. com and WWE. The reason it’s so challenging at dosist is the moving landscape of law and regulations that we have to navigate. We’re starting with a product that is illegal under U.S. federal law. Cannabis is a Schedule 1 controlled substance under the Controlled Substance Act and that makes the basis of everything you do from a legal perspective challenging because you’ve got federal illegality that underscores all U.S. operations, even though it’s legal in California and 32 other states. Then you have to deal with not only all of the state laws and regulations, but the laws of the localities, too. Same goes for global 4

operations, as we are in Canada and its various governing provinces. All said, the legal obstacles to cannabis have made it hard for me to use resources that I typically rely on, and the simple things are no longer easy. Negotiating a lease is incredibly difficult. We can’t use traditional banking. Law firms that I’ve used my entire career won’t take me on as a client now because they have a rule that says they can’t work with a cannabis company.”

Blake drives a VW camper van and collects 8-track tapes. “I’m a tech attorney, also a pioneering digital music lawyer, and here I am collecting 8-tracks. I’ve always been an enthusiastic vinyl record collector, and in the past six years, I decided to embrace a completely out-of-date music format. In particular, I collect quadraphonic 8-track tapes, which is a precursor to surround sound. My goal is to get my VW camper van fully functional with a quadraphonic 8-track player and design the ultimate home media system where I can showcase all kinds of historical music formats.” 5