“When we look at compliance in cannabis, there is a direct correlation between strong businesses that have a focus on compliance and their long-term profitability,” says Lake Smith, co-founder and Head of Growth at QCI Solutions. “For many cannabis licensees, ‘keeping up with it all’ is a costly, stressful challenge and can detract from an operator’s core business and strategic objectives,” adds co-founder Benjamin Warner, Head of Services at the company, which provides the critical link between compliance and profitability for cannabis business operators.
QCI Solutions provides cannabis operators across the nation with critical services around running compliant businesses, providing a unique skill set focused on ensuring long-term sustainability and profitability through efficient compliant processes and risk mitigation practices.
A Business Long in the Making
Benjamin and Lake have traveled a long journey together. “We’ve been best friends since an early age,” says Lake. Having met in middle school in the early 2000s while growing up in Maryland, they identified one another as “kindred spirits”, recognizing a unique opportunity to shape their own futures together. “We had lunch table dreams and ambitions that we would move to California and start a firm together,” he adds.
By 2009, a passion for cannabis was something they both shared, but it was severely criminalized in Maryland, with racialized people experiencing a disproportionate number of arrests and charges for possession and consumption of the plant.
Living in Maryland’s Montgomery County, one of the most diverse counties in the country with proximity to Washington, D.C., understanding America’s history was a big part of Lake and Benjamin’s upbringing. They’re grateful for their education, both at home and in the public school systems of their districts, that gave them a foundational set of soft skills and knowledge in business, political, and social systems, that would ultimately prepare them to navigate the growing cannabis industry. “This world was built on crops and agriculture,” Lake reminds us. “Cannabis is the new cash crop.”
In 2014, the pair decided to uproot, drive across the country, and strategically re-root in California, a place that held more promising opportunities for young, ambitious Black men with a passion for cannabis than Maryland ever could at the time.
“We don’t look like a lot of the people who are making it in the legalized cannabis industry, we look like those who are criminalized for cannabis, both historically and currently. Coming out to the West Coast felt like a wider and blank canvas,” says Lake, referring to California as the “Wall Street of Cannabis”.
Both Lake and Benjamin hold their East Coast heritage and experiences, what they refer to as their “pedigree”, as critical in preparing them for working in cannabis on the West Coast. “Our East Coast experience has made us appreciate the West Coast opportunities,” says Benjamin.
Developing a Niche Skill Set for the Cannabis Industry
After moving to California, with both pursuing successful careers in financial services, Benjamin saw an opportunity to move into cannabis in 2018, holding compliance-focused roles and building compliance teams at some of the largest companies in the state. During this time, his ability to interpret legalese and technical jargon while synthesizing and distilling it into understandable and actionable terms was a soft skill and specialization he’d well honed.
“There is a constant debate about what certain regulations mean and how to comply effectively and efficiently. It’s too open to interpretation, and mistakes are made,” Benjamin describes, “I found a lot of value in being the voice of clarity in the room and bringing credibility to those conversations as a reliable resource,” he says.
Through his experiences, Benjamin realized there could be an opportunity to offer this niche skill set as a service to help more cannabis operators navigate confidently through a myriad of compliance issues. He turned to Lake in 2020, whom he’d made that lunch table business pact with all those years ago, and the pair began conceptualizing a brand where they would bring cannabis compliance to the next level.
Expressing their Passion for the Industry Through Compliance
In early 2023, a series of market events led Benjamin and Lake to realize the time had come to move forward with their business idea, and QCI Solutions came to fruition that summer. The company’s name stands for Quality, Consistency, and Integrity, values they are committed to upholding in everything they do within the cannabis industry and with their partners.
This unique firm provides cannabis businesses of all shapes and sizes with fractional regulatory compliance support, financial strategy and advisory services, and strategic leadership and guidance. They also offer support to social equity applicants at all stages of the application process, across multiple legal states with a keen interest in helping applicants with the “what’s next” after being licensed.
QCI Solutions offers specialized knowledge and know-how in running a compliant business to their cannabis industry clients, providing the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of an external consultant with the attention and detail of an in-house team.
“There is no shortage of problems that cannabis operators run into or create for themselves,” says Lake. “There is no one size fits all, it’s always a unique issue. We’re there beside them through thick and thin; we stick with them on a day-to-day basis.”
Benjamin notes that QCI Solutions relieves the costs of finding in-house compliance talent, paying that talent, and being able to rely on that talent through thick and thin for any compliance-related issue that comes up. In-house expertise is often inaccessible or unreliable for many companies, given unique geographical and financial challenges. Benjamin and Lake provide accessible expertise to cannabis businesses to overcome any compliance or business hurdle. “Rather than growing or selling cannabis, this is how we’re able to express our passion for the industry and add the most value,” says Benjamin.
Leveling the Playing Field
Having had personal experiences being criminalized for cannabis, Lake and Benjamin are passionate about helping to level the playing field for all people who, like them, have a genuine passion for the plant by providing specific support services to social equity applicants.
Lake says that social equity applicants have “all the challenges of anyone starting a business in America, then starting a cannabis business in America, and multiplying that by ten.” He notes that many lack the foundational knowledge of business and economics because of educational inequities. “For those who are already under-resourced,” adds Ben, “common business challenges have a more acute impact.”
QCI Solutions will work with social equity applicants every step of the way, from applying for a license to accessing capital without getting into the proverbial bed with predators to implementing compliant policies to ensure long-term business sustainability and profitability.
Reiterating the Importance of Compliance
The co-founders of QCI Solutions are very well aware that compliance specialists can sometimes be seen as the “no fun police” or “internal affairs”, but Lake has an important reminder for all cannabis operators: “Compliance touches every aspect of the business,” which includes every step of the supply chain, such as dealing with employees, developing products, marketing those products, and beyond. “You can’t have a licensed business that is non-compliant and profitable at the same time,” he adds.
Benjamin and Lake invite cannabis business operators, including cultivators, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, brand operators, delivery companies, testing labs, and investors, or even those just considering getting into the cannabis industry to contact them to talk about their business goals and the role that effective compliance leadership serves in helping to achieve those goals.
They extend a special invitation to social equity applicants who are looking for trusted guidance in a very complicated industry. “We just want to be here as a resource to help,” says Benjamin.
Contact QCI Solutions by phone at 301-450-4230, by email at business@qci-solutions.com, by connecting with them on LinkedIn, or through their website.
