Lunch Academy Episode 017 - Can Tech Feat. Barinder Rasode of Grow Tech Labs

All right, welcome everybody to another episode of Lunch Academy. My name is Sam. I'm your co host and with me as always, star of the show. We have Shade here.

Hello, everyone. The fact that you say star of.

The show every time.

I like to start off the show making her own.

I believe that I am the star of the show. We have a new star of the show.

No, no, you're the star of here. This place wouldn't be the same without you.

I'm just, I'm an enabler.

Right.

Like this is what I do. But of course, we also have an awesome, awesome guest today. I apologize, I don't know how to say your last name, but. Barinder Rasoodi.

Most people don't know how to say. It's all fine.

I. I have problems when people can't say Sam, though.

It's.

Is it Sam? I say Sam.

I don't know. But anyway, welcome to the show.

Thank you.

We have Verander here with us today. Super excited. Verender is the founder and CEO of Grow Tech Labs, which is a cannabis accelerator. We will talk more about that here at Launch Academy. Hosted at Launch Academy. So we've been really excited to have the Grotech Lab team team in the last couple months in the space. Vernder also founded Niche, which is super awesome. And we'll talk more about that too, because I don't want to give you the full intro of Vernder. I want her to tell you in her own words. Yeah. Welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me.

It's a long time coming, right?

Yeah. We love being here at Launch.

So as you may know, or if you listen to last past episodes, we. We always talk about tech. We always talk about different parts and different niches, no pun intended, of tech. But we're also Vancouver. Right. So when it comes to being a Vancouver, there's really two topics that tie across all ethnicities, all barriers, and those two things are the weather and of course, food. And so shade. Give us the weather report.

Yes. Okay. So I do this every time. Best. Best weather reporter in Vancouver. It's official number one. Yeah. Forecast for the next couple days is, believe it or not, sun. I know. No, there's no but. It's gonna be sunny.

Are you kidding? You think this temperature isn't a but? It is a but. At my age, let me tell you, it's a but.

I prefer sunny and cold than cloudy. And like the weird warm, wet, warm, you know, the wet.

Gross. I don't know, it's debatable. It is debatable.

This is why we, it's such a hot top all the time.

We have a lot. We had a few really good days of snowfall. Great day to go skiing. Great day to get out there and go snowshoeing. Be careful. There's avalanche warnings. Wow. This forecast is actually good this time around. I have.

Where's the avalanche warning?

There's an avalanche warning on Seymour Mountain. There was an avalanche. So they're kind of giving a warning to like that whole area.

Right. And we were just talking about, off air about that. The story with it was grouse.

Right. I'm not sure where it was but I was amazed at the ingenuity of the 12 year old boys who saved the 8 year old kid.

So there was an 8 year old kid who was hanging off a lift. I don't know what perspired this situation but he was hanging off a lift probably a good 20, 30ft above. And there was a bunch of teenagers skiing by and they're like. And then so they broke off in the barriers when you're going down the hill and they made a net out of that. So they stretched out the net. So they convinced the kid to drop his skis and then finally drop himself and they caught him using the net.

And the dad was struggling to hold onto him because he had another child with him on the lift. So it was a really tense situation. And just applaud those young boys because they're not even just men yet who, you know, did some thinking outside of the box and showed more ingenuity than the adults standing around.

Real life heroes.

You know what we need more good news. Like there's so much just negative news out there.

Right.

This is a good story. But anyway. So Sade, you were gonna bring us some something this week.

Let's start with some delicious food. Kind of scared, producer lady. Bring on le food.

Le food.

I, I thought that was just a ruse to get me here, but there's actually food. Eh.

This is how we get all. I guess.

Yeah, like, like people legitimately like tune in like, oh, they're eating that this week. I'm out.

No crickets, right?

Yeah, like no, no, it's not as exciting as crickets. But now that you said crickets, I feel like next time around we should do crickets.

Oh, the next is going to love me.

Well, I'm not going to give it away, but they're these. I'm just going to give it away. Never mind. There's these protein bars, there's these protein bars. Made out of crickets. I think the company is like west coast something. Sorry if I'm butchering it. I actually know the founder.

Good plug.

Next episode, we will plug you for real and have the cricket protein bars.

We will, yes.

I'm making an executive decision. But for this episode, we have delicious pure bread, savory muffins. Because I love Purebred.

Oh, I was really expecting dessert. They look like there's a lot.

So that is lunch. That's not like breakfast. No, it's perfect.

It's like snackish.

That is. That is actually Instagramable. Yeah.

Oh, my trainer's not gonna be happy.

Well, if anybody looks at me, you know I love carbs.

So we've got feta and spinach, and then we've got tomato and pine nuts. And then this one's like a cornbread one. So here you go.

That was a lot of eating sounds.

Purebred is amazing.

Purebred's amazing.

We've had Purebred on the show twice now. I think one of my favorites, Purebred, actually started in Whistler by this sweet lady. And she actually still runs the original location, Whistler. They now have two Whistler locations. And so if you go into the function junction, location, location, she's always there. She's like this sweet redhead lady, like so full of energy and life. And she just started this like, I think, what, like four or five years ago, and they blew up. Now they have like four locations. Two in Vancouver, two in Whistler. Amazing.

We just happened to be right across it.

Yeah, yeah.

And I just love a good story like that because there's a lot of people doing the same thing out there. And you think you're going into a saturated market and entrepreneurs still kind of stir up the courage to go into that saturated market thinking, whatever, I'll do my thing, maybe it'll take off. And then it does take off. And it goes to show that, like, bakeries, super saturated. This lady still opened her own bakery and she's like doing better than everyone else.

Well, because quality matters. Right. Her product is really high quality and I think that's really important. And I think with any business, execution is really important.

Exactly.

And I think they've done a really good job in creating a good atmosphere at the location, but having variety, because I would think that there's more risk. You know, everybody's doing these like, keto, low carb. You know, the. The eating restrictions people have nowadays are like sometimes a mile long. So for a good old fashioned bakery, it's the kudos to them because it must be hard.

Yeah. And they're just sticking to their own thing. They've got a few gluten free options, a few vegan options, but they're like, they're just gonna make delicious food. People who want to eat it, eat it anyways. That's my purebred plug. They should really sponsor me.

So Sade, for those of you know, a little kind of internal, not joke, but it's one of her duties is she's always taking care of our birthdays. Like whenever we have a birthday, she brings the cakes. And for what felt like eight straight birthdays, we had purebred every single time.

I was so tired of it.

But the savory one is new for me.

Yeah, it is cute.

Give it a shot.

I'm enjoying. I just worried about everybody having to listen to me chew.

It's okay. It's probably part of it.

It's part of it. Please be forewarned. If you are going to join the launch Academy podcast, you will have to listen to us chew.

What is, what is that trend of like eating sounds and little sounds?

Asmr.

Yeah, we can just start.

That will be, that will be a future game. So. So they just listen to kind of not just eating sounds, but really sounds of anything.

It's huge.

And the most popular ASMR person is like this little 8 year old girl.

Okay, now I'm afraid to ask because some of the little eight year old girl stories from YouTube and online are not good.

No, no, it's like not weird at all. Because ASMR actually started as like kind of sound therapy for people who had trouble sleeping and relaxing. And it's, it's weird, but it triggers something in your brain to just relax and distract. And so it wasn't, you know, some, it has some weird connotations and other terms, but for this kind of thing, it's. People love it. It's supposed to be sort of more of like a therapeutic thing. And this eight year old obviously kind of blew up a couple years ago and this eight year old just again, saturated market. Yeah, everybody doing this on YouTube. She started and she blew up and now she's the most like popular. She's more rich than I'll ever be.

We'll see about that.

Unless I do really good on this episode.

But the other thing there, there's a movement, not a really movement, but this is concept like people really enjoy watching other people eat and socialize. So. So in Korean there's a term I've Talked about this on the show before, but it's called a mukbang.

A mukbang?

Mukbang. It's a Korean word. I don't know what it means, but that concept is really like, you know, you're just watching me eat my dinner and then I kind of talk to you and it's live, and. And that's a very, very popular movement. And then you have competitive eaters who, like, show up for a mukbang and eat like a hundred hot dogs. Yes, it's crazy, but it's. It's also, like, for some reason, very addictive, entertaining.

You know what? Shout out to all those people who were doing weird stuff and making a living out of it, you know, And.

I gotta say, I'm. I'm pleasantly surprised by this. Okay, you got the cornbread something? Cornbread.

Should we get into today's topic?

Oh, what's. I thought. I thought it was the muffin.

No, this one is a corn bag.

These are muffin.

Yeah.

Okay.

I don't really know the difference.

Okay, let's get into it. Onto the topic of today, we have one of the leading. I would say the. I'm gonna say leading because I like you. You're leading in my heart. Leading women in cannabis here in Canada has been making a lot of big waves for a long time. And now that cannabis has been legalized. Woohoo.

Woohoo.

Like a real woohoo?

Like a real woohoo. See, we should have edibles. Yeah, let's rethink that for next time.

We thought about that. We're like, we should have brownies and like, say they're edibles, but really they're not. Next time we'll do edibles on our own time. Okay, so we want to talk about cannabis in D.C. and its relation to technology now that we're fully immersed with it here at Growth with Grow Tech Labs at Launch Academy. And we want to hear it from you. So first we'd like. We'd love to hear a little bit about your journey of. Because you have ample experience in the cannabis industry in Canada. So tell us a little brief kind of rundown of how you came to be what you are.

Yeah, I'm old. That'll take the whole show. So let's just stick to the cannabis part. Actually, I was an elected city councilor in Surrey for two terms, and then I was on the board of one of the larger health authorities. And I was actually one of the naysayers. Right. I grew up in a time when there were lots of stereotypes about the people in the smoking pit who were smoking cannabis and how they would end up on their parents couch for the rest of their lives. That it was my experience watching people using cannabis medicinally for either cancer treatment or treatment for anxiety, where I started to research. And then there was a big glaring hole in legalization in the cannabis industry here in Canada for me, and that was that the US states that legalized it through referendum. So the pro and con side spent millions of dollars debating and dialogue dialoguing and a. So people were prepared for legalization whether they supported it or not. They had enough information to understand why it was happening. So when I took a look at the cannabis industry, I saw an amazing group of activists and patients who got government to respond to legalization. And then government responded by putting the task force together and then later a regulatory framework. But what was missing was the conversation with like boards of trades, health associations, professional associations, the tech industry. And so I founded a nonprofit called the national institute for cannabis health education. Then as I'm traveling around the country connecting, you know, the cannabis industry to the regular mainstream community, I realized there were two really big pieces that needed to be addressed. One was the issue of quality. We're Canadians, we really like the whole purpose of quality assurance, like whether it's the GMO butterfly, whether it's ocean wise, whether it's heart smart. We want to know where our consumable products or all products came from, who touched it along the way, how it was produced, is it as the best quality. So I founded a company called cannabis wise. And then as we're building out Cannabis Wise, I got introduced to launch academy and Victory square technologies. And then we're like, you know, there's a really big missing piece, which is it's going to take a lot of technology to develop a fully evolved cannabis industry. And there are a lot of people who are already developing technology in other areas, whether it be nanotechnology, agricultural technology, health technology. So why don't we introduce them and support them in the cannabis industry so we form grow tech labs? Kind of. Because I'm not like a. Like I'm 50, right? I'm a mother of three kids. My kids are 26, 22 and 15. And the fact that I'm become a champion of cannabis legalization must look a.

Little odd to people, but also provides.

No, because, you know, you know, the whole journey, you've been there from the start, and it's kind of interesting that you started as kind of not fully for it, and then you've went through the process of I learning about it and seeing its impact and then figuring out how it can positively actually have a space in our, in our economy. That's really cool.

So, so about Grow Tech Labs. I mean, how, how, I guess for, we know, but for the people out there, how long has it been going on? What projects are you guys working on really? What's your kind of vision?

So Grow Tech Labs, I'm co founder with Shafeen diamond from Victory Square Technologies and we're in this lovely home here at Launch Academy. We are very mindful of creating a legacy where we're showcasing the B.C. cannabis industry and in making sure that we're developing technology to deal with pain points for the cannabis industry. And we have a program, an accelerator program and an incubator program. And what we're doing is we're also eliminating barriers for people who have traditionally not been able to be a part of a lot of industries. So we have funding for women led businesses and then we have funding for indigenous led businesses and really our purpose is to keep B.C. on the forefront. You know, there's numbers as high as, you know, $7 billion of the B.C. economy has always come from the pre legalization industry and BC is losing its place to Ontario and Alberta, both on the licensed producer cannabis production, but also on the retail side. You know, I was just reading an article and if those of you who are watching saw me on my phone, it wasn't just because I was responding to my child. It was because I was looking at this article where they're saying $5.4 million has been spent on cannabis, but most of it still come from the, what people call the illegal community. I don't call it the illegal community. I call it the pre legalization community because government was well aware that people were engaged in the industry of cannabis and they enabled it. So we can't sort of now, you know, take those people on or not give them space when they've actually put BC bad on the forefront in the world. Yeah, yeah, they're the OGs. They have, they are the ones who.

Are going to keep leading the industry and the impact for sure.

Totally. And most consumers are familiar with products. They're familiar with the growers, their support, their techniques and if you're using it medicinally, it's no different than using say Tylenol. And you, you know what you're getting each time you go and you know, patients and recreational consumers deserve that certainty of knowing that when they purchase a product they need to know what the exact dosage is they need to know that it, it's not grown with either pesticides, it's mold free. Like those are still pretty big pressing issues. Yeah, yeah.

And I think that like cannabis consumption is, has evolved way beyond all its stereotypes and it really is like the consumers are really knowledgeable and they are really aware of what they're consuming and they're not just out there trying to buy something that'll get them high. They know what they like. They want a certain feel, they're doing it for certain reasons and they want it to get produced like ethically sustainable. Yeah, Sustainably. They're very there. It's a community that's very well educated and are like purchasing in like a very aware state rather than just buying weed. They're not doing it mindlessly at least.

No, yeah, and that's a really good point. But I think we're missing a major segment of the population still because it's very apparent the municipalities that are opting out from allowing cannabis retail in their communities, it's no secret that they have populations that are made up of a lot of Asian or South Asian residents. And it's interesting that even though Chinese traditional medicine and Ayurvedic medicine in the traditional healing books included cannabis as a medicine, but what happened, I believe is that once it was prohibition kicked in and it became illegal, those communities are very concerned about the impact it's had on their youth. So they are actually still engaged in very active campaigns against legalization. Somebody who came to launch Academy for an event that we did with Dan Pierre, who's a professor from the Tel Aviv University who was talking about cannabinoids and cancer. They went on to their WeChat account for me and they showed me the number of petition that has significant amount of signatures of people who are still lobbying against. Wow. Legalization being a success.

Wow.

So what do you, what do you see as the big like in the technology and in the space or in the industry? What do you see as some of the need to improve and maybe how does technology can play a part in that?

So one of the first companies we funded is called Elevated Signals and they've developed application to support and take data on the growing of cannabis. So they already have partners with three licensed producers and they're able to collect data and help support the production side. So the production side's a really big component because the autumn, the technology that can come into the farming space is still something that's really important. POS systems, a lot of financial institutions are not supporting retail cannabis outlets yet, especially anybody who has ties to the US they're not able to. So POS systems I think are really, really important, but so are issues of quality assurance. And how you're going to develop to help with the quality assurance programs I think is a, is a really big piece. And then moving forward as when legalization happened, the first part of legalization only dealt with flour and oil. The next part is now dealing with more processed cannabis and edibles. So the technology around dosing I think is going to be really important for patients. We have vape pens, but you can't really be sure what you're getting in a dose when you take a puff, even if it's just cbd. And so any technology that's based on healthcare I think has a place in the cannabis industry. Another really big one is packaging. I'm very sad to say that the packaging right now is not sustainable. It's creating a lot of garbage. So Grow Tech Labs is really looking for a partner who has a solution to childproof, sustainable packaging that actually reduces packaging. The pictures that you'll see of people who order from the government stores of one gram requiring like copious amounts of packaging, it is just such a complete waste. And when we're setting up a new industry, it's really important to get it right because now we have a chance. So those are just some of the top of mind things that we're looking at around, you know, who needs to step up into the, you know, lots of conversations around blockchain and cannabis around seed sale tracking. So I actually don't think that there's any technology that doesn't have a role in the new cannabis industry.

And that's it. It's a really exciting time because you're taking this industry that's been around forever, but now it's commercialized and there's all these missing pieces to make it into this legit complete system from growers to users. And there's like you said, there's a lot of missing little spots in between that, that will evolve. But it's, we're just, it's the beginning and it's opening so many opportunities for companies to come up with solutions. It's awesome. It's creating this like whole new space in our economy for new companies, new jobs, new income. It's really exciting, I believe. And the whole packaging thing, I never knew that that was an issue.

I'm still thinking about like the, the, the ad filled tabs thing and not how ridiculously hard it is get in one of those. Yeah. I'm like, they need to just call those guys up.

Right, Right, Yeah.

I'm like, it's like, you know when you're sick, you're not feeling your best, you're like, now I gotta figure this, like.

Yeah, yeah. But it's true. Like you do need it to be childproof and there it's so, yeah, there's so many things that need to be taken in consideration for sure.

And we forget it's. It's an edible product.

Yeah.

So it does go bad. And so having packaging that's food packaging while it's tamper proof is really important. But I think having something that's biodegradable and doesn't have as much impact on our environment is really important.

Yeah. Well, now that this is happening and it's, we're able to move towards this, like what do you think is the timeline? Like how long do you think it'll take for, for the industry to get to a place where you would feel like amazing, it's doing its thing and it's sustainable. Maybe it's a ridiculous question, but to me actually it's exciting to think about.

It's a good question. I mean government has made it very clear that legalization is a process, not an event. Yeah, right. And we know with alcohol Prohibition, it took 10 years before the pre legalization industry was fully into the fold and where marketing and branding regulations started to change. The US states that legalized, they allowed the pre legalization growers and stuff to come in sooner than Canada did. That will help a lot. And that's why Grow Tech Labs is accelerating a cannabis co op, the first ever larger cannabis co op in partnership with the BC Co Op Association. Because we want to move things along. Well, we're the first G7 country to legalize and so the world is watching and making sure that we're moving the dialogue. I mean there's people who will tell you I'm not quite that old, but close. When they used to go into a liquor store, they could only see the name of the product and then the clerk would have to go in the back, put it in a brown paper bag and bring it out so nobody could see it. Right. So it's very similar now to cannabis where you can't smell it or touch it before you buy it. It's, it's. So there's lots of parallels there. So if we're going to make a comparison, it took the alcohol industry and not that I ever think cannabis should be compared to alcohol. But it is an industry that came out of prohibition. I think we're about 10 years out from getting it right.

Interesting. That's awesome.

And you already kind of mentioned it or mentioned a couple, but what are, what are a few of the tech companies or cannabis tech companies that you're really excited about and the things they're doing?

Oh, well, definitely elevated signals. There's also a lot of innovation. Strain Print is a great company, developed an app on helping patients to journal their cannabis use and are collecting data and making sure that the licensed producers know what strains people are looking for. Remember, this is, this is not only about, as we've said, this is not a recreational play. It's not only a medical play, but it's a real wellness play as well. And so I think any company that's coming in to support people's wellness from a preventative level. Lots of conversations lately on CBD and what it really means. So we're really excited about really giving people a choice to incorporate cannabis as a choice on wellness medicinally. It's, you know, we know that from the US States that legalized that opioid deaths went down by up to 20% in those areas, which is quite huge. So there are tech companies out there now working on initiatives in healthcare that might not have thought of cannabis. So really urge them to become a part of the conversation.

So for companies, or I guess even just individuals out there that want to work with gtl, how, what's the, what's the best step?

Well, you know, go to growtechlabs.com apply either to be in our incubator program or accelerator program or just come check out our events. We've done a whole bunch of industry events here to educate people on everything from, you know, HR to marketing. You know, we did have this doctor from Israel talk about cannabis and cancer. So just participate, learn lots and then if we can help in any way, let's figure, figure it out. Cool.

And for everyone listening, the way that Grow Tech Labs and Launch Academy are partnering on this is that Launch Academy is providing its launch pad program here in our incubator to the Grow Tech Lab companies. And that gives them access to the mentors and the events and the resources on a startup kind of perspective of just growing a startup in general like a business. And then Grow Tech Labs is bringing in everything cannabis industry focused, mentors, advisors, events, information on regulations, all of that. So it's a really beautiful marriage between the two of business and then a super specific cannabis technology kind of industry knowledge. Together, I think it's a really well rounded supporting.

Yeah, especially with the Maple startup program too. Right. Where we're able to encourage companies from around the world to become a part of the solution here in British Columbia. And I think that innovation is definitely not only a job creator, but I think it sets a tone for a community in terms of showing commitment and encouraging businesses to come here. Innovation and investing in innovation is a key indicator of economic success. And I, you know, launch has been a part of that solution for many, many years and we're happy to be a partner in that now.

Couple things before we wrap up. We touched on it earlier but you know, in talking to you offer you really believe in making GTL a women led enterprise. Can you kind of elaborate a little bit on that and, and what's it been like so far?

You know. Well, my comment might sound sexist too and I don't intend it to be, but I'm outnumbered. I know you're usually outnumbered and well, it's really important not only in order to eliminate barriers for people who have traditionally faced barriers in business, but it's also about a different way of doing things. We don't, at gtl, we don't think that you having a family should actually be a barrier to success. So we're creating a very child friendly, pet friendly environment. Anybody who's working on their business or on their startup most likely has another job to pay the bills. They're probably working for free. And you know, we don't want a situation where people aren't able to join our incubator or accelerator because they, you know, they have kids. We welcome the kids and we'll set up a structure where we have tutoring for children while the parents are working on their business. And being women led is women's experience. A is very different. How we do things is very different. You know, Nicole Murphy and Alex Troll, who are a key part of our management team here, you know, we're not only collaborative but we're open to being completely out of the box and figuring out solutions to make things work. But also we have to recognize that the cannabis industry is going to rely a lot on the female market. We know that more women open are opening small businesses than men, but we also know that decisions in the home are mostly made by women, especially when it's something that's going to be consumed. So whether it's you choosing to give cannabis to your child who has epilepsy or you're choosing to give an aging parent cannabis for their Parkinson's most likely those decisions are going to be made by women. So having women design and implement and run these businesses is actually good business practices for the cannabis industry. You know, we already have a case where a majority of the corporate cannabis companies boards are male dominated. And you know what, we can do better. And at GrowTech, we just wanted to start off with a mandate that we're gonna serve a segment of the population that's really gonna be the driving economic factor and that's gonna be women. So why not have women at the table right from the get go?

That's an awesome reason. Right, Because I'm, I mean I'm not unfamiliar. It's a huge problem in technology as well. Right. Like the, the on and on and on. The, the debate. Not even debate, but just it, it's very obvious where you go to any conference, 80%.

Yeah.

And I'm saying this as a man, right? Yeah.

And we obviously the industry, well, not, maybe not the whole industry, but I would hope the majority of the street really wants women there and they want women to be involved. But because there's such a long history of women not being involved, it is gonna take a lot to kind of change that. And yeah, it's gonna take like generations and generations of like being able to actually allow women to have interests in those industries and build careers in those industries. It's not going to happen overnight just because someone says, oh yeah, also women are allowed and all of a sudden women show up. Like, it doesn't happen that way. That industry has to start being open to women from the beginning. And that's amazing that you guys are doing it from the start so you can set that momentum for sure.

Well, and there's so much research on the impact that the benefits cannabis can play for women who are, you know, perimenopausal or menopausal or things like suppository for period cramps. Like those are all things that you really need women at the table to start developing and they are going to be a major portion of where the revenues come from these companies. And I think communicating and having women engaged in the decision making process is really important.

No, that's, that's, that's, that's really great to hear that. It's not just, you know, because I mean, I am aware there are institutions that try and bring the social case up, but hearing that it's also a good business case I think really brings that all together. One final question for me and it's more personal interest, but, you know, understanding that, you know, you're, I guess, fairly new in tech, so to speak. What really do you see as, you know, going from being counsel, being, you know, meeting people with suits all day and now like you're on a podcast with a guy wearing a picture with a hat. Like, like what does that transformation been like and how are you kind of adjusting?

Well, it's interesting. You know, one thing I think is important in, and I think launch has created that atmosphere that's not only very welcoming, but very diverse both in terms of age and gender and ethnicity. That's really important. But I like, I like being in a space where innovation and creativity is really respected. My background comes from where the first part of decision making is actually a risk assessment. Like you don't do anything until you do. And not that companies in tech and cannabis shouldn't do risk assessment, but you can't lead with that because you just would never do anything.

Yeah.

And so it's been very liberating for me and, but it's also been very welcoming because it's not always that way the other way around. Right. Lots of judgment is passed on how people look or what they wear or what their title is. And I, and I think if we take a look at with what's wrong with the world and oh my God, in the last week there is so much wrong with this world that it all actually I'm really worried from whether it's the US or Canada or the UK or Venezuela or Syria or India and Pakistan. So much is going on. I think we need to embrace more of the shedding of the hierarchies and the bureaucracies and being more creative, a free flow of information and being authentic. And that's what the tech in that new space has really introduced to me. And I think we've been able to do more under that environment than I ever would have been in a corporate regulated environment.

Yeah, tech has been at least new age tech has been one of those industries where I'm amazed by the, the collaboration. It's really awesome. Like everyone is willing to collaborate and willing to give feedback and here to help each other within. Whether it's like startups or like Fortune 500 companies, everybody's always giving back. It is a really beautiful industry. It's awesome. And within like the fact that it infiltrates into all other industries that may have some other way of doing things from it being like say the construction industry or the logistics industry or these are very old industries that may have some old fashioned ways of approaching issues and problems and I feel like the tech industry has really influenced that in a positive way and making sure everyone's open and diverse and working together and collaborating.

And you know what, this environment has been way more connected to the real world than most environments I live in. A lot of those other environments do have people who either come from privilege or who have created privilege because of their positions. And here it's really, you know, everybody is working really hard, the intentions are really good, but it's a struggle. Day to day is a struggle. Building out your company is a struggle while you're trying to pay the bills and finding a place to live in the city. So it's, it's more authentic and more real and I think that that's going to keep us at Grow Tech Labs very grounded versus being sort of a big corporate entity where you do lose touch with some of those core values.

Yeah, it's like a real nice self made energy that everybody carries.

Yeah. Yeah, that's cool.

No, that's awesome. So before we wrap up, do you guys have any announcements either from the Grow tech side or launch academy?

Yes, I'll have a few and then I'll open up the floor to Verinder. So a few events coming up. We've got our co founder speed dating event which we've now done. I think a few. So I think this is our third. On March 16th at 12pm Sign up. It's awesome. If you're looking for a co founder, it pretty much brings technical and non technical founders into one room and does sort of like a speed dating imitation where you get to speak for a short amount of time with a bunch of founders that are looking for a co founder.

That's the number one question we get is how do I meet my co founder?

Right. It's hard to find a co founder and this is great. You'll walk out with a good amount of leads and then you can go on and see if that works. But yeah, show up, sign up. It's on our the event tab of our website. And then also BC Tech Summit is coming up so we do have to mention it. It's super exciting. March 11th to 13th and I know on their website they have a lot of supporting programs for startups to get discounts on prices. So make sure you check it out, make sure you apply if you have to and be there because it's going to be pretty amazing. Yeah.

And for Grow Tech labs go to growtechlabs.com we have our industry events. We will be posting about some pitch Events. We have some great staff announcements next week. I wish I could tell you, but I can't just yet. So we are growing, growing. But also, you know, check out some of the other cannabis events that are going around in the Lower mainland, just to get yourself educated and just reach out for questions or help.

Yeah, Cool. Thank you so much, Brenda, for. For doing this. I mean, shout out to Brenda.

No, shout out to you for wearing your pink sweatshirt.

Oh, yes.

After anti bullying.

Anti bullying day. So that's why I wore a pink.

Shirt, but I presume proceeded to bully him for it.

He proceeded to bully me, gave me muffins.

Well, if you could see, you would see Sade sitting here with a very big knife beside her. So we. We both just got in line really quickly.

I know Sam is trying out this whole healthy living, and I'm out here feeding him muffins.

Yeah. Like, I.

So.

So the backstory is how we started this podcast is Shade lives a very healthy lifestyle.

Very healthy.

I do not.

Yeah.

And so the idea was I'm gonna feed her something poisonous to her body, and then she's gonna come back with some. Like Vegetari.

Today was good.

It's a nice invitation. So that was actually how Lunch Academy started.

And everybody just thinks we're pronouncing it wrong, but it is Lunch Academy.

Yeah, that was how it started. But recently, my wife and I decided to get a personal trainer because apparently my unhealthy lifestyle is unsustainable, according to her. And so every time I eat anything, he's like, a croissant. It's all butter. Don't eat the croissant.

Yeah.

I'm like, what do I eat? I'm like, eat a salad. I'm like, I don't eat salad. Try it. I'm basically paying for a mom. Yeah.

Next episode, we're eating cricket protein bars.

Oh, I'm glad I'm not on that episode.

And I bet he's watching this too. He'll have a comment on the cricket protein bars.

Thank you so much. That was. I've learned a lot. I hope Sam learned a lot. I hope our viewers learned a lot. And I'm really excited for this industry to evolve, and I'm excited to see it evolve in the next 10 years.

All right, any last words?

No, just a huge shout out to all of the activists that got us here for government, for responding. And now let's let the rest of us step up and make sure that we do this right. So the world looks at us and say, hey, B.C. bud is the best.

Yes.

Anything from you. Shout out to your mom, maybe.

Yeah, shout out to my mom. We always shout out my mom. Shout out mom.

All right, if you're not following us already on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram, it's Launch Academy hq. Please do subscribe to the show. It continues to convince Ray that we can have yet another episode. So that's really, really important because we. We like eating food on Fridays. But that's it for me.

Thank you for tuning in, guys.

Thank you.

See ya.

Bye, Sam.