MJBulls: Cannabis investing and cannabis fundraising

Moxy Unlimited | Jack Kuo

Episode Summary

Where are the cannabis infused munchies? Jack Kuo from Moxy Unlimited joins Dan Humiston to explain why it's so difficult to make cannabis infused snacks like Cheetos and Doritos. He talks about how Moxy Unlimited has overcome the challenges and is preparing to launch their first cannabis infused snack. Produced by PodCONX https://podconx.com/guests/jack-kuo

Episode Notes

Where are the cannabis infused munchies? Jack Kuo from Moxy Unlimited joins Dan Humiston to explain why it's so difficult to make cannabis infused snacks like Cheetos and Doritos. He talks about how Moxy Unlimited has overcome the challenges and is preparing to launch their first cannabis infused snack.

Produced by PodCONX

https://podconx.com/guests/jack-kuo

Episode Transcription

Dan Humiston: [00:00:00] If you're Cannabis company is raising capital, you need to check out the online fundraising masterclass presented by Equity Capital Collective. The six week course was created exclusively for Cannabis companies by Sara Battersby using her proprietary methodology. Sara has helped founders raise over 50 million dollars. The fundraising masterclass starts on February 17th and you can register at join EA Q SEO dot com Ford slash apply dash. Now to be part of the only online course that goes beyond pitching and actually provides a comprehensive and actionable process for raising money. Brands like Cuomo, Rock, Fellowes, Bioscience, Real Cannabis and the People's Dispensary and Left Coast Financial Services all relied on the techniques in this course to help them secure funding. As the founder and CEO of an Oregon Cannabis company, Sara experienced firsthand how prohibition has unfairly excluded Cannabis companies from accessing capital. She is so passionate about helping to overcome this injustice that she's teaching to free preview training sessions to give entrepreneurs a chance to see if the course is right for them. Now, more than ever, it's important for Cannabis entrepreneurs to have a solid fundraising plan sign up for the online fundraising masterclass in the two free preview trainings at Joineqco.com/apply-now and learn from someone of the rock solid track record for helping Cannabis founders get funded.

 

Jack Kuo: [00:01:34] Yes.

 

Jack Kuo: [00:01:34] So our current plan is to start an Oregon launch with our own branded analogues of Cheetos, Oreos and Kit Kats. And then as soon as possible we want to expand to California so that we can launched the same set of products and callfor at the larger market.

 

Jack Kuo: [00:01:52] By then we'll have more traction and more funding by then. She set up shop for the mini fashion of infused eminence and Skittles from MJ MJBulls Media.

 

Dan Humiston: [00:02:06] It's the Raising Cannabis Capital show. I'm Dan Humiston. And on today's show, how this snack manufacturer is unlocking an entirely new untapped sector of Cannabis.

 

Dan Humiston: [00:02:31] Today, Raising Cannabis Capital, we are joined by Jack Kwoh, the CEO of Moxey Unlimited.

 

Dan Humiston: [00:02:36] Jack, welcome to the show.

 

Jack Kuo: [00:02:38] Hello. Thanks for having me here.

 

Dan Humiston: [00:02:40] Exciting stuff, Jack. Our listeners are going to be as surprised as I was when they realized that we missed something because we all know about edibles and there are lots of Cannabis infused candies like gummies and chocolate. But under the heading of edibles, there at least seems to be one glaring omission that I missed. Never even thought about Cannabis snacks like pretzels or Fritos or Cheetos. Check. Why are there called Cannabis snacks?

 

Jack Kuo: [00:03:10] Well, campus industry, you know, it has its roots in the black market. And even when I was a kid, you know, people make their own brownies and cookies at home. So the history goes back to when people in corporate it Cannabis intu past. They can make themselves at home. So the products they are able to make, it's not very technical and it's fairly easy and accessible. And as the legal market has grown, we have products coming on board like candies, Gunnis chocolates, baked goods and now more and more beverages. And these are fairly easy to make. They have low technical barriers, entry candies, incomings. If you really want to, you can make them at home saying chocolates, sweets, comment. So the problem with that is, you know, it doesn't matter which state you're in and whether it's recreational or medical. The state of the Cannabis edibles, it's pretty much limited these five categories. They're easily replicable, which means that it's more or less commoditized. So you have multiple brands competing for similar products and competing for the same consumers. And that's what we're looking to change.

 

Dan Humiston: [00:04:15] Oh, my gosh. And you are. Because barriers to entry to make, say, Cheetos. This is so much greater than to make some Nokomis. You know, you think of the munchies. You think it would make the perfect, perfect and. Absolutely. You mentioned to you earlier that you have experience in consumer packaged goods. Sumate, let's start there. Talk about, well, you know, what type of expertise you need in order to knock off Cannabis snacks.

 

Jack Kuo: [00:04:45] Absolutely. So for those who don't quite understand CPG or consumer packaged goods, because this isn't one the new buzzwords in the Cannabis Mishkin we go tradeshows. It's basically everything that you would find in a grocery store. So food and wellness and look at beyond that's packaged foods anyways. So our background is in packaged foods industry and my other company. We make cheese plus. And that's where we want to bring our experience and expertise to the Cannabis industry. So take cheese. Plus, for example, even those into Farinacci don't really know how they're made. They're only a very small handful people out there that really has expertise in this. And the equipment, it's even harder to come by. So to make cheese puff, typically it requires equipment that runs in the tens or hundreds of millions. Oh my God. Army of staff. Fifty thousand square feet of space. And you're running out of volume for the likes of Frito-Lay or huge private labels. That's the norm. So where we come in is that we understand how these parts are made, how to manufacture. And I came up with a system and equipment that shrinks all this down to something that is about a thousand square foot, a very low six figures. And we can make products of a similar quality and same great taste and all that. And I've done this with my other company for years.

 

Dan Humiston: [00:06:12] That's crazy. So just to recap, you have two things that make it difficult. One is you need the expertise. You need to know how to do this. And then even if you know how to do this, you need the equipment, which is very expensive.

 

Dan Humiston: [00:06:26] Know, that's the challenge.

 

Dan Humiston: [00:06:27] And if somebody can unlock that code, which you're doing, it kind of gives you the field all to yourself, because. 

 

Jack Kuo: [00:06:33] There's one other key factor in all of this that makes it difficult, if not impossible, for potential competitors to copy what we do. So as you know, you cannot sell across state lines worth anything. THC, right. Right. And then you have these pogs that are made on industrial scale mastiffs, volume manufacturing systems. And when you manufacture pop, say, Cheetos, you cannot share equipment across Cannabis and non-candidates products. Right. Let's say I'm a well-funded Cannabis company and I want to try to make chitose. Well, that doesn't quite work because let's say I'm in Oregon and I could spend $10 million on a factory to make a kind of Cheetos. But the market size and the fact I cannot sell across state lines does not make economical sense whatsoever because the cost of entry is so high. See, you're never going to break even. And that's where we come in because we have this smaller scale. That's very low upfront cost. That makes the same quality product. And you can and we can do that with Oreo's, Eminem's and so forth.

 

Dan Humiston: [00:07:41] Oh, my gosh. OK, now we're going. Now your equipment, this equipment, because it's such a small footprint and it's not as expensive. And you figured it out. You can replicate that in different states.

 

Jack Kuo: [00:07:53] Yes. So our current plan is to start in Oregon, launch with our own branded analogs of Cheetos, Oreos and kick hats. And then as soon as possible, we want to expand to California so that we can launched the same set of products and California and larger market. By then, we'll have more traction and more funding by then to set up shop for the manufacturing of infused eminence and Skittles, Skittles, Skittles.

 

Dan Humiston: [00:08:23] Oh, my God. Yes.

 

Jack Kuo: [00:08:24] And so Eminem skills, these are no one really, really excited about. I mean, come here. That's your chocolate bar, chocolate, which is pretty much most of edibles that aren't gundy's. Right. So these are easily portable. They're well understood by everybody. What they are, you know, they don't melt your hands, melt in your mouth.

 

Jack Kuo: [00:08:41] They're on your, you know, little pieces. It's easy to titrate to your desired user experience. Jesus, you go Reese's Pieces, you got never. Yes. Every six ounces as well. Never as.

 

Dan Humiston: [00:08:56] I want to take a quick break to thank you for listening to today's show as the exclusive Cannabis podcast network. We're constantly adding new Cannabis podcast to support our industry's growth. And that's why we're so excited to welcome the Seed to Sound podcast to our network. The team at Sea to Sound has produced over 50 exciting and thought provoking Cannabis podcasts. And now you can listen to all their previous episodes and all their new episodes at MJB blaze.com. So welcome SEAD to Sound. And stay tuned for new exciting Cannabis podcast on the MJ Ables Cannabis podcast network.

 

Dan Humiston: [00:09:36] Mentioned that you have some funding going on right now. Talk a little bit about that.

 

Jack Kuo: [00:09:40] So we have been working on this for several years. We have prototype and experimented, do some field tests in the past four years or so. We formally started on this path a year and a half ago and now we are fundraising. That's what we're working on now. This is a seed round. How much you're raising. This is seed round. So we're raising seven. Fifty thousand. Okay. And convertible notes, 10 percent discount rate, 10 percent interest. Thirty six month maturity. And with that, you plant five mill valuation cap. And where are you gonna do with the proceeds? The proceeds will be go towards building out the factory, getting the supply chain lined up, staffing and launching the product by fall of this year, launching it and also for brand building, marketing and sales push and offering cash flow. So all of this. That's the entirety of the $750000 is expected to take us to break even empty on in or again.

 

Dan Humiston: [00:10:39] Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. Man, it's exciting. It's exciting. I mean, you're really you're really creating another category.

 

Jack Kuo: [00:10:47] Absolutely. Edibles. It's typically 11 to 13 percent of the industry size. And in the past quarter or so, with a base scare, people are not deterred from Cannabis altogether because of a scare or health reasons. They just switched different type of products. So I can see that edibles sales have gone up. And with shifting demographics of Cannabis, consumers like you have older people, you have newer Cannabis consumers coming in. So they might find smoking flowers maybe a little bit more intimidating because it smells so edibles. It's a way that's a lot more approachable for these people to say I knew him when.

 

Dan Humiston: [00:11:30] This is one of those stories. Jack I will have all of Marxian Ltd's information in the show, notes of this show and also on the MJBulls website. So if any of our listeners want to join in on this fun race, they're just getting kicked off here. You'll be able to get that information there, Jack. Super exciting.

 

Dan Humiston: [00:11:49] I can't wait to have you back on the show.

 

Jack Kuo: [00:11:50] Thank you very much.

 

Dan Humiston: [00:11:55] Today's show was made possible by the generous support of our sponsors, like all 36, the country's premiere blockchain payment processing platform that's providing dispensaries and its customers with a safe and secure payment option other than cash. To learn more. Go to ulp 36 dot com. Today's podcast was produced by MJ Bulls Media, the industry's premier Cannabis podcast network with original music, produced in part by Jamie Humiston.

 

[00:12:22] I'm Dan Humiston and you've been listening to the Raising Cannabis Capital podcast.

 

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