Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders

There are a lot of things that California produces well: movies, wine, and now cannabis. Today's guest knows all about that. Kyle Kazan is co-founder and CEO of Glasshouse Brands, a vertically integrated sustainable producer of cannabis products. In 1991, he began investing in real estate, and became a manager of private equity funds. He's now launched a total of 23 funds with a current estimated value of almost $3 billion. 

In 2016 Kyle pivoted to the regulated cannabis industry. Since his early service as a special education teacher and law enforcement officer, Kyle's been a vocal advocate for police reform and ending the war on drugs.

He makes frequent appearances on CNN and Fox and has been a guest professor at NYU, USC, and UCLA's business schools. Kyle's a graduate of University of Southern California where he played varsity basketball, and his long and varied career made for a great conversation.

Show Notes

Summary:

There are a lot of things that California produces well: movies, wine, and now cannabis. Today's guest knows all about that. Kyle Kazan is co-founder and CEO of Glasshouse Brands, a vertically integrated sustainable producer of cannabis products. In 1991, he began investing in real estate, and became a manager of private equity funds. He's now launched a total of 23 funds with a current estimated value of almost $3 billion. 

In 2016 Kyle pivoted to the regulated cannabis industry. Since his early service as a special education teacher and law enforcement officer, Kyle's been a vocal advocate for police reform and ending the war on drugs.

He makes frequent appearances on CNN and Fox and has been a guest professor at NYU, USC, and UCLA's business schools. Kyle's a graduate of University of Southern California where he played varsity basketball, and his long and varied career made for a great conversation.

Highlights:
  • Kyle talks about his early years as a basketball player, then a police officer turned real estate investor (2:57)
  • What led Kyle to move into cannabis (5:38)
  • The assets that Glass House has today (8:58)
  • Glass House's vertical integration (10:49)
  • Kyle discusses the brands of Glass House (13:37)
  • How growing the product in California figures into Glass House's marketing (15:41)
  • The challenges in this industry and the state of the market now (18:31)
  • How the current political climate might affect Glass House (20:05)
  • The total addressable market for Glass House (22:06)
  • Kyle talks about his great team at Glass House (24:20)
  • Their unique approach to investors (27:01)
Links:

ICR Twitter
ICR LinkedIn
ICR Website
Kyle Kazan Bio
Kyle Kazan LinkedIn
Kyle Kazan Twitter
Glass House website
Glass House LinkedIn
Glass House Twitter

Feedback:

If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, marion@lowerstreet.co.

What is Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders?

In the increasingly crowded and competitive corporate and financial ecosystem, it’s harder than ever for companies to break through the clutter and be heard. The media, investors, agenda-driven influencers, even customers and competitors, are defining your business story on their terms. Therefore, it is imperative that companies take control and proactively drive the conversation with stakeholders in an effort to build & maintain equity value.

In Welcome to the Arena from ICR, Co-Founder & CEO of ICR, Tom Ryan, interviews key business and financial players who influence the fate of public or aspiring public companies in the capital markets. As a former Wall Street Journal ranked sell-side equity analyst and the founder of one of the largest strategic communications firms in the world, Tom understands what it takes to navigate this complex environment.

This is a forum for CEOs, CFOs, institutional investors, sell-side analysts, financial journalists, private equity professionals and other financial community participants to share their stories and give advice in an open and candid conversation.

For more information, visit http://www.icrinc.com