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Darren Gleeman
As managing partner at MBO Ventures, serial entrepreneur and prolific angel investor Darren Gleeman assists clients with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and capital management. He holds a patent on ESOP methodology for the cannabis industry and received Green Market Report’s 2024 Top Financial Advisor award.
Stop Waiting for Rescue: The New Rules of Cannabis Finance
Cannabis operators are clinging to a capital playbook that no longer works — waiting on reform, “sideline” investors, or a return to the equity markets of five years ago. But the drought isn’t cyclical; it’s structural. Between 280E, regulatory unpredictability, and a vanished exit path, traditional equity logic collapses. The result is “toxic hope” that delays restructuring and burns runway. The fix isn’t optimism. It’s architecture: structures designed to work under current law.
ESOPs Could Be the Cannabis Industry’s Most Powerful Equity Tool
Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) are changing the way cannabis companies think about equity. By turning workers into owners, ESOPs improve retention, create generational wealth, and align business growth with social justice goals.
Embracing Employee Stock Ownership Plans
Successful cannabis businesses are strategic, savvy, and clever. They have to be, don’t they? With harsh regulations like Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 280E,...