Jake Bullock
Co-Founder & CEO
Cann
Jake is the co-founder & CEO of Cann, the cannabis-infused social beverage company based in California, which develops a range of micro-dosed beverages with simple, all- natural ingredients that provide an alternative to alcohol. Prior to Cann, Jake was an associate at Bain Capital’s North American Private Equity fund evaluating potential investment opportunities across a variety of industries with a specific focus in the consumer space. He also worked at Bain & Company in San Francisco, focused on strategy and due diligence projects across technology, healthcare, private equity, and hedge funds. Prior to that, he worked as an investment banking analyst at Allen & Company in New York providing M&A advisory services to companies in a variety of industries. Jake graduated sum cum laude from Duke University with a B.S. in Economics and Political Science and received his M.B.A. from Stanford University. Jake is passionate about the potential for cannabis products to replace abuse of alcohol and Rx drugs and has made a number of cannabis venture investments.
What’s In & What’s Out: Value Driven Product Development
As consumers expect high quality, well branded cannabis products, brands are faced with important tradeoffs between quality, cost, and time to market. With significant regulatory, manufacturing, and distribution challenges, differentiated product and brand development become table stakes. Nowhere is this more evident than in the cannabis beverage segment, which is the industry's bleeding edge for mainstream consumer adoption. Brands that cut corners will fail to gain traction, but those that are values-driven in their approach will rise to the top. Topics covered in this session will include:
- State of play in cannabis beverages segment today
- Growing consumer interest in microdosed, social products
- Product differentiation through values (both inside and outside of the packaging)
- Tradeoffs in formulation that drive differentiation and resonate with consumers
- Distribution challenges for growing brands today