John Rourke

MJBiz asked me guest feature for them on the state of industry AR in a recent article. Here are the high(low)lights from the article: — California leads the crisis with $777M in AR — Followed by Michigan with $231M — And Massachusetts with $144M Some states are seeing more than 30% of all receivables past due. While 46% of cannabis AR remains current (0-30 days), 24%—more than $529 million—has aged beyond 91 days. 91 days is significant, because the chances of collecting *plummet* after that. The best and cheapest way to stay out of this mess is to run credit checks. Companies that do this are 60% less likely to end up in collections. And if it wasn't clear from the data, this problem is getting WORSE and SPREADING. -- I honestly hate being the bearer of bad news all the time... I'm actually a very positive person, I promise! But I won't stop waving a red flag about these problems until we can start to meaningfully clean this mess up as an industry. I'm very grateful to MJBiz for giving me the opportunity to share what Cannabiz Credit Association is seeing out there. This affects every single cannabis company, directly or indirectly. Full article in the comments. There's a lot more info in there for you.

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You can turn $100,000 into a $50 million business through acquisitions. This is closer to capital allocation than traditional entrepreneurship. Here's the deal structure. First, the capital stack. You buy a business the same way you buy a house. Equity in, bank covers the rest. With SBA loans: 90% loan, 10% equity. A million dollar business might require $100K to $200K down. Target companies with $1 to $3 million in earnings. Go to sellers that are NOT at market. Brokered deals are competitive and sellers want cash at close. This only works off-market. Here's what you propose: Seller keeps 20% equity in a new entity. Asset sale, their company moves into newco, they keep running it at fair market salary. You write them a check for 60% via bank loan. Remaining 20% is a seller's note: 10% straight note, 10% performance earnout. From the bank's perspective, you created 40% equity. The truth? It's really only 20%, and it's the seller's. Your money in? Approaching zero. But you own 80% of Enterprise Value. Why would a seller agree? Tell them: my goal is to make your 20% as valuable as the 80% we're giving you today. What are the odds you double the value on your own in 3 to 5 years? Now stack earnings. $2 million average per company. Buy 10 just like this. $20 million combined earnings under one entity. Centralize marketing, accounting, HR, governance at HQ. You bought each at 4 to 4.5x. A $20 million earnings business sells for 7 to 7.5x or more. That's multiple expansion, just by combining them. Close the first one. Negotiate the next $100K for the next business. Then newco sells to PE for 7, 8, 9x your $20 million in earnings. That's the path from $100K to $50 million. If you're considering buying a business in the next 12 to 24 months, we built Acquisition Lab for exactly this. walkerdeibel.com

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Fundraising Is a Sales Funnel Takeaway: Treat investors like prospects. Context: Too many founders pitch randomly. Fundraising works when you build structure. Advice: Create a lightweight investor CRM (Airtable, Notion, HubSpot). Track stage: intro, 1st call, due diligence, soft commit. Follow up weekly—investors invest in the founders who stay top of mind. Closing thought: Your investor funnel is just like your customer funnel—build it, track it, close it. At SKIN STUDIOS, we help founders cut through the noise, launch scrappy, and evolve fast. Because in the startup game, speed of learning is your greatest edge. → sitg.studio | dom@sitg.studio | DMs open #foundertips #fundraising #venturecapital #startupadvice #skinstudios

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If "Pre-Seed" investors ask for traction, they're not Pre-Seed investors. If Seed investors ask for equity in your Pre-Seed, they're Pre-Seed investors.

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🚀 Stop chasing investors blindly. Here's the 5-step system that gets startups funded: Define financial needs (12-18 months) Research aligned investors Build a killer pitch deck Systematize outreach Prep due diligence docs Most founders skip steps 1 & 5. Don't be like most founders.

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The MAW (Multiple Award Winner) problem with SBIRs has finally come to a head. MAW is a PC term for SBIR-mills, and they have always distorted the SBIR process and sucked up money that should be sent to real, value-producing startups. In my opinion, however, this has always been a problem with topic selection and criteria. This problem could easily be fixed by the author of the topic being specific and the reviewers being skeptical of any respondent they hear over and over and over. Back when I responded to SBIRs, I was quietly told the way to win an SBIR is to write the topic for the sponsor. The issue isn't with MAWs, it's with topic sponsors and agencies not being willing to do what is well within their power.

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There’s a specific kind of 'flow state' you get into when solving a tough puzzle—that 'aha!' moment is exactly why I started Cipher Creek Publishing. We’re currently testing our new CipherGrids™ puzzle engine, and today’s Daily Puzzle is a perfect example of what we're building: puzzles worth thinking about. It’s a Hard-mode Cryptoquote today. If you need a 5-minute brain break to test your pattern recognition, give it a shot. How fast can you get the answer? #VibeCoding #BrainBreak  

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