Having launched numerous cannabis businesses across the United States, SM Services owner and CEO Steve Knapp has seen first-hand the predatory companies built on exploiting newcomers to the cannabis industry.
“One of the reasons that I started this was because of my previous experiences,” Knapp says. “I felt that there was a new industry with a lot of a lot of new entrepreneurs with their own money that they save hard for, and I didn’t want to see a bunch of wolves burn them.”
Knapp was initially an investor in SM Services, a digital marketing agency built specifically for the cannabis industry, before taking over as owner and CEO. Part of the company’s goal, and a point of pride for Knapp, is to go beyond marketing services to help operators prepare for what it’s like to operate a cannabis business and then figure out where marketing should fit into the bigger picture.
“We’re here to not just do their marketing, but consult them and educate them about business in general,” Knapp says.