Socrates Rosenfeld

Today, as CEO of Jane Technologies, Socrates Rosenfeld’s online cannabis marketplace and technology platform powers about 2,000 dispensaries in 34 states and provides access to cannabis for millions of people. But growing up as a product of the DARE program, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the U.S. Army, he says he never gave cannabis a thought, believing the hype of the day about the plant and the people who consumed it.

However, after serving as a commander of an Apache helicopter division in Baghdad, Rosenfeld says cannabis helped him “turn down my intensity level” and readjust to grad school at MIT.

“It helped me find my balance,” he says, adding that he also began challenging his own assumptions and continues to do so today.

In 2014 he moved to Silicon Valley and as a medical patient found a lack of consumer information about what was helping him and why, or where to get it at the best price. So he and the founding team at Jane decided to build it.

“We’re not growers, we’re not retailers, we’re a bunch of software engineers from MIT and we love the plant; okay, how can we contribute to this space?’” he says.

The company continues to challenge assumptions and contribute through things like “ownership tags” to allow users to filter their searches to underrepresented groups, like women and minorities and then find those products or stores.

“As an entrepreneur, this is going to be the generational industry that shapes us,” he says. “This is why we got involved in this space.”