When Mitch Lowe, a co-founder of Netflix, joined Medbox at the very top of the cannabis stock bubble in 2014, the company pointed to his entrepreneurial experience gained at Netflix and then Redbox.  At the time, he said:

“We stand at the cusp of a momentous change in the industry, as legalization and normalization of marijuana continues around the world,” added Mr. Lowe. “Medbox technology represents an ideal way to facilitate safe, secure, and legally compliant dispensing of sensitive medications, creating a significant opportunity for the Company. I have participated in previous campaigns to transition an industry from inefficient retail operations to more modern, profitable business models, and I am excited to leverage this experience in the legal marijuana industry. In addition, the disruptive technology Medbox has created has significant applications beyond medical marijuana and I look forward to helping the Company exploit these potentially huge markets. Opportunities in areas such as traditional pharma, retail, and hospitality have the potential to exponentially add to the Company’s addressable market, and I am excited to help leverage the technology and the brand to create significant, lasting shareholder value.”

Even if Mr. Lowe had been able to walk on water, there is likely no way he could have changed the outcome, which saw Medbox stock fall from $27.61 at the time he was hired to about $.02 today, a decline of 99.9%.  Having joined the “Green Rush” only to find out the cannabis stocks weren’t yet ready for prime-time, Lowe appears to have learned a lot over the past two years. In an extensive interview with Equities.com, he shares some of his insight:

• “The most important thing we’ve learned is that you’ve got to put high thresholds against the people you work with. You can’t just take their word for it that they operate in a certain fashion. You have to investigate it and do things like credit checks and background checks.”
• Asked about whether cannabis companies should go public, he said ” I think stay private longer. It really comes down to capital means. If you have the ability to raise money to fund your growth privately, you should definitely stay private. You should stay there for as long as you can.”
• When it comes to investors, he stated “So you have to think of your investment horizon as more in the five-to-10 year term. If you need payback quicker, then you need to find innovative and creative ways that don’t include the big IPO or the big acquisition. This is going to be a huge, huge business and it’s going to eventually be really well-run, but it’s not going to happen tomorrow.

There is nothing like trial by fire to acquire wisdom, and Mitch Lowe has likely seen it all as far as the cannabis industry and the penny stock world go.  Despite his experience so far, he remains optimistic on the legal cannabis industry, predicting that it could be in excess of $60 billion within the next decade.

Read Henry Truc’s interview “Netflix Co-Founder Mitch Lowe: Who’s Driving the $60 Billion Cannabis Market Revolution?”: http://www.equities.com/news/netflix-co-founder-mitch-lowe-who-s-driving-the-60-billion-cannabis-market-revolution

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