The cannabis industry has plenty of success stories, with many of them of the rags-to-riches variety that serve as reminder how much opportunity cannabis legalization offers to entrepreneurs. The Denver Post, which recently unveiled Denver’s leading cannabis license holders, profiled John Fritzel, the former University of Iowa basketball player who, with 32 licenses in his name, is number five on the list of holders and the second highest individual license holder after John Lord of LivWell Enlightened Health.
The real estate crisis left Fritzel, a former Subway franchisee, bankrupt in 2009. He started what is now Lightshade Labs with two partners in 2010 and runs PotCo with two others, who are partnered with him in MJardin, a provider of turnkey cannabis cultivation in multiple states. He also operates Buddy Boy Brands on his own. Fritzel’s entities currently employ about 400 people, and he expects them to produce revenues in excess of $250mm by 2018.
Read Ricardo Baca’s and David Migoya’s “It’s a billion-dollar market whether I’m here or not.”: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_29863747/its-billion-dollar-market-whether-im-here-or