Cannabis industry professional Sara Gullickson has launched The Cannabis Business Advisors (CB Advisors), a consultancy specializing in licensing, operations, and M&A for the industry.
Based in Phoenix, the firm appears to be a slight rebrand of Cannaboss Advisors, which Gullickson founded in March.
The consultancy will serve privately held and publicly traded entities seeking to optimize their operations and gain market share. CB Advisors will also help companies acquire licenses, as well as support licensed companies in dispensary retail, cultivation, manufacturing, processing, and delivery.
“Our holistic, integrated consulting strategies support short and long-term goals, whether it’s industry longevity or eventual sale,” Gullickson said.
Gullickson previously founded Dispensary Permits, which she ran for eight years before selling the licensing consultancy in December 2018. In the past decade, she has advised cannabis license holders, policy makers, and stakeholders in 24 states and five countries. Since selling Dispensary Permits, she has served as chief operating officer of cannabis industry companies Strive Wellness and Strive Life Grand Forks.
Gullickson holds an MBA from Keller Graduate School of DeVry University and a BA from Arizona State University.
“After more than a decade in the industry, I’ve witnessed how quickly the market can fluctuate especially during crisis situations. We have seen a huge demand from those that are looking to build compliant and successful business models that can withstand financial disruptions and policy changes during difficult times such as we are facing with COVID-19,” Gullickson said.
The team at CB Advisors also includes director of licensing Maxime Kot and advisors Donald Burton and Larry Lemons. Together with Gullickson, the team has 30+ years of industry experience, and has closed over $160 million in cannabis in transactions and secured over three dozen cannabis licenses in 16 states.
The legal cannabis market in North America is projected to grow to $37.9 billion by 2024, according to a 2019 Prohibition Partners report.