Colton Griffin is CEO of Flourish Software, a leading supply chain management and seed to sale tracking software solution for the cannabis, CBD, and hemp verticals. Colton’s career and expertise are at the intersection of supply chain operations, enterprise software, and analytics.
He started a consulting practice focused on this discipline and ultimately founded a startup to build a SaaS analytics platform for distribution center operations. Flourish was born from this endeavor. He graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a BS in Industrial Engineering.
What is Flourish all about?
We live and breathe supply chain operations within cannabis and hemp. Flourish is a software platform to manage inventory, fulfilment, purchasing, manufacturing processes, cultivation, and retail point of sale.
The Flourish software platform tracks products from seed to sale. Clients use Flourish to support all purchasing, inventory management, cultivation tracking, order fulfillment, and retail operations. By virtue of using Flourish, clients create and capture rich sets of data, which we present as actionable analytics to help drive decision making. Flourish sits at the center of the canna-tech ecosystem, and we have a robust external API to support integrations. The platform is comprised of modules such as cultivation, manufacturing, and inventory, and also has a mobile app that pairs with our web app.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
I earned an Industrial Engineering degree and started my career at Manhattan Associates, a leading supply chain management software company based in Atlanta. I was focused on delivering analytics and reporting on top of large enterprise software deployments for warehousing, order management, and transportation. I then worked for Genuine Parts Company building out those capabilities there. Living at the intersection of supply chain operations, software, and data, I knew I wanted to build something bigger.
Stepping out of my corporate role, I started consulting and working on the concept for an analytics platform. In 2017 California was on the verge of rolling out adult-use (recreational legalization). My team and I saw a significant need for software to service the non-retail supply chain functions of the industry and dove in.
What was the biggest problem you encountered with your business and how did you overcome it?
Fundraising is challenging. It is never easy, but when many VCs are barred from writing the check due to our industry affiliation it is even harder. I grinded away, worked the network, and ultimately validated success in the market to earn the check.
What were the top mistakes you made starting your business and what did you learn from it?
Start building your sales organization early. We were heavily focused on customer fit first, which is why we have happy and successful customers. But I would have invested in sales and marketing a bit earlier if I went back in time.
Plan to start fundraising at least 6 months ahead of needing cash. It always takes longer than expected.
Never pre-pay for services if you can avoid it. Getting a discount isn’t worth not having a quality final product. Payment is your leverage for performance.
Always check references.
What is one thing that you do daily to grow as an entrepreneur?
Read, listen, and ask questions. I spend more time on LinkedIn than on Facebook. I find that for finding like-minded folks to talk to about the industry. We need a space to meet and talk openly and learn from each other. LinkedIn is great for that.
What was your first business idea and what did you do with it?
If I stretch way back, it was selling t-shirts at UT (University of Tennessee, Knoxville for those not in the Southeast) football games. I ended up donating a lot of t-shirts to Goodwill. I wanted to learn how to make a sell and how to create a supply chain and dominate the t-shirt space at UT. Ultimately it failed but it was a great learning experience!
What are you learning now? Why is that important?
We’re growing, so I’m diving deeper into thought leadership on culture and hiring. We’ve achieved success to date due to a phenomenal team. Formalizing what is working, acknowledging what isn’t, and talking about our culture is critical to scaling the company.
What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting your business?
I didn’t know how fun and rewarding it would be to build software and see it successfully used in the real world. It’s amazing how technology can positively change people’s lives. I went to the harvest of a cultivator and saw how our software worked in the day-to-day. It was great to see how it worked and use the software as an end-user while harvesting.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Our website and SEO. We use a very traditional marketing strategy even though we work in an emerging industry. We rely on sophisticated lead gen and advertising to bring the leads in where we automate evaluating MQL to SQL. Once it hits SQL our backend of the website creates a lot of automated BDR to help the sales folks move the prospects through the sales cycle.
If you only had $1000 dollars to start a new startup, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?
Customer validation – buy them lunch, pay them to take a survey, whatever is needed. Make sure they will pay for what you are selling.
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Build good credit and maximize your credit line. It sounds funny, but sometimes you may just need to float a few expenses or guarantee something.
What’s a productivity tip you swear by?
Zero inbox. Taking the time to keep the inbox clear means it’s one less thing on your plate, one less thing to be anxious about, and you are aware of all of the things you should be.
What is your favorite quote?
I’m not a huge quote person, but let’s go with:
“Measure twice, cut once.”
I love HubSpot, Miro, and Office365. Hubspot allows for a lot of sophisticated automation that our young and scrappy team wouldn’t have the bandwidth to do otherwise. Miro allows a team to remotely work together and brainstorm while keeping ideas and tasks aligned. Microsoft just keeps us all connected.
How is running a company different than what you thought it would be?
While we are still in the startup phase and the amount of hours we all pitch in are long, building something that helps an emerging industry run faster, smarter, and efficient is more gratifying than I could have imagined.
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