HigherBank Brings Crowdfunding to Cannabis Entrepreneurs

Following a successful round of auditions in Denver earlier this month, producers of The Marijuana Show, a new web series, have selected 22 participants for callbacks. These lucky ganjaprenuers are completing a series of challenges that will bring them one step closer to the final round in which six finalists will participate in an intense three-day business boot camp to be held October 7–12, in Denver. Then they will pitch to investors in hopes of becoming the next marijuana millionaire. The winners will receive financing, mentorship and of course, the show’s platform.

“We had an amazing turnout at the auditions and received interest from ganjapreneurs throughout the United States and the world, so we will be opening online auditions where contestants can post a two-minute pitch,” said show director Wendy Robbins. “Two hundred auditioned sharing unique business ideas including edibles, hemp products, apps, sustainable growing ideas, education, tourism and much more. Many have multi-million dollar ideas that would excite any investor.”

Robbins and her co-creator Karen Paull designed the challenges to be unique to each contestant and business concept. One participant had to write a bucket list and do everything in a week including finishing a book she had been writing for 20 years; an artist needed to approach major comic book publishers to review his work; a woman afraid she could not take care of her family had to raise $5,000 in a week; another pre-sold his technology to 20 dispensaries; a woman from Washington D.C. had to overcome her fear of rejection by pitching her hemp butter to 100 stores; a mom who is not good at sales got a team of moms to help sell her child-safe hemp bag.

The Marijuana Show creators are also launching HigherBank.net, a Kickstarter type crowdfunding site for cannabis entrepreneurs. Most traditional banks don’t fund or support entrepreneurs working in cannabis, even in states where recreational or medical use is legal. HigherBank solves that problem.  Some of the site’s first users will be callback participants of The Marijuana Show, who are using HigherBank to raise seed money using their influence with social media.

The Marijuana Show is filming in high definition, with five cameras, and is editing the first two episodes based on the auditions and challenges. Season One’s 8 episodes will be available to watch in December, via Roku set-top box, Omnivision and web or streaming syndication reaching over 10 million viewers.

“We love the freedom of the web-series format to tell these entrepreneurs’ stories. I think we’ve found in the push for marijuana legalization that sometimes you just need to get out there, take a risk and do it and the culture will follow. I’m not sure conventional television is there yet,” said Paull. The show’s goal, she added, is nothing less than to encourage legalizing marijuana globally.

The next season of the show will be in Washington, and then Oregon. The Marijuana Show is accepting ganjapreneurs pitches for Season Two through their online site at http://www.themarijuanashow.com/auditions/.

Follow The Marijuana Show on https://twitter.com/mjrealityshow; Friend us on https://www.facebook.com/themjrealityshow; Find us on https://www.instagram.com/themarijuanashow.com, and check out our new BETA Cannabis social network athttp://www.sharethebuzz.org, where your freedom to express yourself won’t get you censored!

Source: Rosen Group PR

Photo Credit: ABCNews.com