Editors’ Note: This is the transcript version of the podcast. Please note that due to time and audio constraints, transcription may not be perfect. We encourage you to listen to the podcast, embedded below if you need any clarification. We hope you enjoy!
Eric Levitt Founder of Pure Wisomds joins The Dime to discuss
- Mushrooms + Cannabinoids = the future?
- Formulation conversations on bridging the gap between mushrooms and minor cannabinoids
- Quantifying CBD for a dose
- Expected time to experience when consuming Pure Wisdom Cannabinoids Products
- Challenge with CBD Industry
- Why cGMP matters
Learn More about Pure Wisdom
Eric Levittis the Founder of Pure+Wisdom Foods.The reason I started this company was to create everyday health and wellness supplements that you could actually feel and quickly knew were making a positive difference in your daily routine. (And also to provide an alternative remedy to some of the harmful opioids and drugs on the market today.)
Creating a functionally different product starts with combining hemp-derived cannabinoids and adaptogen mushrooms. The next key ingredient comes in the form of technology, specifically applying Time Release capabilities to the CBD. The reason we do this is because CBD has a unusually short half-life in the body; from the time you take traditional CBD in the form of tinctures or soft gels, it’s typically reached it complete absorption in the blood plasma within 75 minutes and it’s done. Using time-release technology, we’re able to increase the amount of time you’re still absorbing the CBD for up to six hours.
[00:00:00]Bryan Fields : This is the dime, dive into the cannabis and hemp industry through trends, insights, predictions, and tangents.
[00:00:10] What’s up guys. Welcome back to the episode of the dime I’m Brian Fields. And with me as always is my right-hand man Kellen Finney. And this week we’ve got a very special guests, Eric Levitt, founder of pure wisdom.
[00:00:21] Eric, thanks for taking the time. How are you doing today?
[00:00:24]Eric Levitt: Absolutely, I’m doing great. Thanks Brian. And thanks Kelly. We’ve decided
[00:00:28]Kellan Finney: to kind of dive in and tell him how you doing.
[00:00:30]Eric Levitt: Doing really well today. I think we just talked about earlier on the show, how we have or before the show started, how it’s a west coast version today.
[00:00:37] We got a lot of Colorado love, I think, lives in Colorado. So I’m in Colorado. We’re going to bring the heat west coast best coast. How are you,
[00:00:45]Kellan Finney: Brian? I don’t think we agree with the west coast west coast. That can be up at the time. So led before we dive into the topics I’d love for our listeners to get a little background about you and how you got into the cannabis.
[00:00:58]Bryan Fields : Sure. Thanks. So [00:01:00] actually got into the cannabis space around five or six years ago. So I had a friend that lived in Colorado that was going out to the west coast to open up some THC manufacturing facilities. And so I went along for the ride and that’s kinda how I got my foot in the door of this whole thing.
[00:01:17]Eric Levitt: So for the first couple of years, we did THC processing and manufacturing in California and Oregon and Washington. And then that kind of transitioned over in 2018. I had an opportunity to join a large manufacturing company here in Colorado called mile high labs. And so I transitioned over to the hemp and CBD space and got a lot of experience and connections and contacts in my business development role for mile high labs for a couple of years.
[00:01:44] And so that was the start of what’s now turned into, you know launching and running my own. Awesome. So
[00:01:50] before we kind of dive into that, was there ever any hesitation to kind of enter the cannabinoid industry, obviously being on Colorado, you guys have it a little earlier head starts, you have to see kind of the newer [00:02:00] space, but Kellen shared a couple of times about, you know, when he first got into the space, he wasn’t sure if there’d be some longevity of him being in this, in this industry.
[00:02:06] So from your standpoint, was there ever any hesitation to kind of dive in to the
[00:02:10] cannabinoid? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So again you know, we’ve been cannabis kids for awhile, you know, long before this thing popped on the legal map. You know, just sort of going to college in Boulder and, and growing up in Colorado, it has been around and prevalent.
[00:02:26] And so I think sort of seeing that side of it for many, many years before this popped onto the legal roadmap. Yeah. There was always a little bit of apprehension. You know, you knew that Colorado was sort of trailblazing in a sense with where they were going with it. But I think that we were always a little bit hesitant to you.
[00:02:46] You didn’t want your name on a list. Let’s put it that way. And so for a handful of years, you wanted to make sure that this thing actually took off and, and you know, you, weren’t watching, you know, all your buddies getting hauled away for things. And so I think that, you know, after [00:03:00] three, four years of.
[00:03:01] I think taking off and being so successful, it was finally time to sort of come off the sideline and, and to get involved with this because I’ve had love for this for awhile.
[00:03:10]Kellan Finney: That’s really well said. Let’s talk about pure wisdom. Tell us about the company, the brand and, and kind of the name behind it. How did, how did that get started?
[00:03:18]Eric Levitt: Sure, so, well, you know, I mentioned that I had a executive role at mile high labs for a while. And what it did is it put me in a position to. With a lot of companies, both in the cannabis and hemp space, but also in the finished goods space and in the functional ingredients space and in pharma and in health and wellness.
[00:03:38] And so you, you sort of saw a much bigger opportunity than maybe what we were doing at the time. So just to kind of backtrack a little bit mile high labs was really primarily when they started just a bulk in-group. Supplier. And when you started to see other form factors and finished goods and ways, [00:04:00] people were putting out products and putting out brands and so on and so forth, you started to sort of see where there were gaps and opportunities.
[00:04:08] And so that’s kind of where it all started was just sort of watching from that lens and seeing that there were some opportunities that people weren’t really tapping into using more mainstream methods of delivery and using a little bit, you know, sort of less cannabis branding. So to speak in a little bit more, you know, looking at it from a health and wellness.
[00:04:31] And so, so that’s kind of where the thing all started, you know, as far as where the name pure wisdom came about. I, I wanted to try and create something that spoke to the integrity of the ingredients that we were using and that this was kind of next level technology that we were applying towards these cannabinoids and other functional ingredients.
[00:04:54] And so, you know, I have a good buddy who lives down in Crested Butte. His name is Scott reamer, and Scott [00:05:00] has been insanely helpful and involved with helping guide the. Creation of this. And so between putting our heads together, Scott and I came up with pure wisdom because we thought that that, you know, kind of spoke to the direction that we wanted to take the brand and the things that were most important to the brand
[00:05:18]Bryan Fields : itself.
[00:05:19] Yeah. So well said, because obviously separating yourself from the peers is extremely challenging when, and when consumers were unfamiliar with the brand name, they read. The title and the name of the company has to connect with them really instantaneous in order to kind of give it a second look in order just to elaborate whether or not this is going to be a product I’m going to select.
[00:05:37] So Kellen going to your side. Eric’s done an amazing job kind of positioning that with the CBD space being so challenging, which one of the products in your opinion, do you think kind of separates and kind of expand in that area? One
[00:05:48]Eric Levitt: product in particular is I’m a fan of actually, and it is the product with a lion’s mane mushrooms in it.
[00:05:56] I don’t want to try to get better. You know what I mean? I kind of read a lot of self-help books and those kinds of [00:06:00] things and nootropics. Right. Is that how you say it agree? Right. Nootropics is, you know what I’m talking
[00:06:07]Kellan Finney: about when I say nootropics. I do. All right.
[00:06:10]Eric Levitt: So I knew
[00:06:13]Kellan Finney: it’s in his product, right?
[00:06:15]Eric Levitt: No, but nootropics are the use of chemicals found in nature to help with your cognitive function.
[00:06:22] Right. And lions. Long been one. Is it from a Chinese herbal medicine? Is that where it originated from?
[00:06:30]Kellan Finney: Are you,
[00:06:32]Eric Levitt: I just know that humans have had a relationship, like a symbiotic relationship with mushrooms for thousands of years. And so I don’t know where it exactly traces back to. But I know that it’s been used as a source of not only food, but medicine and you know, many other ways that it has benefited humans long, long, long before any of us were even, you know, around.
[00:06:54] And so that was sort of, you know, one of the main reasons why I [00:07:00] wanted to pull that in as one of the first functional ingredients, there was a lot of people doing things. You know, the ashwagandha’s of the world and melatonins and things like that. And so again, and we can get into this more in a little while, but in the spirit of just differentiating, but using stuff that we’re all familiar with and is already starting to become, you know, very routine.
[00:07:22] That was sort of the reason why we pulled in things like lion’s mane quarter separation model.
[00:07:28] Yeah. I mean, I think it’s incredible because the biggest tout regarding CBD is anti-inflammatory. Right. And so if you pair an anti-inflammatory agent with something that needs to be absorbed, does that, I would imagine it increases bioavailability of those kinds.
[00:07:44] Active chemicals that are in lion’s mane that provide the cognitive benefit that everyone’s looking for. So I think it’s honestly a brilliant combination. How did you kind of settle on lion’s made from an ingredient to include, had you taken lion’s mane previously without [00:08:00] CBD, and then you were kind of experimenting
[00:08:01]Bryan Fields : kind of that whole process.
[00:08:03] It’s a great question. And so. I had definitely done some research and had definitely been experimenting sort of, you know, I think that we’re all somewhat of, you know, like kitchen scientists where, you know, you combine a couple of things and you try it out. And so there you know, I, I was turned on to sort of the host defense and Paul Stamets and, and everything that they were doing with with putting out supplements and putting out various mushrooms and things like that.
[00:08:29] And so from an immunity standpoint and. I had taken a few of these and so that’s kind of where it all started. And then, you know, and just sort of looking at what each of these various.
[00:08:39]Eric Levitt: Mushrooms contributes or the various benefits. It gives you some of them align really well with some of these other minor cannabinoids that we are talking about network formulating with.
[00:08:50] And so once you sort of put all the pieces out on the board, it was sort of easy to see who paired up well together. And so to your point, when we’re [00:09:00] looking at something that is designed for cognitive benefits, Focus and energy, you know, lion’s mane sort of fits that description really well. And then so does CBG.
[00:09:12]Bryan Fields : And so, you know, pure wisdom is not only CBB. You know, obviously there are other minor cannabinoids that provide tremendous amounts of benefits. And so in the one that you’re specifically talking about CBG and lion’s mane kind of take, they ride in the front seat of that. And they pair up very well together because it’s super cognitive and, and, you know,
[00:09:34]Kellan Finney: I want to learn more about like the formulation period, right?
[00:09:36] So you were talking about how they, they work really nicely together. Take us through like how you figured that out was that trial and error was that continuous research because that’s a challenging puzzle piece you’re putting together. Right? You’ve got three variables. You’re trying to figure out how well they play together.
[00:09:49] And then you’re trying. Kind of align them together and be like consistency standpoint. We think this is a good match for a general user going forward to take us through the formula.
[00:09:58]Bryan Fields : Sure. So well, so [00:10:00] I’m based out of Denver, Colorado, and pure wisdom has a coal man here in that’s located in Denver. And so I have access to some food scientists and, and these are guys that came from, you know, the.
[00:10:15] Pharma world. And, but they have, you know, it’s a GMP facility that has every, you know, tool and bell and whistle that you need. And so a lot of it was sitting down with these guys and in front of a whiteboard and sharing, you know, ideas of what I was looking to accomplish and, and, you know, then going out and sourcing the ingredients and make sure we’re vetting it and getting it from, you know, companies that need all of those requirements.
[00:10:41] And then a lot of it was. Trial and error and putting together, you know 10 different sort of dosages or amounts and seeing what that sweet spot is. And so there was a lot of sort of Guinea pigging going on where not only myself and, and, but, you know, friends and family were, you know, given a [00:11:00] couple of different, you know, label.
[00:11:02] Jars and saying, Hey, try this for a few days, try that one for a few days and, and, you know, share your feedback on which one of the number jars had the most impact and, and then sort of quote unquote, tabulating those results and seeing where it came in and, and. A lot of the things that we had hunches about, you know, prove to be true.
[00:11:22] You, you can look and see what’s on the market and you can kind of see where sort of recommended dosage amounts are falling. And, you know, from there you just extract what people like and where, what feedback is on that. And, and so, you know, one common theme that you hear a lot from people that take CBD, which is also aggravating and it’s motivating.
[00:11:45] Gosh, I don’t really know if it’s working, you know? Sure. I take it and, you know, and then you say, well, what does it do for you? And then you start to get this look of, gosh, I, I have a hard time really quantifying what it’s doing or verbalizing it because I don’t necessarily [00:12:00] know. And so one thing I wanted to make sure is that we were putting together.
[00:12:03] A product that you would feel and you would, you would feel the benefits right off the bat, and you would know that it’s doing something. And fortunately the majority of all the feedback, if not, all of it is, you know, it’s extremely positive, but that’s sort of how we put this puzzle together was through a little bit of, you know, R and D and trial and error, and just sort of landing on that one that made people feel the best and that they gave the best feedback.
[00:12:29] I have a question
[00:12:30]Eric Levitt: about that formulation process. So some of the products include CBG, right? Which is a minor cannabinoid. And those who work in the industry are familiar with it. Was there like a, an educational process associated with providing those formulations to your kind of sample set of individuals or Guinea pigs, if you will.
[00:12:51]Bryan Fields : They explain what CBG. Without a doubt. And it’s probably the biggest challenge that I faced today. And I will continue to face [00:13:00] is the education side of things. And so, you know, I take for granted or we take for granted, I live in a state that is very, very advanced and familiar with many of these cannabinoids.
[00:13:12] So not only THC, but also. CBD and, you know, miners and what the entourage effect is. And so to us, that’s just very common. And in reality, when you zoom your microscope out, like, you know, out of the city, you’re out of the state and you poll a larger audience, a lot of people don’t even know what CBD is. It gets you high.
[00:13:34] Does it, you know, I’m scared to take it. Is it. Am I going to get arrested? Is it legal? Is it, you know, so you have to start at, you know, sort of square one with this and really educate people.
[00:13:48]Eric Levitt: So to your point, yeah. When you start to get into minors, like CBG and CBN and you know, whether it’s CBDA or just CBD and why is it a and [00:14:00] how is it activated?
[00:14:01] And, yeah, there’s a really large piece of education with it. And so a lot of. You know, there’s a trust factor in this, and this is where being so deep rooted in regulatory and compliance and building a company that is founded on doing things the correct way and doing things the GMP way and sourcing, you know, legit ingredients.
[00:14:22] All of that is in order to build that trust with the consumer to show them that, Hey, I’m not screwing around here. And this is, you know, Tried and trued and tested you know, ingredients and we’re putting this together the right way. But yeah, to answer your question, it definitely involves some education and explaining that, Hey, this is sort of like a, you know, little sister or brother or big brother to CBD.
[00:14:48]Bryan Fields : And, you know, here are the effects that it has and, you know, and then the easiest way was, Hey, let’s start with the smallest dosage one. It’s always easier to. Add to something, as we know, and you [00:15:00] know, that it is to kind of take things off. And so that’s kind of how it started. That that was how I sort of shaped the messaging around this.
[00:15:07]Kellan Finney: So many important points that you hit on from like the messaging from the educational standpoint. I just like can’t, can’t reiterate that enough. Like how important the role you’re playing and the challenges you face with educating consumers. Here in the east coast space that often I bought this product, Brian, will I get high?
[00:15:25] And it’s like, where’d you buy it? And it’s like at the gas station unlikely then, right? Like let’s just put the piece of the puzzle together and think about this logically. And that’s where it gets even more challenging because they buy these CBD based products. And like you said, air, they go, I don’t feel anything.
[00:15:39] And then when they don’t feel anything, they start to assume random thoughts or was this produced a correct way? Why not? Like, and it starts going down a bad tangent rabbit hole. What you’re doing from a messaging standpoint and a patient standpoint, or building it the right way, I think is really going to help separate yourself.
[00:15:55] But I want to kind of continue on the same conversation that I want to know when you consume the [00:16:00] product. Is there an expectancy from a time to start quote, unquote, feeling the products start working? And if so, how long do you think the product will last in duration?
[00:16:09]Bryan Fields : It’s a great question. And, and, you know, as far as.
[00:16:13] How much time you should allow before you feel it. And again, so the pure wisdom products have a little bit larger of a dosage. Then the majority of the mainstream on the products on the market today. And again, the, the, the reason for doing that was I’m a big believer that you need a little bit more from a milligram standpoint for it to really take effect in.
[00:16:36] And so that again, it’s it’s gosh, I don’t know if it’s really doing anything. I didn’t want to run into that because this is far too powerful of a molecule to just sort of be dismissed of I tried CBD and it didn’t really work or do anything for me. I don’t necessarily believe that. I don’t think it’s being administered.
[00:16:54] Right. And so that was one reason that, you know, we’re starting with 50 milligrams [00:17:00] as a, you know, suggested. Serving size was because you want it to do something to answer your question. I think if you give it about 45 minutes or so it’s taking effect. And again, the reason I know this is because we have all kinds of dissolution data and.
[00:17:16] That show you when this is getting absorbed into your blood plasma. And so it helps when you have all of this data to sort of corroborate exactly what you’re feeling and to say, gosh, this is, you know, I am feeling it, look there. It is in my blood. And so, you know, you touched on something, you, you also asked us another question that was, you know, how long does it last?
[00:17:39] And this was sort of the. Other key foundational piece of pure wisdom was the differentiator between what we’re doing is it’s extended release. So it’s, it’s a time-release capsule. And the reason it is, is because CBD and. I don’t know if a lot of people know this has a really short [00:18:00] half-life in your body when you take it, meaning you take it.
[00:18:03] And it is fully absorbed in about 75 to 80 minutes, meaning you’re no longer getting a dosage of it anymore. And so now you’re kind of on the way down and listen, that might be another reason why people say, I don’t know if it’s doing anything. Cause it kinda did it, it came and went before you even knew it.
[00:18:21] And so the technology that we’re using with pure wisdom is. Time-release it’s extended release. And so through that dissolution study that we, that we have, and that we’ve run a few times, you’re still getting a dose of. At hour five at hour six, it starts to taper off at hour six, but the way that we’re formulating and constructing this, you are getting a consistent dosage for those first five or six hours.
[00:18:48] And so this is something that’s going to give you a benefit for 5, 6, 7 hours. Before you start to say, huh? I think I need to take a little more, Hey, you know, it’s time for dinner.
[00:18:59]Kellan Finney: I think that’s [00:19:00] so well said. And Kellen, I want to talk about the story that MJ biz, when we were running on fumes were exhausted from the show and we were just looking around at each other in the room.
[00:19:09] All right. We need to get another second boost. And like you pulled out the, the capsules and we’re so grateful that you have in this moment. And Eric, I’m going to be completely transparent before I took it. I was hesitant. I was like, I’ve took hundreds of these products. Most of the time. I feel nothing, especially when I’m the label, it says so clearly energy focused boost.
[00:19:26] So I was like optimistic and trusting you that it would work, but also hesitant at the same aspect that like, is this going to help me? I’m so tired in this. We popped it. We went to another networking event and I remember looking at Kellen at the event being like, I’m back, dude. Like I got a second wave.
[00:19:41] I feel good. Like it absolutely works. And I want him to text you in that moment, how excited I was. But granted, knowing the time it was, it would have been rude to wake you up. But Kaelin, I mean, given, given that story and understanding the challenges, do you think consumers who would try our product would have a different approach if they might’ve had, let’s say an off-putting experience.
[00:19:59]Eric Levitt: Yeah, [00:20:00] definitely. And I think that honestly, the off-putting experience is more common than I think people make out just because of the fact that it is a very new industry still. And there is a lot of bright eyed, bushy tail people out there who want to kind of get involved in. Jump in and they move fast and break things.
[00:20:21] Right. And so there’s a lot of products out there that like, like, like you mentioned your buddies who were buying stuff at the gas station who might not even have CBD in it. Right. And so I think that there’s a lot of experiences like that where people finally they’ve seen CBD around enough, they go, okay, I’ll buy some, try.
[00:20:37] They don’t vet the brand enough and they get a bad batch of product that potentially doesn’t have the dose. It says in it, or doesn’t even have any CBD in it. And they have a negative experience with CBD. But I think that
[00:20:50]Bryan Fields : that’s where
[00:20:52]Eric Levitt: individuals like Eric are poised to really have. The whole industry with the fact that with experience comes [00:21:00] the understanding of how to manufacture these products, right?
[00:21:04] They’re new products. So the manufacturing industry isn’t as solidified as say some other nutraceutical out there. If you wanted to launch like a melatonin brand, right. For sleep aid, you could just call up a nutraceutical lab and there’s an entire set of CGMP regulations in place. For the listeners who aren’t familiar with CGMP, it means common Goodman, manufacturing practices, and Eric kind of brushed over that a couple of times during this talk.
[00:21:30] And I don’t think that he gave it enough gravity, right? Because at the end of the day, there’s a ton of manufacturing facilities out there that are producing cannot products that are not CGM P certified. And it’s actually very rare for these manufacturing facilities to have that accreditation.
[00:21:47]Kellan Finney: What’s the benefit for our listeners unfamiliar. What’s the benefit of being CGMP? What do you want to, you want to
[00:21:52]Eric Levitt: dive into that? Or you want me to elaborate on that?
[00:21:55]Bryan Fields : Go for it. And then I’ll fill in the
[00:21:56]Kellan Finney: gaps. That’d be awesome. Also CGMP [00:22:00] means that there is a set
[00:22:02]Eric Levitt: method for manufacturing, the product that is followed every single time.
[00:22:06] And that includes specific testing protocols.
[00:22:10]Kellan Finney: Mainly
[00:22:11]Eric Levitt: it includes a third-party vetted quality management program where they’ve shown to a third party, subjective entity that they’re manufacturing what they say. They’re manufacturing from a concentration perspective and a dosage perspective and their following kind of traditional either nutraceutical or pharmaceutical guidelines to produce chemicals that don’t have contaminants that are going to be detrimental to consider.
[00:22:36]Bryan Fields : No, I, I think you nailed it. Listen, it’s this stuff has been around forever. These are FDA you know, regulations that are put in place and they’re put in place to ensure the safety of the consumer. And so there are many checks and balances throughout the process where your ingredient and your way of doing things are.
[00:22:57] You have to do it a certain way and you are [00:23:00] tested by a third-party lab. So whether it is bringing in ingredients to your facility and making sure that, Hey, what you’re bringing in meets, what is exactly on the label and, you know, the way you’re doing it and testing a finished product to ensure that if you’re saying that it has 20 milligrams or 50 milligrams, At the finished product has exactly that and it’s through an accredited lab.
[00:23:24] And so it’s really just sort of holding you to a standard that is going to give everybody the best chance for success. And, and, and to put everybody at peace of mind that this has done the correct. And, you know, we’re not cutting corners just to save some money on costs and we’re not cutting corners to save money on time.
[00:23:43] You follow these steps and, and, you know, that’s sort of what the 1 11, 1 17, whether it’s, you know, for a dietary supplement or food and drug, those are the various stages. These are the type
[00:23:55]Kellan Finney: of standards that I think consumers come to expect from other industries, but in our [00:24:00] industry that it’s not yet mandatory.
[00:24:02] I think the assumption is still that it happens. And I wonder if that’s going to be a big myth that kind of has to get dispelled over time.
[00:24:09]Bryan Fields : You know, I think that that’s one of the main reasons why you hear people constantly pushing for this regulatory pathway and guidance from the FDA is because until they clearly define what that is, people can cut corners and people couldn’t, you know, be a little bit cute with how they want to do things.
[00:24:30] And so until there is that sort of spelled out pathway and, and rules and regulations, You don’t have to do that. But again, in sort of how I got into this industry, it sort of quote unquote, how we were raised and, and you, you do this this way because when this really gets going, you are going to be in a position to really be successful.
[00:24:55] And, and you’re not going to have to change things and go backwards. You know, if you start this [00:25:00] off and raise the bar, Really high from the get-go it’s only going to contribute to the success of the product and the company and help others on the way
[00:25:08]Kellan Finney: and the industry. Right?
[00:25:09]Eric Levitt: Cause I think that that mentality is something that the industry lacked at the beginning of the end of prohibition, if you will.
[00:25:15] There’s a lot of people that just jumped in and being like, oh, I’m going to hang out for a year and be a millionaire. And I’ll just peace out and have my little extra strategy and they’re cut all the corners they could to increase margins and all of those things. So. That poor mindset, a lot of new individuals early on in the industry, I think led to.
[00:25:34] Kind of a bad case of investor’s mouth and kind of the bad taste for the industry
[00:25:39]Kellan Finney: in the first few years when legalization
[00:25:41]Eric Levitt: was kind of getting rolling. So I think that that is something that’s overlooked a lot from a it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
[00:25:49]Bryan Fields : It’s
[00:25:49]Kellan Finney: an expensive investment, right? Like that’s the one aspect.
[00:25:52] I think why people kind of go the other way. They’re like, well, I don’t need to do this. And it’s expensive. And in an industry that’s kind of cash strapped. It’s easier [00:26:00] to look the other way. And I’m not saying it’s the right way to do it, but that’s likely why. So before we kind of dive into some of the other products love, I want to know what was one of the challenges that you faced in setting.
[00:26:12] Sure wisdom that an everyday person
[00:26:14]Bryan Fields : would not know about. Sure. Well, you know, we touched on one of them and that is it’s education. It’s it’s, it’s the message. So that’s one of them is you have to remember who your audience is and with something like CBD and hemp derived products, the audience is basically everybody in, you know, the United States, you know, there might be one or two outliers.
[00:26:37] States that don’t necessarily want you shipping it or driving it through or this or that. But for the most part, we can ship anywhere in the U S and, and even many countries internationally. And so it’s understanding who that audience is and tailoring a message or tailoring multiple messages, because like you said, maybe up in the north, A lot of folks don’t even know what it is we’re in [00:27:00] Colorado.
[00:27:00] Okay. You know, they might be, you know, a little bit more advanced, but they might not know some of the nuances of minor cannabinoids, like CBG and CBN. So one of the biggest challenges is tailoring the message for who the audience is. The other is because there is not sort of federal guidance on this.
[00:27:19] This is still viewed federally as illegal. And so when it goes to marketing a product. I can’t pay to play in the sense of, okay, this is when you’re bootstrapping a company and you’re starting it on your own and this and that, you can use tools like social media. You can use the Instagrams and the Facebooks of the world and you can kind of pay to play.
[00:27:40] And what I mean by that is you can pay to boost an ad or promotion a message and get it to a much larger audience in this case. You still can’t do that because there’s still this gray area of what hemp and CBD is. And so back to your point of what’s an everyday challenge or the biggest challenge, it’s things like that.[00:28:00]
[00:28:00] It’s having to do things really organically and sort of get your message out that way versus being able to. Have a marketing budget and apply this monthly spend to getting it out to a certain part of the country. And so those are some of the everyday challenges. Obviously the easy ones to talk about are things like banking.
[00:28:23] You know that that’s
[00:28:25]Kellan Finney: hard
[00:28:25]Bryan Fields : though. It is. And listen, I read your guys’ playbook, your monthly playbook and. I’m obviously not the only person that is feeling those challenges or pains. One of the consistent messages that you guys drive home and, and it’s awesome is, Hey, we really need to do something for all of these companies out there and for this take of the industry and get things like banking and financial things in place and get some of these other sort of regulatory guidances in place so that everybody can be treated.
[00:28:58] Any other business or company [00:29:00] out there. I mean, it’s frustrating as hell when, you know, we paid taxes like every other business and we’re treated like every other company, whether it’s, you know, a vitamin company or a pharma company or a food company, but yet they don’t afford you. All of the. You know, benefits in the form of, you know, Hey, go into this bank or Hey, open this account.
[00:29:21] Or, you know, even if it’s been Mo or PayPal, you know, they look at you, like you’re a bad guy. And so that part is it’s challenging. It’s aggravating and challenging. The, the list of
[00:29:30]Kellan Finney: challenges is almost endless, right? You’re going through like a real one with the marketing. Also you’re like, by the way, banking too, also super hard.
[00:29:36] And it just kind of like spirals out of control. And
[00:29:39]Bryan Fields : maybe this is a bad analogy, but for some of our listeners
[00:29:42]Kellan Finney: that are unfamiliar with how hard it is, it’s like being a construction worker and not being able to use like a hammer or a screw or a good drill. Right. And like, this is how. This is what we’ve always done in marketing.
[00:29:51] And they’re like, oh, by the way, you can’t use any of these tools. And by the way, you can do banking and it also is illegal. So all of these other areas just makes it so much harder. [00:30:00] So I guess then yeah, go.
[00:30:02]Bryan Fields : It’s like, we, we, we talked about doing things by the book and doing things the right way. And you know, we spent a few minutes talking about, you know, CGMP and, and, you know, so, so staying true to that.
[00:30:13] But then when other areas of your business you know, you sorta have to bend it a little bit here to do your banking or bend it this way to, you know, send out a marketing message or, you know, in, in some ways you want to be very traditional. And in other ways you really got to get creative in order to keep this thing on.
[00:30:30] What’s the
[00:30:31]Kellan Finney: next set of products on the roadmap. Is there any ones that you can share with us? Is there any ones you’re really excited to or any, any future opportunities
[00:30:39]Bryan Fields : there? Yeah. You know, right now we’re just sort of iterating on sort of the key ingredients and the things that we have out there now.
[00:30:47] And so I can see bringing in a few more adaptogen ingredients, functional ingredients, things like. And, you know, we look at different delivery methods, different form factors. So, you know, playing around with [00:31:00] weather, you know, right now these are capsules and, you know, there might be an opportunity for tablets down the road.
[00:31:06] There might be an opportunity for stick packs or drink mixes because again, pure wisdom is a, you know, it’s extended release powder that is going into capsules. And so there might be some other form factors or things like that, but really right now, I don’t want to, over-complicate it. I still want to take sort of this core foundation of products and get it out to the larger audience before we really start to get fancy with it.
[00:31:32] And, you know, I’m a big believer in sticking to one thing and making it really good. Versus, you know, having, oh, we got topicals and we got gummies and we got soft gels and we got, you know, mints and hair shampoo. And so we’re, we’re gonna, we’re going to keep it simple with this for a little while and really kind of get some traction going and then we’ll, you know, sort of then build on.
[00:31:54]Eric Levitt: Darn it, I was really looking forward to the hair shampoo line. I could use it, you know, [00:32:00]
[00:32:00]Bryan Fields : you’re looking good today.
[00:32:03]Kellan Finney: The pure wisdom past salts can come out next. Right. People start consuming those and be like, I’m hallucinating.
[00:32:09]Bryan Fields : I mean, I mean, what, I mean, we’re making a joke about it and obviously, but when you look at the industry, There’s a bazillion company.
[00:32:16] It’s out there and there, and everybody is putting CBD into everything. And so, again, it’s, it feels very wild, wild west still because there’s no regulation into, Hey. You really need to do it this way. And, and I’m not saying that, you know, and making a joke that the shampoo ideal wouldn’t work or that, you know, the toothpaste wouldn’t work, but we’re trying to stick to ways that are more widely familiar and accepted and sort of tried and true.
[00:32:47] And that’s why, you know, at least in, in our world, we’re keeping it simple with capsules.
[00:32:51]Eric Levitt: I have a random question before we move on to the next topic, Brendan. My question is. So D are [00:33:00] you led you believe that the entourage effect is also in play with the addition of like lions
[00:33:05]Kellan Finney: thing and some of these
[00:33:05]Bryan Fields : other ingredients?
[00:33:07] Yeah, it’s a great question. There, there is a hundred percent synergy between, so I use the word synergy. ’cause now we’re pulling in other ingredients besides just cannabinoids, but yeah, when it’s cannabinoids only hell yeah, there is a entourage effect when you know the little brothers and sisters of, you know, CBG and CBN and, and then large part when there is a little bit of THC in the product.
[00:33:32] And just to clarify, there is zero THC in pure wisdom products today. But in past experience and understanding how these things work when there is that little bit. Yeah. It acts as a spark. Everybody quote unquote plays better or their performances you know, more true to what they’re supposed to do.
[00:33:53] Cause again, if you extract this, you’re attracting this plant and when it is. In its truest [00:34:00] sense and you’re not sort of adult trading or changing or removing things or whatever that’s in its truest form, how it is in nature. And so there is a spirit to keeping this as honest and true to. How nature has it intended.
[00:34:17] And so, yeah, when,
[00:34:18]Eric Levitt: when there are more cannabinoids together and everybody is playing in harmony, there is definitely an entourage effect and then building on it and you’re adding in things like mushrooms or other ingredients. There is definitely synergy and these things play off of each other. Now, do I have data to show this and back it up?
[00:34:36] I don’t because it’s in its infancy, but I can tell, but I can tell you that. When the lion’s mane and the CBG and the CBD are all together. Yeah. They’re definitely playing off of each other and, and helping one another.
[00:34:49]Bryan Fields : That’s
[00:34:49]Kellan Finney: a great question. Come on. I have that on my list too. So hats off to you for
[00:34:55]Bryan Fields : my seat.
[00:34:56] I didn’t even know you had, [00:35:00] I shared
[00:35:00]Kellan Finney: that sheet with you. I don’t cause that’s the question I wanted to ask, but I guess we, we don’t need to ask it so. But since you been in the cannabinoid industry, what has been the biggest
[00:35:12]Bryan Fields : misconstrue? You know, it’s a great question. I’d say one of the largest misconceptions with this whole thing is that, is that this is made and works for everybody.
[00:35:23] Okay. Like there’s so much CBD stores out there and whatever, and then. Sure it could have a benefit for everybody, but this isn’t necessarily made for everyone. I think that there are, you know, you, you need to be at the right sort of frame of mind. You need to be at the right place in life for, you need to have an open mind first and foremost, because with other types of health and wellness products, there is a.
[00:35:46] Boom, you try it. And the thing turns blue or the thing turns red hot work. You need to understand how this works. And so a misconception is that, you know, Hey, this, this will work for everybody and this will cure you and [00:36:00] make you taller and make you smarter and make you this. And, and so I think just understanding that, Hey, This works a little bit differently for everybody and listen to, everybody’s got some kind of inflammation, whether it’s something growing on, you know, the side of your head or whether it’s inside your body or whatever, everybody’s got something going on in their body.
[00:36:20] And so it helps with whatever is aggravated or whatever is, you know, in your body. But as far as, Hey, will it have the same benefit on everyone? The answer is no, it does something a little bit different to everybody, but in a good way,
[00:36:36]Kellan Finney: can you use the products as like an everyday supplement, like
[00:36:39]Bryan Fields : a multi-purpose vitamin?
[00:36:41] So that’s how we’ve constructed and formulating them to be a daily supplement. And so at least with the current skews that we have, there is a. Product that is designed for the morning. And so again, there are a lot of people that love to just pound cups of coffee in order to get going. And I could [00:37:00] see just from your reaction that a Dava junkie,
[00:37:05]Kellan Finney: I mean, you know, Kaelin, like he is a
[00:37:07]Bryan Fields : Starbucks beam.
[00:37:09] Oh, yeah. And so, you know, there is, this is designed as a daily supplement, so there is one to start your day off and to kind of give you that little pep in your step. And that’s the one with the lion’s mane and the CBG, there is an all day one that is just meant to sort of take the edge off and just to kind of remove the anxiety.
[00:37:28] Listen, we’re in a day and age where. Things are tougher and crazier and wackier than ever right now. And so there is extra stress and there is extra just sort of mental discomfort. And so that’s kind of what was the impetus to create this whole thing was to get away from taking, you know, a lot of these readily available opioids that are all over the place that are just so easy access to, but that are so damaging in the long run to your mental.[00:38:00]
[00:38:00] And wellness. And so not to get off on that tangent and then there’s one for the evening. And so there’s people that have a hard time sleeping, staying asleep, falling asleep. And so we designed one for the evening as well, that focuses more on rest and kind of daily recovery of the body. And yeah, I take two of the three every day and that’s kind of like my regimen along with, you know, some other vitamins and supplements and that’s my routine.
[00:38:24]Kellan Finney: Before we do predictions, we ask all of our guests, if you can sum up your experience in the cannabis
[00:38:29]Bryan Fields : industry for a main takeaway or
[00:38:31]Kellan Finney: lesson learned to pass onto the next generation. What would it be?
[00:38:35]Bryan Fields : You know? That’s a great question. I thought when you were talking about predictions, we were going to talk about, you know, week 16 football picks and things like that.
[00:38:43]Kellan Finney: Predictions are next, but we
[00:38:44]Bryan Fields : won’t. I got very excited. That’s why I thought I was on the show, but no, the, you know, the takeaway is. There’s a lot of different ways to do this. And you know, when I got into it in the cannabis space, there’s a lot of corners that can be cut. I think the [00:39:00] takeaway is, is when you do this, right.
[00:39:02] And it’s like with anything in life, what, when, when you do it right from the get-go, there’s less things that you got to worry about down the road. You just build it correctly the first time, and then you know, that it will stand no matter sort of what regulation and guidance and sort of rules come into it.
[00:39:19] It’s built with that already in place. And so I think just approaching it the right way and doing it honestly, and building it as something that, Hey, you’re comfortable with your family taking this and, and your friends taking it. That’s kind of the biggest sort of thing that I would pass on is. Yeah, there might be a quick way to hit it, but you know, is that really the right way?
[00:39:42] And is that really the honest way and just kind of having that integrity as you’re building this along the way, I think is something that I would highly recommend. Beautiful. All right. Prediction time,
[00:39:53]Kellan Finney: Eric, which cannabinoid use case or a quote unquote effect, those are air quotes for those listening. [00:40:00] Do you think will be the first to be mass adopted?
[00:40:02] And if I did mangle that question and the example would be. Sleep focus, recovery. Which area do you think will be the first to be mass adopted with the
[00:40:12]Bryan Fields : that’s a great question. As I look into my crystal ball and more just with the experience that I’ve had in the last year of launching this company, it seems like.
[00:40:23] The most feedback. And the biggest thing is around CBG. So CBD was the first one out there, because again, when you extract the hemp plant, it’s the one that’s most readily available. It’s the one that there’s the most of it. And so that’s kinda why it’s leading the charge, but as far as, and again, this is just a complete, you know, hunch, but, but CBG.
[00:40:48] When it’s around really promotes a lot of the, the feeling that it gives the body, the feeling that it gives the mind is it’s in line with all of the things that kind of humans are. Quote [00:41:00] unquote, already. I don’t want to use the word addicted to, but loving, you know, it’s, it’s the same feeling as caffeine.
[00:41:06] It’s the same feeling, you know, I mean, again, caffeine is a plant. It started off very, you know, it’s, this is stuff that they’ve been taking for thousands of years and has kind of shaped the way that our country acts and works. And so it falls in line with that. And so that one’s sort of an easy. And just sort of seeing what humans gravitate to and, and where they spend their dollars already.
[00:41:31] But, you know, I will say that when we can figure out something that works for sleep for everybody, that will probably be the big one, just because I think everybody has trouble sleeping and the older you get, the worse it gets. And so if there is a. Magic capsule or something that really, really works for everybody, all shapes and sizes and missing that.
[00:41:56] That’s probably going to have the biggest impact. So I’m going to hedge my bet with [00:42:00] and answer it with two different ways. You know, just to play it safe. You know, I mean, that’s totally my put the money on that square
[00:42:12]Kellan Finney: block, then
[00:42:12]Eric Levitt: we’re going to discuss them over. I’m going to drop my bag right there too.
[00:42:15] I think it is. I think CDN, honestly, I think the dosage, as well as the purity and as the manufacturing protocols that are being implemented for the production of CDN on a wholesale perspective, I think that that will become more, more and more adopted. And I do think CBN anecdotally does help with sleep.
[00:42:31] I think that potentially if you pair it with melatonin and some other chemicals that have that kind of synergistic reaction, that a pure wisdom is already putting together with some of the other cannabinoids and some of the other. Active nutraceuticals out there. So that’s my guess. What, what’s your
[00:42:50]Kellan Finney: prediction?
[00:42:52] Yeah, the sleep is, is, is the free square, right? Like let’s, let’s all just admit that if someone can solve that problem that’s [00:43:00] I mean, I, they get to retire with a yacht.
[00:43:01]Eric Levitt: I think
[00:43:03]Kellan Finney: these upsides. Yeah. Like, I mean, that is like the problem. That’s gotta be one of the number one, like most faced issues probably universally across the world is that as the older you get people sleep and people Nene on anything, they can to help that.
[00:43:16] I mean, I can speak on experience. My mom would do anything. If she could guarantee a good night’s sleep on a regular basis and has tried so many different products. And at a certain point, I think she’s almost given up to think like she’s just never going to have a good night’s sleep and mama. You’re listening, which you likely are not.
[00:43:30] You got to figure it out eventually and try one of Eric’s
[00:43:32]Bryan Fields : and pure wisdom would be happy to send your mom a care package and she could try these out and listen, if it works for her, then I’ll start asking her to make posts on Instagram. Yes.
[00:43:45]Kellan Finney: The post. But you’ll have to send this to offline because there’s a very good chance.
[00:43:48] He’s not listening to this podcast. But the one that I’m going to take is going to be the fitness recovery aspect. I think like you were saying earlier, The pain and inflammation that people kind of age is going to be one of those where it’s going to continue to move in that [00:44:00] route where they’re going to want to have a replacement for the opioids or the Advil and the anxiety and deuce experience like you were facing is another one that I think is an emerging one.
[00:44:09] So I wonder if I was going to have to hedge my bets on, I can’t take the sleep one. I might go 50, 50 or 40, 60 on the anxiety based and the recovery fitness.
[00:44:19]Bryan Fields : You know, and, and again, that goes back to, there’s not necessarily a one size fits all. There’s, you know, we, we all have laundry list of, you know, issues and challenges that we’re dealing with every day.
[00:44:29] And so to pick one or two of them and to try and at least get that into a comfortable place and then say, all right, now I’ll tackle the beast of sleep or whatever it is is it’s a challenge.
[00:44:39]Kellan Finney: It’s a ongoing. So Eric, for those who are interested in trying your products, getting in touch, where can they reach you and where can they
[00:44:44]Bryan Fields : learn more?
[00:44:44]Eric Levitt: Yeah, thanks a lot. So we have a website it’s www dot pure wisdom food. With an s.com. You could also go to pure wisdom CBD and it reroutes you. There, there is a total full service e-commerce [00:45:00] platform. We have smaller size blister packs that you can, you know, try these things for under 10 bucks. It’s before you, you know, have to spend a little bit more to get in and, you know, kind of get a full sized bottle.
[00:45:12] You can also send an email to [email protected]. Just share with us what you’re looking for. You know, again, we’re pretty customer centric. We will respond quickly and we’ll get you some stuff to try out and hopefully it’s a good fit for you. I think it will be. Thanks so much for your time, Eric.
[00:45:27] Yeah. Thanks. You guys really enjoyed it. Keep up the good work. Listen to what the monthly playbook and the podcast and hopefully I’m back another time Jen. We can pick it back up. Love it sounds good. All right. Happy holidays. Thanks guys.[00:46:00]
