We were lucky to catch up with Matthew Kozlowski recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Matthew thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I first walked into a tradeshow for hemp and vaping products to look at to insuring these type of products. I realized there was a bigger issue. I first said, “why don’t people and businesses buy these products on Amazon? The answer to that question was the products were not allowed, so a light bulb popped in my head. Let’s build it! There were problems at every level of the supply chain currently in the industry so we set out to solve those problems. At the same time, I had a leg up as this would be no easy task to develop this software. I took a role as an advisory to a Non for Profit Blockchain called AXIA.

This put myself in an optimal position as web 3.0 in my opinion is definitely where the world is evolving. This “smoke shop” industry has been shunned my many Web 2.0 applications, so let’s just skip Web 2.0 and move into a forward thinking mindset. A simple strategy of connect more buyers and sellers in an environment with low barriers of entry would be the goal. Increase margins for all parties involved, create a safe environment for users to comment, review, and rate products and companies. The industry will be able to self-govern itself.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I have a long history of being in the insurance acquisition space. I started selling software to insurance agents out of college, and went to work with one of my clients down in Florida. This grew into a partnership with another agency and we set out and grew organically through using technology and we leveraged this growth to acquire other insurance agencies. after 70 plus acquisitions over 10 years, We took on a private equity partner, and after 3 years we merged with another company and it was time to move on. This set my sites on the cannabis, hemp and other niche industries where insurance was lacking. Utilizing my contacts in the insurance industry and networking with this new industry, I started to really understand much bigger issues in an industry than insurance.

Leafy was born in my mind, and I set out to start building. I saw how cannabis dispensaries started to look like Apple stores, but smoke shops still had a different feeling. So let’s create an end user experience with the end user in mind. Use data, use consumer input, and make the most user friendly interface possible to achieve the best results. Our goal is to create a quality standard in the industry. Provide more knowledge, give real reviews, and let the market speak for itself. On top of that, let’s set our sites on an end goal of utilizing community in one of the most passionate communities out there. In a year from now, we hope to have a “Leafyverse” where business, consumers and friends can interact all over the world in a safe environment and connect people like they never have before.

Can you talk to us about your experience with selling businesses?

The experience of selling a business is one of the most bittersweet feelings in the world! You work so hard at something and when it’s gone you feel almost lost. Then you realize you have all this time to either do what you want or start to use the creative side of your mind again. Personally I love the building and innovating stages. Maintaining and ensuring steady growth is important, but the excitement is not quite there anymore. So in essence, it was a fresh start and blank sheet of paper to do something new!

Now if you start a business, you are on a path of many highs and lows. So prepare yourself for it. There is no more clocking in and clocking out, or even a guaranteed paycheck. I also encourage everyone to go down this path, but make sure you do your research and build it to sell it.

What I mean by that, is have a good bookkeeper, understand your industry standard financials, and be able to set metrics in your business to show growth and retention of customers. If you don’t do this, how will you ever know what to sell it for, and no one wants to come in an buy a business that they have to figure out. If they do, they do it at a discount.

Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?

I have been involved in many acquisitions. I must say that I try and believe everyone is a good person, but in business this is far from the truth unfortunately. Do your due diligence, protect yourself and the company after the sale, and if it does not feel right, do not be afraid to walk away. Buying a bad business will consume you of money and your time. Buy a good business and you feel like Warren Buffet.

Just remember, the seller is not your friend, if you are using a broker, they are not 100% your friend, and use lawyers! It is worth the cost.

I have only bought insurance agencies because I knew if I grouped them together I can resell them at a higher multiple under common ownership. That was my goal and we did it over and over again.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://leafy.global/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leafy.axc/ https://www.instagram.com/mattkozla/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjk/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/leafy_axc https://twitter.com/mattkozla