We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Skip Stone a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Skip , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

When Colorado legalized cannabis in 2014, I decided I wanted to be involved and help people like myself. I designed our products so I could be responsible around my kids, babysitters, and whomever, with my edibles.  Edibles typically resemble yummy candy so it’s an instant attraction, especially to unsuspecting kids.

The thought of getting in on the ground floor of a brand-new industry was really exciting, even though I was naïve about what’s involved in a start-up, particularly in this challenging industry.  Once I settled on a design, I put it on the crowdfunding campaign, IndieGoGo, and it was a hit.  A company was born.

Since then, Stashlogix has been continuously improving, adding products, and learning how to serve responsible consumers looking for high-quality’ thoughtful, secure & discreet’ products.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have a degree in engineering and I’m from a very conservative family in Wisconsin. Early in college, I realized that cannabis is a healthier option than drinking (extremely popular in Wisconsin), and it has far fewer consequences than drinking. Cannabis most likely helps me focus and deal with my self-diagnosed ADD. However, the judgment, from my parents and others, was something that weighed on me. I even recall my parents bragging about their friend’s son that opened a distillery, yet they nonchalantly made disparaging comments about cannabis consumers. I always kept my cannabis consumption on the DL, partly to not upset my parents, and partly to avoid risking my engineering career that required yearly drug tests.  The acceptance of alcohol seemed unfair. Cannabis helps you self-reflect and look at things from a fresh new perspective. Alcohol impairs your judgment and is potentially life-threatening.

Additionally, most cannabis consumers don’t portray the “stoner” image. Most cannabis consumers are parents, businesspeople, athletes, and soccer moms. They want to incorporate cannabis into their lives, but they also want to be responsible, they want products that appeal to them aesthetically, and they want to avoid the judgment that comes with the tell-tale odors. Our mission is to normalize cannabis and break the stigma. We do this by designing products that help cannabis consumers safely store, organize, and travel with cannabis. Cannabis is considered healthier than wine or beer by almost everyone, yet people are still in-the-closet about their cannabis usage. Keeping the odors stifled helps people keep their private-life private so they can avoid any judgment until the stigmas from 80 years of prohibition have diminished.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

We’ve had more than our fair share of setbacks; we survived the COVID-19 pandemic, investments falling through, a recession, and a truckload of inventory that was destroyed in a fire while being delivered to us, but the biggest challenge was getting our inventory seized by US Customs and Border Patrol (US CBP).  They claimed that our products were used to conceal a Schedule 1 drug (cannabis). This happened 1.5 years after launching the business, so a very fragile time for us.  Additionally, US CBP flagged our company in an effort to prevent future imports.  Since we had some “family and friends” investors, in addition to my own money, we felt like we had no choice but to appeal the ruling.  Our stop-gap measure to stay afloat was to shut down all wholesale business, except one key account, and sell everything else online, which has better margins and required less inventory. We spent the next 8 months of the year trying to manage the limited inventory we had while we sorted out how to proceed.

One solution was to find a US manufacturer, do some assembly work in the USA, and we found new ways to import so we could avoid being hassled.  We also had to lay everyone off, except my partner and I, while we retooled with new products and new manufacturers.  In an effort to boost our online sales, we hired a PR agency to blow up the story “The Feds are trying to block a product designed to keep kids safe.”. We felt like we were “in the right” because we were protecting kids. Thankfully, the strategy worked. The story got picked up by Denver Post, Washington Post, Forbes, Inc., Fox 31 News, and many others. We even had then-Congressman (now-Governor), Jared Polis, call US CBP to make a congressional inquiry about the seizure. Two years later we got our inventory back and the national media attention really boosted our online sales.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

A few factors contributed to our solid reputation in our market. Being the original smell-proof and locking stash bag was a big help, but ultimately it was the PR that we got from the US Customs and Border Patrol’s seizure that really got us some sympathy and it got the word out there about our products. Ultimately, I believe the seizure was a good thing because as they say, “no PR is bad PR”. The SEO from that story continues to help us.  It doesn’t hurt that we also offer a lifetime warranty.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.stashlogix.co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stashlogix/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Stashlogix-Co-2218229498419176
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skip-stone-729871b6/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/STASHLOGIX