Justin Hartfield
Justin Hartfield | |
|---|---|
 Headshot of marijuana entrepreneur Justin Hartfield. Taken in 2013. | |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Influencer[1] |
| Known for | co-founder of WeedMaps |
| Children | 1 |
Justin Hartfield is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist from Orange County, California. He is a co-founder and general partner at the Ghost Group venture capital firm and was the CEO at WeedMaps before stepping down in 2016[2] to pursue other ventures.
Career[edit]
Born to a Jewish family,[3] Hartfield founded WeedMaps in 2008 while working at an search engine optimization (SEO) consultation business.[4][5][6][7][8] WeedMaps allows medical marijuana collectives to rate their own marijuana dispensaries.[9][10][11] Under Hartfield, WeedMaps grew to nearly two million monthly visitors with a monthly revenue of $1.5 million.[12] Hartfield served as the first CEO of the company until 2016 when he stepped down but remained board chairman of the company.[13][9][14]
Hartfield founded the privately held Ghost Group in 2012 and serves as the company’s CEO.[4][15] Through Ghost Group, Hartfield and his business partner Doug Francis launched Emerald Ocean Capital, a venture capital firm in the legal marijuana industry.[4][7][15]
In addition to Hartfield’s work in the legal cannabis industry, he has also filled roles as a marketing and search engine optimization expert. From 2010 to 2012, he was the Chief web officer at the publicly traded SearchCore, Inc.[15][16]
Board positions and contributions to the industry[edit]
Justin Hartfield resides on the boards of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and the Marijuana Policy Project. He contributed over $100,000 to the Measure F campaign, which advocates for an open market system for marijuana sales.[13]
References[edit]
- ^ "Most Influential 2015: Justin Hartfield". 23 December 2015. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
- ^ "Doug Francis Succeeds Justin Hartfield as Weedmaps CEO".
- ^ The Jewish Daily Forward: "How a Jewish Business School Drop-Out Created a Marijuana Empire" by Paul Berger September 17, 2015
- ^ a b c Walter Hickey (June 13, 2013). "Justin Hartfield Is About To Become The First Venture Capitalist Of The Pot Industry". Business Insider. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
- ^ "5 Questions for Justin Hartfield: Opportunities as Cannabis Industry Becomes 'Pimply Teenager'". MMJ Business Daily. June 18, 2013. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
- ^ Mike Anderson (May 5, 2011). "Justin Hartfield of WeedMaps". KNTV NBC Bay Area. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
- ^ a b Chris Rauber (June 5, 2013). "Getting high with a little help from your VC firm". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
- ^ Kate Linthicum (May 22, 2013). "New L.A. law on medical marijuana shops faces hazy future". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
- ^ a b Vita Reed (June 6, 2013). "VC Firm Launches Legal Cannabis Fund". Orange County Business Journal. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
- ^ Eleazar David Melendez (June 6, 2013). "Marijuana Venture Capital Fund Launches As Ganjapreneurs Go Mainstream". The Huffington Post. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
- ^ "California VC Ghost Group launches medical marijuana fund". AltAssets. June 3, 2013. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
- ^ Rebecca Grant (June 5, 2013). "VC firm hopes for high returns with fund for marijuana". VentureBeat. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
- ^ a b Warren Olney (May 14, 2013). "Can Prop C Help Overturn Citizens United?". KCWR. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
- ^ "Doug Francis Succeeds Justin Hartfield as Weedmaps CEO". New Cannabis Ventures. Retrieved 2018-02-05.
- ^ a b c "Meet Justin Hartfield, the Pot Industry's First Venture Capitalist". Inc. Magazine. June 13, 2013. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
- ^ "Justin Ross Hartfield". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved July 5, 2013.[dead link]