As tech leaders once had to persuade promising grads hellbent on careers in traditional white collar fields, so too for those at the forefront of the legal weed trade. (And tech entrepreneurs weren't fighting nearly a century of prohibition.)
Kush Bottles operates in states where cannabis is legal, but even when marijuana goes legit in these states, the stigma remains, say company leaders.
A recent candidate made it through the entire interview process at Kush Bottles and got an offer from the company, one Kovacevich said was competitive across industries. Then he balked, saying his wife wasn't comfortable with him working in cannabis. The company offered to meet with his wife to try and get her comfortable with the industry. She wouldn't even take the meeting, Kovacevich said.
"So that's how much stigma still exists," he said. "It's not just 'I don't like it.' It's 'I don't even want to learn about it.'"