Jeffrey Harris, Co-Founder & CEO, springbig - Lit Up Founders

Episode 14

Jeffrey Harris, Co-Founder & CEO, springbig

One of the most important rules in business is to know your numbers. Numbers are part of nearly every business school case study as they help tell the story: Where is money coming from? Where is it going? Those are the basics. Today’s story is about how one entrepreneur, searching for clues to steer a stalled business, was able to read the numbers to uncover their best customers. What resulted not only saved the business, but changed an industry. Jeffrey Harris was already a successful business owner many times over. Always with an eye on the next opportunity, Jeff and a technical co-founder setup a new business to help small businesses in South Florida with their loyalty & marketing. After some early promise, sales plateaued, and they met some headwinds for their industry. Not one to waste time on just doing “ok”, they were faced with a decision to close. They looked at their numbers to help understand their customers better. They noticed their two most profitable customers were actually not their target market, but were from Cannabis! Leaning in to learn more, they realized their Loyalty and Marketing technology is perfectly suited to Cannabis consumers. A quick pivot to Cannabis brought explosive growth, not only turning around the business but changing the industry. They are now the go-to name for Cannabis Loyalty & Marketing engagement! Please enjoy the Founder’s Journey of Jeffrey Harris, Co-Founder & CEO of springbig! Professional Summary: Jeffrey Harris is Co-Founder & CEO of springbig, a customer loyalty platform for the cannabis industry. springbig uses SMS, loyalty marketing, and other tools to encourage repeat business for cannabis retailers. Prior to spingbig, Harris founded a loyalty marketing company (Inte Q) which focused on developing and managing data-driven programs for large retail and financial services firms. springbig, Company Summary: springbig is the leading loyalty, communications and marketing platform in the cannabis industry, helping over 1,300 dispensaries generate more revenue and build relationships with over 20M consumers all in one easy-to-use platform. CEO, Jeffrey Harris founded InteQ over 20 years ago, a company that took loyalty marketing from simple punch card programs in coffee shops to technologically advanced marketing tools at the forefront of some of the country's biggest companies. Companies like Adidas, Reebok, and Citi Bank. After years of experience in big-box retail, our founders saw tremendous opportunity in the underserved cannabis industry and decided to bring advanced loyalty programs, an essential marketing tool in such a competitive industry, to cannabis dispensaries and brands. Show Notes: “If there are people that are willing to help you, take the help. Take the time to listen to someone who knows better than you.” “Most people are nice, well intentioned to help you. Just ask and take the help and see where it goes”. Mattio Communications: https://www.mattio.com/ Rosie Mattio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosiemattio/ Altitude Investments: https://www.altitudein.com/ Altitude Partner & Springbig Board: https://www.altitudein.com/jon-trauben Springbig Brands: https://www.springbig.com/cannabis-brand-advertising-platform TVC Capital: https://tvccapital.com/ Jeffrey Harris, Co-Founder & CEO, springbig https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-harris-4416484/ https://www.springbig.com https://www.facebook.com/springbigrewards https://www.instagram.com/springbigrewards https://twitter.com/springbig https://www.linkedin.com/company/springbig-inc- Brian Weber, Producer & Host, Lit Up Cannabis: A Founder's Journey Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/briancweber www.litupfounders.com www.facebook.com/LitUpFounders/ www.instagram.com/LitUpFounders/ www.twitter.com/LitUpFounders www.linkedin.com/company/litupmedia/ Listen to the episode here or on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, iHeartRadio or RSS to your favorite podcast app.

About the Podcast

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Lit Up Founders
A show about the founders of the Modern Cannabis Industry and the Organizations they are building.

About your host

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Brian Weber

In addition to producing and hosting Lit Up Founders. Brian is the Director of Omnichannel Strategy and Partnerships for Flourish Software, a leading ERP Seed-to-sale Software company serving Cannabis and Hemp operators up and down the supply chain.

Prior to Flourish, through his company Digital Realty, Brian served the Retail and Hospitality Industries as a technology and business consultant focusing on POS, eCommerce, Payments, Loyalty, and other related services for the past 9 years.

In researching the Cannabis Industry, largely because of its Federal status and history in the US, he was fascinated in seeing what the entrepreneurs were building. With his experience as an entrepreneur, supporting entrepreneurship, some background in broadcast radio, and a love for the amazing medium of podcasts (especially "How I built this" by Guy Raz); all converged to create the spark moment that spawned Lit Up Founders. I hope you enjoy!

Brian holds a B.S. in Management Science & Information Systems from Rutgers University Business School. He currently lives in Jersey City, New Jersey with his dog Zeke.