Seth Yakatan

Raising & Selling 📈 $1B+ Raised 💰 22 Companies Sold 🤝

Are you struggling to communicate your vision to the capital gatekeepers?

Are you exploring selling your business but don’t know anything about:
✘ Due diligence
✘ Term sheets
✘ Earnouts

Friend, you're lucky you found me...

I'm Seth Yakatan.

I have 30-odd years experience as a corporate finance professional.

My specialties are:
💰 Raising money
🤝 Selling companies

And I’m f**king good at it.

I’ve raised over $1B and sold 22 businesses.

My career has mostly been supporting small-cap and major corporations seeking capital to grow, or
to find strategic acquirers.

Most of these companies are in: 
— biotech
— cannabis
— pharmaceuticals
— DTC consumer goods

I’ve been on boards, taken companies public, gone up against multinational corporations, raised from VC and PE funds.

All of it. 
Many times over.
Whatever your problem is, I’ve seen it before.

But let me level with you:

What I REALLY love is helping people to get to the finish line.

Talking to entrepreneurs excites me.

But in my experience, entrepreneurs are mostly s**t at raising capital and selling companies.

** They just don’t understand investors **

And that’s where I come in.

Together, we workshop: 
✔ Your pitch
✔ Your deck
✔ Your strategy 

And help you raise the capital to GROW and SELL your business.

If you need this help—and almost every business does—send me a DM.

Like, now.

Don't lose another potential investor or acquirer with the wrong pitch.

Seth ✌️

Co-Founder

Merchant Bank / Advisory / Family Office

Give me $10 on Pump #6 and a case of THC Bevs!

WAIT WHAAAAAAT??

This is Circle K 2026 baby!


>> What’s Happening?

A Circle K franchisee in DFW started selling hemp-derived THC beverages.

This is the 1st major C-Store in Texas to stock THC drinks on shelf.

Lots of SKUs and get this…in-store tastings planned throughout 2026!


>> Why Does This Matter?

This ain’t a trial folks. This is mainstream retail entry.

Circle K is as mainstream as it gets. A roadstop brand with millions of daily customers.

Regulatory limbo? Who cares… make money when consumers buy drinks.


>> What I’m Watching

Can THC drinks outperform impulse staples like coffee and Red Bull?

How do Texas policymakers respond to non-dispensary THC sales?

Who’s next to join the party…Flying J??


The future of THC is in the cold box next to your protein shake.

No alternative text description for this image

Is this the FIRST MAJOR ON PREMISE shot fired for THC beverages??

WELCOME to the 2026 Stadium EXPERIENCE!

THC Drinks are coming soon to an ARENA NEAR YOU!


>> What’s Happening?

Chicago’s United Center just announced its serving hemp-derived THC drinks.

Concerts/Sporting events/Big shared moments.

In case you didn’t know, that’s alcohol’s home turf….

THC is showing up more and more, without asking ANYONE for permission.


>> Why Is This Important?

Booze vs. THC is not the point.

The point is THC is now competing for share of occasions.

Normalization comes from repetition in trusted environments.


>> What Am I Watching?

The first league, venue group, or national operator that treats THC beverages in the same way ?

Who puts up the first THC Beverage advert in a stadium? (Remember USC/ Cookies?)

What major sports/food/airport group jump in next ?


5 beers or 5 2MG THC Beverages??

Same night, VERY different morning

A long held belief just got UPENDED last week:

Vapes just eclipsed FLOWER in terms of sales in CA.

YUP. WILD.

So, ask YOURSELF why…


>> What Happened?

In CA, vape products overtook flower as the #1 seller in licensed dispensaries.

This is a HISTORIC first in the U.S. legal market.

In 2025, vapes pulled ahead, with higher monthly sales and widening share


>> Why Does This Matter?

Flower has been KING forever.

Economics, culture, product…it was Michael Jordan.

Now the consumer wallet has shifted its preferences.

And upended norms (hello Gen Z!)


>> What Am I Watching?

Is Gen Z the demand anchor we should be trying to reach?

Does margin in vapes continue if this trend sticks?

Does quality and testing MATTER, or is price #1?

How does this change the retail plan-o-gram??


Flower has to take off its crown, for now…

But let me be clear: I don’t think flower is losing its heritage or dominance, YET….

I do think that consumer choice and pricing show us how the market is shaping the future…

Little more love from the MJ BIZ scene...
Shout for Rectitude Partners LLC
and my man Nicholas Bowers

thanks to the squad at 

Fat Nugs Magazine
Puff Creative

for a great night....4 Grams...COMING!!!!!

Guess who just figured out how to crack the Show Me State:

My guys at Jeeter - a DreamFields Brand + Elevate.

Keep telling me cannabis is a commodity business….

Jeeter just walked into MO and reminded everyone what a REAL BRAND looks like.


>> What’s Happening?

Jeeter, the No. 1 pre-roll brand in the U.S., just launched in Missouri.

They hit the ground running with a smart partnership with my guys from Elevate (GREAT TEAM) and hit 70 %+ day-one coverage of doors

These guys are going to CRUSH.


>> Why Is This Important?

Brand dominance via culture, community and premium perception.

Missouri is a BEAST with 4-6 groups there KILLING IT and MAKING MONEY.

Jeeter + Elevate treated this one like a brand build, not just a SKU drop.


>> What I’m Watching

Does Jeeter’s lifestyle strategy expand average ticket or just front-load hype?

Can culture from places like California translate to Show-Me economics?

Does this push a pre-roll war in the Show Me State?


Missouri didn’t “get” Jeeter. Jeeter chose Missouri.

Pre-rolls are crowded. Brands aren’t.

Jeeter + Elevate = WINNING.

So did you REALLY think the ban was about hemp??

No no no.

It was about ALCOHOL.

And now the numbers are in:


>> Whats Happening?

Alcohol is done watching hemp from the sidelines.

In Q4 2025 a bunch of companies files highlight lobbying disclosures tied to intoxicating hemp:

Moët Hennessy
Bacardi
Diageo
Brown-Forman
The HEINEKEN Company
Sazerac Company

Hmm….read the tea leaves and follow the money.


>> Why Does This Matter?

Lobbying is balance-sheet-based muscle memory for alcohol.

They have been doing it since 1950 and they are GOOD at it.

Make no mistake, the alcohol industry is acknowledging something BIG:

THAT intoxicating hemp is already part of the adult-use landscape.


>> What I Am I Watching?

Which alcohol players move from lobbying to minority investments?

Or does alcohol flex harder to push hemp off the shelves?

Can cannabis incumbents realize they were out gunned (and outspent)?


Not sure how this plays out but I am going to crack 10mg bev and grab the popcorn!

The hemp ban is coming annnnnnnd it's going to be unenforceable. Full stop.

Everyone screaming "shutdown" is missing the point.

The math just does not math…

>> What's Happening?

Lawmakers have stuffed an effective intoxicating-hemp ban into federal language.

On paper, it tightens THC limits and nukes most hemp-derived products.

In reality, it hands enforcement to agencies that already can't enforce federal cannabis prohibition today.


>> Why Is This Important?

We already ran this experiment.

Cannabis has been federally illegal for decades and yet here we are with regulated markets in most states.

The federal government does not have the manpower, political appetite, or operational clarity to police every convenience store, DTC website, and warehouse in America.

A ban without enforceability isn't regulation ? Just funny…


>> What Am I Watching?

States quietly filling the vacuum with their own rules while Washington argues with itself.

Hemp operators adapting structures, formulations, and channels instead of disappearing.

Cannabis incumbents cheering a "win" that may actually strengthen the very gray market they hate.


You don't fix consumer demand with a memo and you can't kill markets with paperwork.

If lawmakers actually want control, safety, and tax revenue, there's only one answer:


Regulate it and LEGALIZE IT…


Don't pretend you banned it.


If this sounds familiar, it should. We've been here before….

Guess who’s messin’ with Texas?? Cann, that’s who.

Cann is fixin’ to dominate the Lone Star State.

Here’s what’s going down:


>> What’s Happening?

Cann secured Texas distribution with Spec’s.

Spec’s, for those that don’t know, is THE LARGEST beverage retailer in Texas.

Full SKU set in one of the biggest alc retail channels in the USA.


>> Why Is This Important?

This is not a test, a dispensary, one franchisee gone rogue, or a limited run.

THC drinks are moving via mainstream beverage infrastructure.

Spec’s has 200+ doors statewide.

Say what you want, I AM seeing a distribution shift...


>> What Am I Watching?

What other brands can howdy on down to distribution?

What other retailers jump on board now that we have Target, Circle K and Spec’s?

Is there movement on the regulatory side in Texas? (Remember a few months ago they tried to BAN HEMP??)


Want to make sure we give a big congrats to the Cann Team!

Jake B. and Nick Fasano 👏 👏

Feels like Danny Stepper and the LA Libations team left their fingerprints all over here, cause this ain’t my first rodeo…

Want to LEARN MORE? Get your spurs to The Beverage Forum April 2026.

Hang 10 and hit the dispo??

Adult use cannabis may be coming to the Aloha State…


>> What’s Happening?

Hawaii lawmakers filed legislation that would put rec cannabis to voters in November 2026.

If passed by a two-thirds vote in both chambers, Hawaii voters would be asked whether to amend the state constitution to legalize adult-use cannabis.


>> Why Does This Matter?

Ballot initiatives are cool but they are NOT a guarantee.

This was not brought forth by the electorate but by elected officials…

Not sure this get traction or mahalo…


>> What Am I Watching?

Do MSOs even bother modeling Hawaii as a near-term market?

Is capital ready to fund something in one of the worlds largest tourist economies?

Do voters notice they’re being asked to decide a policy?


Feel like another version of Pele’s curse.

Cannabis style…I will just grab a shaved ice.

Why can’t an MSO be successful in one of the BEST markets in the US?

Missouri is quietly becoming one of the most attractive cannabis markets in the country — WITHOUT the MSOs.

Go figure.


>> What’s Happening?

Curaleaf exited Missouri.

Not cut back. Not paused. EXITED.

And they are not alone. No major MSO has meaningful exposure to Missouri.

Yet MO is consistently ranking among the healthiest AU markets in the U.S…


>> Why Does This Matter?

Missouri breaks the MSO playbook.

Limited license structure, strong retail economics, rational competition.

Not race-to-the-bottom pricing.

This is the rare cannabis market where operators actually make money (REALLY).


>> What Am I Watching?

When do private equity and strategic buyers re-rate “boring” markets?

Does the next consolidation wave starts OUTSIDE the MSO universe?

Who comes out of this market as a winner?


Missouri didn’t fail the MSOs but the MSO model failed in Missouri.

Not every great market wants a national flag planted in it.

Sometimes the best markets are the ones Wall Street ignores.

Where do hemp beverages belong?

Well, what do we know:

1. They sure found a way to enter traditional distribution channels

2. Alcohol use is declining

3. Consumers are driving demand

With the hemp ban looming I'm not sure which way is UP.

So you tell me?

Thank you to my friend Peter Su, PBC-CP, CTP, CCBP, CRS, GRCP, GRCA, IDPP, CBE for having me on...

Why do you keep doing this LinkedIn thing ???

BECAUSE THE POWER OF PERSONAL BRANDING IS YOUR FUTURE.

Here's a case study:

Few years ago met Lisa Williams via LinkedIn.

She reached out.
We got to know each other
We have supported each others' collective journey.

Lisa Williams is: 
— A working mother
— An entrepreneur
— Who owns two businesses
— Keeps up with her content 
— And is a TOTAL badass!

About 2 years ago she purchased a product SHE believed in. 

Hello Again...Something to help female health, specifically menopause.

She started putting some videos on TikTok...

And guess what... last week SHE WENT VIRAL.

1,000,000 views
122,000 likes
5,000 comments
21,000 saves 
59,000 forwards

AND SO MANY SALES SHE COULD NOT KEEP UP.

NEVER QUIT. 
NEVER question if you should be posting.

And buy some Hello Again!

And check the video here: https://bit.ly/4qCX4sq

When you fail 3 times, why not try for a 4th??

That’s what PA is doing right now as the state makes its FOURTH attempt at a move to Adult Use.

Sure, why not??


>> What’s Happening?

My guy Shapiro gave his fourth budget address.

Increasing overall spending by 6% without broad-based tax hikes.

Oh and he put adult-use BACK on the table…AGAIN.


>> Why Does This Matter?

PA is surrounded by NJ/NY/MD/OH, all of which are pumping REC.

The budget conversation shows how much $ PA is leaving on the table staying medical.

How ELSE can you spend more and NOT tax the general public?


>> What Am I Watching?

This is now #4. Can it REALLY HAPPEN this time?

What will be the policy tradeoffs if this happens? Who loses?

Is THIS a state surrounded by AU finally admitting leakage is a tax policy?


Adult-use didn’t magically reappear…

It reappeared because PA needs the $$$.

Politics and budgets are not based on morality…

Bet your butt they are based on COLD HARD CASH.

And AU seems like a magical cash machine.

Everything's BIGGER in TEXAS? Well, Texas Original just bet the ranch.


>> What's Happening?

Texas Original just opened the largest medical cannabis facility in Texas.

They’re expanding cultivation and processing capacity to meet rising patient demand.

No change in law…no ballot initiative.

Just cash, concrete, steel, and CONFIDENCE.


>> Why Does This Matter?

Well son, you don't go build the largest facility inside one of the most restrictive medical programs in the country…

THIS is what early movers look like in medical states.

And might signal that regulators are comfortable enough to let serious operators scale.


>> What Am I Watching?

Does demand absorb this build?

Does the program allow for success?

Who’s the next operator is to break ground?


Texas ain't first.

It won't be loud.

But when it moves, it will move at TEXAS SCALE.


Cowboy UP y'all.

This will make some people uncomfortable.

Good. Read it anyway.


>> What's Happening?

A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that legal marijuana access is associated with lower suicide rates among older adults.

Particularly once dispensaries actually open.

Not legalization on paper.

Real access. Real products. Real use.


>> Why is this Important?

Older adults deal with chronic pain, sleep issues, anxiety, isolation.

And guess what? They're also the group with the highest suicide risk.

When legal cannabis becomes available, suicide rates in this cohort go down.

Let's not pretend this is nothing while we happily prescribe opioids, SSRIs, and booze like Tic Tacs…


>> What Am I Watching?

How long policymakers keep saying cannabis has "no proven benefit" while data quietly stacks up.

Whether public-health conversations finally acknowledge harm reduction instead of moral panic.

Who actually cares about outcomes and who just cares about optics…


No one is saying cannabis is a cure.

But dismissing data because it challenges the norms is bad science and worse policy.

If legal access helps even a subset of people feel less pain, less despair, or a little more okay, maybe that's worth taking seriously.

Just a thought…

Montana, the Gold and Silver State, is going GREEN.

Montana’s cannabis market just put up a number…which I found very interesting.


>> What’s Happening?

AU retail in Montana threw up a record $327M in sales in 2025.

AU represents roughly 90 % of Montana purchases.

AND this growth came DESPITE falling retail prices per gram.


>> Why Does This Matter?

Pattern recognition: price compression + volume growth = real consumer demand.

Out of this, the state grabbed $60 million in tax revenue, underscoring how important this product can be.

Medical markets seems to vanish in the face of AU. Unclear how this moves in S3…


>> What Am I Watching?

Montana works because it’s not drowning in licenses or over-financialized.

Its relatively open licensing structure and modest population make it a unique case, but can it last?

It’s also a NO MSO Zone…proving that you don’t need MSOs for a sold adult-use market.

Low population, controlled rollout, limited speculation.


Markets like this don’t scale nationally, but they do expose what broke elsewhere.

Record sales are nice, but structural market health is the REAL story.

We’ll see what prevails here.

Best advice for a bad outcome: Let someone ELSE pick your dose.

Or worse still, let someone who knows NOTHING about dosing pick your dose…

Because that’s what’s going on


>> What’s Happening?

Food & Beverage put out an article on the “perfect dose” for HEMP Beverages.

At 2.5MG

2.5MG??

REALLLY???


>> Why Is This Important?

It reveals a gap between cannabis reality and every outside stakeholder.

2.5mg ain’t a “sweet spot”. It’s a training wheel AT BEST.

Alcohol didn’t scale on near-beer.

Cannabis won’t scale on microdoses dressed up as safety or wisdom.

Low-dose has a place. (THANK YOU Cann)

Calling it “THE PLACE” is telling me you don’t understand the market.


>> What Am I Watching?

How much mainstream “acceptance” does this get?

Is this the way Bev/Alc gets comfortable?? (You sure sell more cans at 2.5mg…)

How many consumers do not “feel” an effect at this level???


2.5mg is not the right dose.

If your entire thesis starts and ends there, you’re throwing darts blindfolded.

While congratulating yourself for hitting something, anything.

Think your business is HARD?

Try this:

1. Every state (and city) has a different set of rules

2. The Government taxes you at an exorbitant rate 

3.  Capital flow is weighted to larger and later-stage operators

4. There is very little capital to begin with...

Now tell me you product is not Federally legal...WELCOME TO C@NNABIS!!!!

Appreciate the love from Alex D. and the squad from The High Index for the spot!

Failing to raise capital in c@nnabis ?

Get yourself to where the decision makers gather in ONE ROOM
Hyped as always for another sesh with my folks from IgniteIt Cannabis
thats right...

I AM COMING DOWN THE PIKE...
February 10th, 2026
Westin Jersey City

I heard The Boss is playing a set....

Register HERE: https://bit.ly/49pHgUF

and use my CODE: SETH20

Patrick Lane Elliot Lane Javier Hasse

It’s NEVER a good idea to let government run a business.

Right??

Anoka, Minnesota is set to cut the ribbon on the Anoka Cannabis Company.

The first and ONLY city-managed dispensary in the U.S.

What could possibly go wrong??


>> What’s Happening?

A city running retail cannabis is like a turtle teaching people how to fly…

Bad idea for government to staff, regulate, and be accountable to voters.

This seems like a BIG departure from the usual “license it and pray” model.


>> Why Is This Important?

This city just decided licensing WASN’T enough.

Screw regulating private operators, Anoka wants to own the P&L too.

This is a fundamental shift for government FROM oversight TO asset control.


>> What Am I Watching?

How soon till every cash strapped municipality gets in the game?

Does this model work financially?

How does a city deal with illicit markets?

How long until they start growing weed and creating their own brand…??


Cannabis didn’t normalize…

It went on the city Balance Sheet.

Government is best which governs least, PERIOD.

Helping small businesses gain traction through brand, model and operations optimization. 

The Bill Kerr

I'm a guy who works in tech, is building with AI, and writes a weekly newsletter on the topic. Yet, I can't explain it as well as Ben Affleck.

Bill Kerr

Hire top global talent with Athyna. AI-powered. Human-led. 👾 237,455 founders, investors, and leaders read my newsletter Open Source CEO 📚

This Claude ad firing shots at OpenAI might've been the best thing that came out this week.

Hire top global talent with Athyna. AI-powered. Human-led. 👾 268,989 founders, investors, and leaders read my newsletter Open Source CEO 📚

- you wake up
- it was all a dream
- claude is your uncle's name
- 'building in public' was never a thing
- there are no productivity influencers
- you run a normal small business
- your inbox has 6 emails

They're just digging their own grave at this point.

A lot has changed since my last update on my quest to become the best weightlifter in tech. 

We launched Athyna Intelligence
Moved from 20% enterprise to 35%
Build out our internal AI team
Grew by 40% overall
My newsletter went from 50 to 250k subs
Helped a company with its IPO
Sent my first $150k proposal (fingers crossed)
Built a team for the newsletter

And hit a 10-year snatch PR of 103 kgs 

My quest for 120 kilo snatch and 150 clean & jerk as a busy founder is alive and well.

Notion is worth $11B and didn’t have a design system.

You’re at $0 MRR waiting for the landing page to feel 'ready.'

Customers don’t buy pretty mockups.
They buy working products.

Ship first.
Polish with revenue.

A year ago humanoid robots could barely stand.

Tonight they’re doing kung fu on national TV to 1B people in China.

Fundraising is where spreadsheets go to die.

Most founders run it on vibes, Gmail search, and late-night follow-ups.

And half the time they’re talking to the wrong investors anyway.

Metal is the first tool I’ve seen that treats fundraising like an operating system—figure out who actually makes sense, map the warm paths, keep the round moving, even sanity-check the deck.

Fundraising is still awkward. 

At least it doesn’t have to be chaos.

https://lnkd.in/e45TUKP9

POV: Your boss catches you not using Claude Code and says "HR wants to see us real quick."

"ICE murdered an American citizen in cold blood & then the Trump administration called him a domestic terrorist. That’s it. Like plain & simple. I see the administration trying to spin it & it’s fucking disgusting.”

I’m founder and CEO at Athyna, a global talent platform helping to hire, manage & retain world-class global talent.

I am also a proud Mentor & Investor at Startmate, the epicentre for startup ambition across Australia and New Zealand and a Limited Partner at Blackbird VC. Also, active investor having invested into Humane, Future Super, Atomic8 and more.

One of my other passions is helping founders, investors and leaders outperform the competition at Open Source CEO through writing deep dives, interviews while sharing amazing tools & resources. I was also the host of a podcast that told interesting stories. Child soldiers, corrupt cops, porn stars, astrophysicists and more. 

Outside of work, I like training, hiking, surfing and reading. Also needing to walk the boss twice daily, my sausage dog, Ziggy. Through my 20's and early 30's I have also travelled to 50 odd countries around the world. If you like travel, growing your business or sausage dogs feel free to reach out and say hi.

The thing Vanta really nailed isn’t compliance. It’s removing cognitive load.

Most security tools leave you feeling vaguely uneasy.

You’re not sure what’s current, what’s broken, or what’s about to come back and bite you. There’s always a sense that something important is probably being missed.

Vanta flips that. 

The product runs continuously in the background and only asks for attention when something actually needs it. No noise, no theatrics.

That’s what good infrastructure feels like. 

When a high-stakes problem suddenly feels calm and predictable, you realize how rare that is.

https://lnkd.in/e_rfiEu7

Sales is one of the only performance jobs where people are expected to improve without real practice.

We onboard reps, give them decks, and throw them straight into live calls. Then act surprised when everything bombs.

That’s backwards.

What Hyperbound understands is simple: sales is a skill you build through repetition, not theory. Practicing real conversations with real pushback changes how reps show up when it actually matters.

It’s not about more content.
It’s about mastery.

Most teams are underinvested there. I said what I said. 

https://www.hyperbound.ai/

Apple didn’t win with better ads. Nike didn’t win with cheaper clicks.
Netflix didn’t win with smarter targeting.

They won with brand.

For decades, brand building was a privilege of giants.

Tracksuit changed that.

Tomorrow we're breaking down how they:

- convinced marketers brand could be measured
- sold customers before they even had a real product
- turned clunky research into everyday dashboards
- built a category without meaning to

A very modern SaaS story about a very old idea.

Check your inboxes.

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The Bill Kerr

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The Bill Kerr

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