Sustainable Cannabis Consulting – Whole Grow

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Tune in to Episode 83 to learn from Rudy Ellenbogen, CEO of Whole Grow, cannabis consulting firm in Denver, CO focused on promoting organic and ethically produced high-quality cannabis products. Rudy discusses the importance of choosing a sustainable cultivation for optimal business success, including utilizing living-soil practices. Rudy has past experience working as the CEO of Verde Natural in Colorado, one of the largest living-soil indoor cultivations in Colorado as well as consulting with companies all across the U.S., and Columbia. Rudy wraps up the episode with some great advice to entrepreneurs looking to enter the industry.

Season 8 brought to you by Verra Health

Rudy Ellenbogen

Originally from Peru, Rudy spent the past 15 years as CEO leading several companies in real estate, construction and cannabis. Rudy holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from UT Austin and a Master’s degree in Management from Catholic University in Peru. Rudy joined Verde Natural as CEO in 2015 and grew it from a small medical dispensary in Denver to the largest indoor living soil cultivation in Colorado within four years.

Rudy created a team of 60 passionate believers in the unparalleled quality of natural, living soil cannabis to form Verde Natural. Within the first 18 months, Rudy and his team were able to find a warehouse for living-soil cultivation, complete the build out and produce approximately 300 pounds per month of high-quality cannabis out of a 25,000 square foot indoor facility and a 6,500 square foot Nexus greenhouse. Verde was able to create partnerships with 30 distribution partners in the state of Colorado with which it gained deep market penetration and great brand loyalty. Under Rudy’s leadership, Verde built out a state-of-the art hydrocarbon and solventless extraction labs, launched the award-winning brand, Fuego Extracts, and acquired and revamped the industry-renowned solventless extraction brand, Dab Logic.

Verde’s living soil cannabis and extracts have won numerous awards, are revered by connoisseurs in Colorado as the best available, and have consistently been able to command top dollar in an extremely competitive market. After 4 years of building successful brands at Verde Natural, Rudy left Verde to create Whole Grow, an organic cannabis consulting firm.

With Whole Grow, Rudy and his team are on a mission to empower purpose-driven businesses to ensure the cannabis industry is steered towards a path of quality, natural products. Rudy’s acumen in business entrepreneurship and operations enabled him to apply Verde’s proven method to help other businesses set up for success with the strategic differentiation of high-quality and natural products. Rudy works with select clients to develop their cultivation and extraction businesses through strategy, design, facility buildouts, operations procedures, planning, recruitment and team training. In 2019, he consulted on a number of large-scale cannabis projects in CO, OH, CA, MA, MO, and Colombia.

He believes the future of the cannabis industry is at stake and works to be part of the resistance to the cannabis industry becoming commoditized. Rudy volunteers as a mentor to entrepreneurs with Canopy Boulder Accelerator. Rudy is a world-class public speaker and has presented at some of the most influential conferences in the industry across the globe: CannaOne, CanEx Jamaica, CannaBixExpo in Colombia, Cannabis World Congress & Business Exposition in Los Angeles and more.

Rudy is currently based in Denver, Colorado, with his wife and two children.