"Being positive and never giving up are the secrets to success."
Marion Mariathasan Tweet
Welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview, where we delve into the world of visionary leaders and their remarkable journeys. Today, we are thrilled to introduce Marion Mariathasan, a serial entrepreneur with a unique knack for creating, building, and selling companies. His story is a testament to strategic problem-solving and seizing opportunities.
In 2015, while seeking his next venture in Colorado, Marion stumbled upon the burgeoning cannabis industry. Recognizing a significant gap in the market, he embarked on a mission to simplify compliance for licensed operators within the cannabis sector. Thus, Simplifya was born, evolving into the foremost regulatory and operational compliance software platform serving nearly 30 states.
In this insightful interview, Marion discusses the genesis of Simplifya, their recent groundbreaking initiative, the Risk Mitigation Alliance, and the pivotal role it plays in supporting cannabis businesses. He also shares valuable lessons from his entrepreneurial journey, his perspective on the evolving business landscape, and his vision of success in 2023.
Join us as we explore Marion Mariathasan’s inspiring story and gain valuable insights into the dynamic world of entrepreneurship and compliance in the cannabis industry.
Check out more interviews with entrepreneurs here.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Marion Mariathasan: I have always been a serial entrepreneur with a particular proclivity for creating, building and selling companies. I’m a strategic problem solver who enjoys the process of creating software solutions, building a roadmap, assembling a team, finding the right investors and executing.
In 2015, I had completed my latest venture and was in Colorado seeking out the next big opportunity when I bumped into some friends who opened my eyes to how exciting the cannabis industry was and all the opportunities it held.
These friends foresaw a major gap in the industry in that it was lacking a simple, cost-effective solution to help licensed operators stay compliant with evolving regulations.
The idea for Simplifya came from those early conversations – today, we are the leading regulatory and operational compliance software platform serving the cannabis industry, operating in nearly 30 states.
In the past year, what is the greatest business achievement you’d like to celebrate with your team? Please share the details of that success.
Marion Mariathasan: I’m glad you asked – we are really excited about the recent work we have been doing to streamline some of the more complex sides of the industry.
Over the past year, we have been working to pull together experts from across the sector to launch the Risk Mitigation Alliance (RMA), which is a first-of-its-kind offering by a conglomerate of the most experienced and seasoned risk mitigation companies in the cannabis industry with a common purpose of helping cannabis businesses more affordably manage their compliance needs and protect their licenses.
Through the RMA, cannabis operators and cannabis-related businesses are qualified for access to bundled risk mitigation services, including operational compliance, legal, insurance, banking, lending, payroll, and payments.
Licensed cannabis operators who work with RMA participating insurance brokers and/or carriers can have 70% of the cost of our compliance solutions paid by partner carriers and brokers.
Our customers are also eligible for deep discounts on insurance premiums from partner carriers at policy renewal or during new policy signup.
What advice do you wish you had received when you started your business journey and what do you intend on improving in the next quarter?
Marion Mariathasan: I wish someone had told me that building and leading a RegTech company was not going to be easy. It’s tough enough to build a functional Software-as-a-service (SaaS) tech company to solve problems, but adding the complexities of compliance and a regulatory framework that varies by state and local municipalities within a highly regulated industry that is constantly evolving – the dynamics of problem-solving jump exponentially.
Now that I am on the other side it does feel rewarding, but those first years were extremely challenging. I learned that one must have patience – which, as an entrepreneur, is something I work on improving all the time.
Patience is a virtue, as they say. For me, as it probably is for most entrepreneurs, we want things to happen and happen quickly. I learned the hard way that no matter how hard one pushes, there are certain things that will only happen when the time is right.
Online business keeps on surging higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for the year to come and how are you capitalizing on the tidal wave?
Marion Mariathasan: We have seen quite a change in recent years with this rise in digital engagement; my expectation is that online businesses and technology solutions will continue to grow in popularity and usefulness in the year to come.
Looking ahead I also have high expectations for the applications of RegTech, particularly in the cannabis sector. SaaS solutions in other heavily regulated industries – like finance, banking and insurance – have already widely adopted the use of regtech and fintech tools to improve business operations.
Cannabis regulations will continue to evolve, and the technology we have created will continue to be necessary for simplifying compliance efforts and helping companies in this industry thrive.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Marion Mariathasan: The main challenge we see for operators in the industry is the lack of a proactive approach to compliance. As an operator, your license is your most valuable asset, however current difficulties in the cannabis industry have led to many operators leaving that asset vulnerable by cutting back on compliance support.
As an entrepreneur myself, I understand that difficult decisions have to be made in a downturn economy, however, we’ve seen many put their licenses at risk by failing to implement technology and tools that can help flag issues before they become a problem.
This is exactly why we have worked so hard to help ease the financial burden for cannabis businesses by offering discounted, bundled risk mitigation services through the Risk Mitigation Alliance (RMA).
In your experience, what tends to be the most underestimated part of running a company? Can you share an example?
Marion Mariathasan: In my experience, people underestimate the number of hours that you have to put in.
While it often doesn’t feel like work for us entrepreneurs because we love what we do, it is still a massive time suck and leaves very little time for family, friends, hobbies and sleep. Even today it is still not out of the ordinary to find myself working 10–14 hour days.
What does “success” in 2023 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Marion Mariathasan: I think success is a very relative term. For me, success has historically been measured by my ability to prove something to myself – to find a path where I could become an entrepreneur to solve problems and pave my own way.
But I’ve also learned that the good energy one puts out into the world plays an important role in achieving success – if you really want something badly enough, patience, passion and persistence will eventually pay off.
In 2023, success to me looks like continuing to work hard, treat people kindly and do things ethically and with integrity.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Marion Mariathasan for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Marion Mariathasan or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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