Michael Piermont
Age: 38
Title: Chief revenue officer
Company: Leaf Trade
Michael Piermont spent years in the tech industry, leading sales efforts at some while founding and exiting others, growing his reputation as a seasoned executive and tech entrepreneur dedicated to empowering independent businesses.
His background includes executive roles with Fooda, Career Builder, GoHealth and ECOFIT and he is the co-founder of Fanchest, a sports merchandise enterprise that he led from concept to acquisition, as well as amSTATZ, a fitness-business platform for independent operators.
But Piermont was also a medical cannabis patient and in 2019 he joined Leaf Trade, an online platform for the wholesale cannabis market, bringing together the two seemingly disparate sides of his life.
Under Piermont’s leadership, Leaf Trade has grown from two state markets to more than 350 clients in 23 states, generating $3 billion in wholesale gross merchandise value, and it continues to evolve to meet customer needs.
“Leaf Trade has built solid relationships with the industry’s largest players,” he says. “In the past we worked closely with our customers to help improve their overall wholesale business operations. Afterward we were often asked if we could help improve their retail operations.”
In March, the company merged with Sweed, a retail platform and point-of-sale module that completely integrates with their e-commerce platform, as well as marketing capabilities with customer loyalty, private-label e-commerce that is integrated with seed-to-sale tracking platforms and more.
“Leaf Trade and Sweed combine my passion for cannabis with my love of technology and solved critical issues within the emerging cannabis industry,” he says.
Q&A
What was the largest contributing factor in Leaf Trade’s growth?
Leaf Trade has built solid relationships with the industry’s largest players. In the past we worked closely with our customers to help improve their overall wholesale business operations. Afterwards we were often asked if we could help improve their retail operations. After careful consideration, we merged with Sweed, a leading edge retail operations platform, in March. Sweed’s point of sales (POS) module completely integrates with their eCommerce platform and marketing capabilities which solves challenges dispensaries face including 360 customer loyalty, private-label eCommerce that is integrated with seed-to-sale tracking platforms, and more.
What prompted your move into the cannabis industry?
I’ve relied on cannabis for medical reasons for years. In 2019, I joined Leaf Trade after founding and exiting several technology companies and leading sales within many tech companies. Leaf Trade & Sweed combine my passion for cannabis with my love of technology and solved critical issues within the emerging cannabis industry.