Today we’d like to introduce you to Jen Reise.
Hi Jen, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hello! My name is Jen Randolph Reise (it’s pronounced rye-zuh). I’m an attorney and a business consultant to cannabis entrepreneurs in Minnesota who are currently starting businesses as we open a new industry in our state. But you might be surprised to learn that’s not exactly where I started.
As a matter of fact, I’m a securities lawyer by training, and have helped public companies file IPOs and navigate sophisticated financial and regulatory transactions. But almost three years ago I decided that I wanted to help the smallest entrepreneurs instead, and especially entrepreneurs starting businesses in Minnesota’s newly-legal cannabis industry. I co-founded a law firm based in St. Paul and became its head of Business and Cannabis Law.
In January 2025, I went out on my own under the name North Star Cannabis Consulting and I worked with clients navigating Minnesota’s licensing process. Now that Minnesota has held its licensing lottery and entrepreneurs are racing to secure real estate and open their doors, I recently launched the North Star Accelerator Program – the first of its kind in Minnesota – to help aspiring licensees launch successful and compliant businesses.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Like so many entrepreneurs, my road was anything but smooth. I have pivoted in my career time and time again, trying to figure out how to use my skills and training to have impact on the people and businesses I knew I could help – and also trying to create a career that is sustainable for me and my family.
I did it backwards right out of the gate: I was a second-career law student, already married with a baby, when I started at Hamline Law. I graduated valedictorian just weeks after I had our second baby, and then I joined a large firm downtown, where I worked long, high-pressure days.
It was excellent training but a brutal schedule. At one point I got stuck in the elevator in the IDS Center at 3 AM and strongly considered sleeping on the floor in the elevator instead of calling for help. That was a wakeup call that this was not the life I wanted. I was sacrificing my family and my mental health to help big companies profit.
Law and the legal system are broken in a lot of ways. The cost of even talking to a lawyer is so astronomical as to make it inaccessible for most Americans. And at the same time, law firms are set up so they cannot fix that by themselves. I am inspired by other entrepreneurs like Hello Divorce [https://hellodivorce.com/] who are using technology and one-to-many solutions to create affordable access to information about the law.
Since I graduated from law school in 2007, I’ve worked at a big firm downtown, in-house at a public company, and taught law school full-time for three years. Along the way, I launched several startups: first, an online course to help people think through whether they wanted to go to law school, accessible on demand. I also launched Sandwich Smarter, which created tailored forms to help people juggling the caregiving “sandwich” of caring for aging parents and raising teenagers. Neither paid my bills, and I kept having to find a job.
I keep circling back to education and empowerment. How can I provide the information and resources that people need in order to navigate the law successfully? With North Star Cannabis Consulting, I’m using a one-to-many model that keeps the price low for my entrepreneur clients while still giving them access to the sophisticated regulatory guidance that they need.
As you know, we’re big fans of North Star Cannabis Consulting. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We help people building cannabis businesses in Minnesota. Cannabis entrepreneurs face numerous challenges in establishing compliant and successful businesses. In fact, I like to say, cannabis is small business on “hard mode” because of the additional hurdles they face to open their doors for business. But this industry is one I believe in because so many of its entrepreneurs are mission-driven as well as looking for economic opportunity. They have seen cannabis be powerful medicine, and want to bring safe, high-quality products to market to help people.
As an advisor, I’m helping entrepreneurs navigate a highly regulated industry that changes rapidly. In spite of reform efforts, cannabis continues to be illegal federally, which makes it very difficult to secure capital as SBA loans are unavailable and the federal taxes can reach 70%.
In many states, the cannabis industry has effectively shut out small entrepreneurs and social equity applicants. Minnesota’s laws were designed to make room for a craft industry, modeled after our craft beer industry. I’m working to help make that a reality here, by working alongside leaders in the Minnesota Legislature and the Office of Cannabis Management to design good policy, working directly with entrepreneurs, and writing and speaking about the industry to many different audiences.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
I grew up on 30 acres, and my family always had chickens and a huge garden. Even living in the city, I spend a lot of time and energy growing food in my backyard – and now I also homegrown my own cannabis plants!
Having my hands in the dirt is an important counterpoint to being knee-deep in regulatory complexity. At the same time, being an advisor and entrepreneur is a lot like gardening: I plant lots of seeds, and nurture and guide them as they grow.
Pricing:
- Strategy Meeting $500
- Accelerator Member (subject to approval) $100/week (limited slots available)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.northstarcannabisconsulting.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jensjourneyon/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenreise/
- Other: Newsletter Signup: https://northstarcannabis.beehiiv.com/subscribe
