Confident Cannabis has some of the best employees in the world. Are we biased? Maybe. This feature will introduce you to our talented staff and give you an insight into our company culture. This week meet our VP of sales and client success, Paul Cebulak.
Paul Cebulak is the VP of Sales and Client Success at Confident Cannabis. In a previous life, Paul was a pretty good teacher and a fantastic waiter. He’s lived and worked in France, Japan, and Australia and has spent over 11 years in startups building relationships with clients, leading teams, and developing talent. On the karaoke microphone what he lacks in skill he makes up for in enthusiasm.
4 serious questions:
What is your day-to-day like at Confident Cannabis?
Right now, it’s fluid from one day to the next as I joined the team in April 2019 – I’m still in “drink-from-the-firehose” mode to quote a teammate.
The areas where I’ll be spending the bulk of my time is working directly with my team in northern California and Oregon on how we can best identify and serve the needs of cannabis operators in the markets we have built a wholesale marketplace. In practice this means planning who we need to talk to and developing the materials and processes to help us understand and demonstrate how we can help. A lot of time is dedicated to 1:1 conversations and team meetings, honing sales skills, and my favorite part: client conversations both on the phone and in-person.
Cannabis is an emerging market. What excited you about joining the industry?
This is a big question and I could say a lot about potential medicinal and societal benefits for certain communities however I’ll limit myself here to a personal reason. I’m passionate about empowering and supporting small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) – I plan vacations around hard-to-find food spots and local gems. Today the cannabis industry is still heavily local for regulatory and other reasons. My dad has been a small business owner my entire life, and the previous companies I’ve worked at were obsessed with helping small businesses be more successful finding new customers. Being a small business owner is so incredibly challenging and despite that, so many of the people I’ve met who have built and work in SMBs bring an amazing enthusiasm and pride to what they do every day. There are very few industries where this energy is more obvious than in cannabis today. I’m fired up to be a part of the genuine sense of community and the “rising tide lifts all boats” mentality we see in this industry.
Confident Cannabis thrives on transparency. What does that transparency mean to you?
Transparency means we create and operate in an environment where partners, clients, and colleagues trust each other and work together in good faith. Transparency also means honesty to me and is the antonym of opaqueness (and the corresponding cynicism that can stem from it).
What has been your favorite moment at work?
I’m brand new however at Confident Cannabis, “meetings” don’t exist; instead each department here holds parties that turn out to be very well attended.
5 silly questions:
There exists a divide in the office. Are you pro- or anti-peanut butter?
Like many substances out there, I don’t have to partake in order to fight for the right for others to enjoy it. Let the people have their PB, I say!
What’s your dream/fantasy job?
Global pizza consultant (fact: I put this on my job application to work at Confident Cannabis).
What was the last gift you gave someone?
I recently went on my first overnight bike camping trip in the Bay Area. When we were shopping for dinner ingredients at an overpriced yuppie market in Marin, I purchased vegan gluten-free almond meal chocolate chip cookies for the crew of people watching over the bikes. There were very few takers!
Do you have any hobbies?
I bike, I eat oysters, and I love playing Frisbee. I am also a podcast fanatic and appreciate recommendations.
If you had to name yourself after an existing strain of cannabis, which would you choose?
Jazz.
Louis Armstrong once said, “If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.”