Dina Rollman, CEO of StrainBrain, is at the forefront of revolutionizing the cannabis shopping experience through the power of artificial intelligence. With a career spanning over a decade in the cannabis industry, Dina’s expertise has shaped StrainBrain into a cutting-edge platform that simplifies the often overwhelming process of choosing cannabis products.
Leveraging its proprietary AI Budtender®, StrainBrain provides personalized product recommendations, bridging the gap between in-store and online retail for both new and seasoned consumers. Under Dina’s leadership, the company has expanded across North America, offering a tailored shopping solution that combines convenience, accuracy, and innovation.
Beyond her role at StrainBrain, Dina’s impact on the cannabis industry is unparalleled. From being part of the founding team of Green Thumb Industries to co-founding KND Group, Dina has proven herself as a trailblazer in navigating the complexities of cannabis law, compliance, and business development. Her dedication to advancing the industry extends to her involvement with organizations like NewLake Capital Partners and Illinois Women in Cannabis.
In this interview, Dina shares insights into how StrainBrain’s AI technology is transforming retail, empowering both consumers and businesses, and setting the stage for the future of cannabis commerce.
Ganjly: How did the idea for StrainBrain originate, and what inspired you to focus on leveraging AI within the cannabis industry?
Dina Rollman: StrainBrain was founded in 2019 by two wunderkinds in college from the world of health and tech sciences – biomedical software creator Andrew Leber and engineer Graham Bohm. Leber studied computational biology and founded the largest student-run AI organization in the world, which was sponsored by Microsoft and IBM. While working on an AI system to identify irregularities in bone marrow, they had a eureka moment at a dispensary and decided to develop StrainBrain.
Today, StrainBrain can be found all across North America – its AI Budtender® and analytics platform is revolutionizing the cannabis shopping experience. The cannabis industry is an ideal place to launch unprecedented technology like our shopping companion, especially because the industry is still relatively new, providing a perfect landscape to implement cutting-edge solutions that haven’t been done before.
Ganjly: StrainBrain has proven successful in 15 states with significant increases in order value and conversion rates. What do you think makes AI-driven recommendations so impactful in the cannabis retail space compared to traditional methods?
Dina Rollman: Buying cannabis at a dispensary can be an overwhelming experience for new consumers because they don’t know the terminology. Navigating strains and product names does not make for an intuitive customer experience. Thus, they struggle to even know what questions to ask. Plus, there is still a stigma around buying cannabis, and people can find it embarrassing to shop when they don’t have a lot of knowledge about the product. StrainBrain’s AI Budtender® is the answer to all those challenges because it doesn’t require a consumer to know any special terminology, and provides an anonymous way to shop.
StrainBrain adapts quickly. It is difficult for dispensaries to provide human budtenders with real-time education about new products constantly hitting dispensary shelves – the AI Budtender® is updated alongside the store’s inventory in real time and has a proprietary technology to add these products to its recommendation factors.
Ganjly: Cannabis retail is uniquely challenging due to the fractured regulatory landscape across states. How does StrainBrain handle these complexities, and what challenges have you faced in scaling the platform across state lines?
Dina Rollman: My background leading Green Thumb’s regulatory compliance and government affairs has equipped me to navigate the regulations in each market. We work closely with each of our retail partners to ensure that all stores running StrainBrain on their online menus do not create any regulatory issues.
Fortunately, there is a much lower legal and compliance element needed for a non-plant touching business!
Ganjly: Can you share any insights or trends that StrainBrain has uncovered about consumer preferences or buying behaviors in different states?
Dina Rollman: StrainBrain enables our partners to look at data analytics of their customer’s shopping behaviors and preferences by store. Retailers operating in multiple locations can see the mix of products, flavor profiles, and strengths that their customers want. They can see trends across stores within a state and across states. So far we’ve seen that customer profiles are varied, regardless of the state.
Ganjly: Beyond recommending products, how does StrainBrain help build brand loyalty and improve the overall customer experience?
Dina Rollman: StrainBrain integrates with a retailer’s existing loyalty program. StrainBrain can incentivize customers with loyalty points each time the customer gets a recommendation and additional points when they buy a recommended product. It can also ask customers to join the loyalty program, which increases the amount of sign-ups. At specific locations, StrainBrain accounts for 30% of all new loyalty program sign-ups.
StrainBrain’s position as an easy-to-use starting point for cannabis consumers also has potential to build brand loyalty. A consumer who has a positive first experience with one of our retail partners is likely to stick with them. One successful recommendation builds trust between the consumer and StrainBrain, which can be carried over to a retailer’s other locations.
Ganjly: As AI begins to take on roles like personal shoppers in other industries, how do you see StrainBrain’s technology evolving in the next 5 to 10 years?
Dina Rollman: Any predictions about the AI’s evolution are necessarily going to be broad visions. 5 years ago, AI was still a science fiction term to the general public. That said, the development of the AI personal shopper is likely one of convergence. We might see an AI companion that helps with all of your shopping, from groceries to clothing and more. Even farther out, AI shoppers may develop more nuance in their understanding of personal taste. The AI currently knows what a consumer prefers, but someday may be able to understand why. An AI that could do that would be a major next step in its role as a personal shopper.
Some critics raise concerns about data privacy when using AI in retail. How does StrainBrain address privacy and security concerns while delivering personalized recommendations?
Dina Rollman: StrainBrain’s personalized recommendations are session-based and anonymous. No private information is collected or stored. For any specific recommendation, the AI Budtender® only needs general inputs as the basis for product matches. Users can opt to create an account with us, which creates opportunities for a more personalized experience. That data is private, and information security is one of our most important considerations. If a user decides to delete their account, their personal information is removed as well.
Ganjly: What role do you think AI will play in bridging the gap between in-store and online cannabis retail experiences?
Dina Rollman: The AI Budtender provides a seamless shopping experience because a consumer can begin their shopping journey online and then continue it in store when they pick up their order. It also recreates the experience of walking into a store and not knowing where to begin, and having an employee assist with finding the right product.
Ganjly: Given StrainBrain’s success in the cannabis sector, do you foresee adapting this technology for other industries with similarly complex product landscapes?
Dina Rollman: We are confident that the technology can be adapted for other industries but today we are focused on serving the needs of cannabis retailers.
Ganjly: What advice would you give to retailers in the cannabis space who are hesitant to adopt AI technology due to perceived complexity or cost?
Dina Rollman: It only takes 5 minutes or less to integrate StrainBrain into an e-commerce platform, and no extra equipment or additional investment in technology is needed. Within 30 days, retailers see a significant improvement in their incremental revenue, conversion rate, and loyalty program participation. StrainBrain in particular pays for itself within the first day or two of the month; the rest is upside.
In terms of more general advice, it’s important to balance hype and real-world use cases. No company wants to miss the boat, but AI is such a broad category that finding the right niches to apply it is important. That said, the only wrong answer is to ignore it.
As Dina Rollman continues to guide StrainBrain toward redefining the cannabis retail experience, her vision reflects the possibilities of blending innovation with practicality. By focusing on personalization, data security, and adaptability, StrainBrain is not only addressing current challenges in the cannabis industry but also paving the way for AI to enhance other sectors. With leaders like Dina at the helm, the intersection of technology and cannabis is set to deliver transformative solutions that meet the evolving needs of consumers and businesses alike.
