Giadha DeCarcer knows how to catch your attention. The Rome-born serial entrepreneur developed a unique way to make data analytics exciting to anyone by combining it with the legal marijuana industry to found New Frontier Data. It's an idea that's grown into a startup that recently closed a $5 million funding round with plans for multiple satellite offices in the wake of new states following D.C.'s lead in legalizing marijuana. Even the genesis of New Frontier came in the form of an attention-grabbing hook for a more traditional concept. In that case, DeCarcer crowdfunded the filming of a documentary on launching a startup, but tied it to a quest to find long-term romance, mixing the two for a bigger narrative.
How does creativity factor into your career, what do you do to avoid getting stale?
The type of creativity that entrepreneurs do is about how to identify problems and then how to solve and monetize them. The initial part is always finding the problem, and that has to start with listening to people. Entrepreneurs have something in their brains that's always looking for opportunity. In terms of me, personally staying creative, I run. I run every morning. I need time to be by myself while my body is otherwise occupied. That's when I have most of my ideas. Then I come home and make notes and get to work.
What made the legal marijuana business better or worse to get into, even tangentially as you are?
It's very high risk, and the stigma associated with it makes for a certain mental, psychological barrier to entry. The most complex challenges on the execution side are explaining the value of what we do in way that resonates with the target audience. If it's an investor I explain how the data ultimately shows real opportunity, not just pie in the sky numbers. I find what resonates. One positive is that the glass ceiling for females and minorities is much thinner in the industry right now.
Is that because of the legal issues that might dissuade entrepreneurs who can get funding in other industries more easily?
There was this perfect storm really. Females are more educated than ever before, they're leaving the workforce to get married or have kids then want to come back in but are having a harder time in mature industries. This is an industry with a lot of prep work needed to succeed and others, men, might find it easier to go somewhere else.
"Entrepreneurs have something in their brains that's always looking for opportunity."
Do you think it will be a fight to maintain a hold if and when the industry matures?
I don't know. It will be interesting, but it remains to be seen. You have to prepare yourself for battle as entepreneur or CEO anyway. It's like multi-dimensional chess and poker combined. There are forces ready to enter industry now that are pretty sophisticated, the strong players are moving in. I'm not threatened yet but unfortunately it could happen.
Why is D.C. the place for a startup like yours?
The core belongs here. It's not brainpower necessarily, but the infrastructure is here, like, the government is in D.C. so we will always be headquartered in D.C. And there's a lot of tech and innovation here. It's much more centralized and focused compared to other place. Is the quality superior? I don't know, but it's certainly easier to compete and navigate more access to. My experience in D.C. I wouldn't change for anything else.
That said, what do you wish you could change about D.C.?
D.C. overall I have found is, in general, more calculated. There's more risk aversion in D.C. than there is in other places, you don't want to be too impulsive, that can be dangerous too, but you need to be willing to risk.
Besides data analytics, what industry connected to marijuana do you think will blow up?
The agricultural industry is really vast, so that for sure. One that jumps out is anything medical. And edibles. Edibles is really about manufacturing and processing. If you can offer expertise to really improve quality and then standardize it, you'll make a lot of money.
