Distru, CEO, Blaine Hatab

Highly Objective

Distru raised $3M in July 2019 from Felicis and Global Founders and didn't raise again until November 2024. Poseidon led the $6M Series A, its first time investing in the Company.

💡 Founding Story and Early Focus on Distribution. Blaine Hatab, Co-Founder & CEO of Distru, discusses the company's founding story. Distru was initially focused on building software to enable cannabis distribution (hence the name Distru), as Blaine saw Distribution as a key part of the supply chain that would be crucial as the industry grew. The company started with just $30,000 in funding from Blaine's personal network and built the initial product by constantly talking to operators to understand their needs.

🖥️ Evolution from CRM to full ERP. Distru started as a CRM and mapping tool for sales reps, but quickly realized their customers needed more robust inventory management and distribution capabilities. Distru expanded its product to become a full ERP system, adding manufacturing and other features to serve the evolving needs of distributors, manufacturers, and retailers in the cannabis industry.

🔗 Differentiation through Robust Integrations. Distru's focus on building highly robust, two-way integrations with key partners like Metrc, BioTrack, Leaflink, Dutchie, Blaze and Treez. This allows Distru to provide a true system of record for inventory and compliance across the supply chain. Blaine notes this attention to integration quality has been a key competitive advantage for Distru.

🚀📈Growth Strategy and Competitive Landscape. Distru's technical co-founding team and focus on building a cohesive, highly integrated product stand out as key differentiators vs competitors. Distru has been able to grow profitably with limited dilution, and Blaine sees significant continued opportunity (TAM) in the cannabis distribution and ERP market.

💰 Funding History and Future Plans. Distru started with a $30,000 angel check and then raised $3 million from Felicis and Global Founders and angel investors in 2019. Distru then went several years without raising additional funding, focusing instead on profitability and growth. Blaine sees Distru's strong financial position and limited dilution as advantages as the company looks to continue scaling.

🗺️ Product Roadmap and Expansion Plans. The company is launching new product features and expanding into additional states and countries. He sees significant untapped opportunity in the cannabis ERP market, with plans to build out more modules and solutions beyond the core ERP functionality. Distru is also open to strategic acquisitions that could further enhance its product offerings but is more focused on building products with its current team.