-
Day 0: Kick-Off Happy Hour — Sept 2, 2025
-
Day 1: Full Conference — Sept 3, 2025
-
Day 2: Closing Conversations + Happy Hour — Sept 4, 2025
📍 Capital Hilton, Washington, D.C.
Why We’re in the Room
To Put It Simply, We Are Carrying the Voices of 500+ Cannabis Businesses Into Honest Conversations With Banks and Policymakers.
Paragon Payroll didn’t step up as a Bronze Sponsor just for optics. We’re here because this is where policy holders, regulators, banks, and cannabis leaders gather to shape the future of financial access. And let’s be honest — when payroll, banking, and compliance don’t align, the business owner pays the price.
We’re stepping into this conversation with over 500+ cannabis clients across every vertical — cultivators, retailers, labs, manufacturers, distributors, and more. That means the banks in the room are almost certainly already working with our clients, whether directly or indirectly. We see it as our responsibility to help foster, grow, and properly align these relationships — not just for our benefit, but for the health of the industry.
This isn’t about claiming space — it’s about claiming responsibility. By being in the room, we’re ensuring payroll isn’t siloed from banking or compliance but instead treated as the connective tissue that allows businesses to operate with confidence. That perspective is missing far too often, and we’re determined to fill the gap.
Why Alignment Matters Now
2025 isn’t just another year for cannabis finance. With rescheduling debates heating up, more states coming online, and the pressure of election-year policy shifts, the stakes have never been higher. The gap between compliant payroll and sustainable banking is widening, and the decisions made in rooms like PBC will define which businesses are still standing 18 months from now.
Waiting on the sidelines isn’t an option — and we won’t.
The reality is simple: those who act now will shape the ecosystem, while those who wait will be forced to react later. Alignment is no longer a future concern — it’s a present demand. That’s why we see PBC not as a conference but as a catalyst for how payroll, banks, and compliance must move forward together.
Us Speaking Directly to Banks
Here’s why you should care that Paragon is in the room:
-
Access to 500+ operators in your wheelhouse. We don’t speculate about the market — we’re in it. Every pay cycle, we process for cannabis businesses who are already in your orbit. By partnering with us, you gain a line of sight into a client base that’s active, vetted, and ready to scale.
-
Alignment over misdirection. Too many vendors steer operators toward risky, unstable financial setups. That leads to frozen accounts, lost trust, and regulatory messes. We refuse to play that game. Instead, we want to align with banks that have a clear strategy and appetite — and direct the right clients your way.
-
A partner in growth. Our mission is to partner with banks to open doors to a dynamic, expanding market, while offering innovative payroll and HR solutions that add value to your institution. We create pathways for cross-branding, lead-sharing, and collaborative opportunities to amplify your reach.
-
Future-focused compliance. With isolved’s platform powering our tech, we deliver payroll, HR, compliance, and workforce management tools purpose-built for cannabis. That means less risk exposure for your institution and greater confidence in client operations.
We know your target market isn’t “every cannabis business.” It’s the ones who fit your appetite, meet your standards, and will strengthen your portfolio. That’s exactly where we come in: as a filter, a bridge, and a partner ensuring you’re spending time on the right opportunities — not the wrong ones.
To the Banks in the Room
We know you’re cautious. We know onboarding cannabis clients feels risky. But here’s the truth: you’re already connected to our operators, whether you realize it or not.
Aligning with Paragon isn’t about leaping into the unknown. It’s about gaining clarity, partnership, and a trusted channel to clients you can responsibly serve. We are not another vendor chasing optics. We’re the partner who has been cannabis-committed since 2016 — the ones still standing when others ghost or retreat.
So here’s our offer: let’s cut through the noise together. We’ll help you understand where your best-fit clients are, what they need most, and how to support them in a way that protects both your institution and their business. That’s how we transform caution into confidence.
Calling Out the Bad Actors
Let’s address what no one else will: too many operators are being pushed into unstable banking relationships by vendors who want a quick referral fee. When those accounts freeze, collapse, or disappear, it’s the business owner left holding the bag.
We’ve seen it happen, and we’ve heard the stories. Paragon refuses to play that game. We will never push a cannabis operator into the wrong partnership. Our role is to point them toward the banks that can actually support them safely, strategically, and long-term.
Because here’s the hard truth — bad referrals don’t just hurt the business, they hurt the bank’s reputation too. Every failed onboarding, every closed account, every messy exit adds to the perception that cannabis finance is chaos. We’re here to change that narrative by ensuring introductions are intentional, aligned, and set up to succeed.
What “Cannabis Committed” Really Means
For us, being cannabis committed means:
-
Showing up where decisions are made — even when it’s uncomfortable.
-
Advocating for operators who have been ghosted, dropped, or underserved.
-
Building partnerships with banks, compliance officers, and policy leaders who take cannabis seriously.
-
Delivering real human support — not bots, not excuses — when operators need us most.
-
Never gatekeeping, never sugarcoating, and never disappearing when things get hard.
It’s not just a tagline. It’s how we operate.
Our commitment is measured not in words but in outcomes. Every aligned partnership, every avoided risk, every client who finally feels safe and supported is proof that being cannabis committed means taking real action — even when it costs more, takes longer, or demands we do what others won’t.
If you're interested in learning more about our Cannabis Commitment, Read Our Manifesto.
To Policymakers and Changemakers
We come to PBC well-prepared to uplift and share the real sentiments and hardships of our clients and partners. Day in and day out, we hear their fears, frustrations, and roadblocks. Our job is to carry those stories into this room — not to sensationalize them, but to ensure policymakers and regulators walk away with greater empathy and actionable understanding of what business owners truly face.
We’re here to bridge the gap between policy and practice, between legislation and lived experience. Cannabis operators don’t need abstract theory; they need equitable freedom to operate without discriminatory barriers. And our role is to make sure their voices echo loudly enough that decisions are informed not just by politics, but by people.
What’s In It for Banks
-
Market Expansion: Gain visibility and access to cannabis operators already managing payroll and compliance successfully.
-
Reputation Building: Align with a payroll provider trusted across 500+ clients, committed since 2016, and respected by operators for showing up when others wouldn’t.
-
Operational Security: Together, we simplify complexity, reduce risk, and help cannabis companies thrive with confidence.
At the end of the day, your growth depends on trust. Partnering with us gives you a pathway to deepen that trust — not just with regulators, but with the very operators you want as long-term clients. That trust is currency in this space, and we’re ready to help you earn it.
But more importantly, we can have transparent conversations. Whether you’re just tiptoeing into diversifying your ability to serve this industry or already well-vetted and deeply rooted, exposure to the truth matters. Transparency allows us to understand exactly where your institution stands so we can best pair our clients’ situations with the right banking partners. That matching is something we continually strive to refine and strengthen.
Additionally, this dialogue is critical because we want to make sure you’re equipped with a full understanding — not only of the cannabis field itself, but also of our offerings. If we haven’t had the opportunity to interact as deeply in the past, we see PBC as the moment to change that. New changes in the industry and in our own capabilities now make it possible for us to align more directly, openly, and effectively than ever before.
These two sides of the ecosystem don’t exist in silos; they need each other — and our role is to bridge them.
What’s In It for Cannabis Businesses
For business owners, our presence at PBC means we’re not only advocating in your corner — we’re actively creating bridges with the banks who can responsibly support you. You deserve clarity, safety, and trust in your financial partnerships, and we’re committed to pointing you in the right direction.
We know you’ve been burned before — dropped by banks, ghosted by payroll providers, or misled into unstable setups. Our sponsorship is proof that we’re not just here for the easy seasons. We’re here to fight for your access, protect your operations, and make sure your future partners are the ones who will actually stand with you.
And just as we do with banks, we believe in transparent conversations with you, the operator. That means not sugarcoating risks, not gatekeeping resources, and not pushing you toward the wrong fit. Whether you’re a brand-new licensee or a seasoned multi-state operator, your story matters — and it deserves to be matched with banking and compliance partners who can truly support you long-term.
We also want to make sure you’re equipped with knowledge: about the changing landscape, about where safe and sustainable banking options exist, and about how Paragon’s solutions intersect with your growth. If past barriers have made deep interaction harder, we see this conference as the opportunity to change that — to bring forward the conversations that matter most to your survival and success.
Ultimately, this is about more than transactions or services. It’s about helping build a functioning, earnest, and bold ecosystem — one where payroll, banks, compliance, and cannabis operators are finally aligned. When that alignment happens, you don’t just gain stability. You gain freedom: the freedom to operate equitably, confidently, and with the backing of partners who truly care.
The Bigger Picture
Too often, cannabis businesses are boxed out, ghosted by payroll vendors, or dropped by banks midstream. We built Paragon because that behavior is unacceptable and is breeding a toxic culture that isn't just outdated; but also humanistically wrong.Maybe it’s because, on the other side of the coin, we’re the ones who see the fallout — cleaning up the messes and helping hardworking business owners push through the genuine fear that comes with these broken experiences. Either way, we stand firmly against it. That’s why we show up, participate, and buy into spaces that bring us all together in one room — to speak honestly, confront the hard truths, and create solutions that actually work.
Being a Bronze Sponsor at PBC is our way of making sure the voices of operators are in the room with the decision-makers. Banks, compliance officers, and policy leaders all play a part — but without payroll connecting the dots, the ecosystem falls apart.
This is bigger than us, bigger than a sponsorship. It’s about building an ecosystem where cannabis operators no longer have to fight uphill just to access the basics. By bridging the divide, we’re proving that payroll, banking, and compliance can work together — and when they do, the whole industry rises.
Who Shows Up When It Matters
We didn’t sponsor PBC to sit on the sidelines. We’re here because payroll, banking, and compliance only work when they work together.
If you’re a bank, align with us.
If you’re an operator, trust that we’ll point you toward partners who are truly ready to support you.
Because in cannabis, commitment isn’t about talk — it’s about who shows up in the room when it matters most. And we’re here.
When the conversations are over and the spotlight fades, what remains is who stood up and did the work. That’s our promise: not just to be visible at PBC, but to be accountable long after the event ends. Because showing up matters — but staying in the fight matters more.
Our Shared Obligation
At the end of the day, this responsibility isn’t ours alone. Banks, policymakers, and business owners all share the obligation to find common ground through open dialogue and shared purpose. Together, we can build a safer, more secure, more equitable cannabis ecosystem — one that doesn’t just survive under pressure, but flourishes as a diverse, resilient, and respected industry.
A Message from Our Team
“We’re excited to come to PBC with deeper knowledge that we can bring back to our community — to help cannabis businesses better identify the resources that are truly good for them, and to shape a brighter tomorrow where operators, banks, and partners can finally grow together with confidence.”
Topics:
