Banks won't take pot companies’ cash

 But they can’t exactly stuff their $5.2B profits in a mattress… [The Hustle]( Wed, Nov 29 Brought to you by [ViewSonic]( big screens have all the fun. Weed will be legal in California next year, but banks still can’t house company funds With California set to legalize recreational marijuana next year, potrepreneurs are already projected to make [$5.2B]( in 2018. Problem is, they currently don’t have anywhere to put their dern “drug money.” Even though marijuana has technically been a legit business for two decades (medical pot has been legal in CA since ‘96), many banks risk losing their federal charter if they work with weed companies.  Ugh, Why?? Cannabis is legal for medical use in 29 states and recreational use in 8 -- but it’s still labeled a [Schedule 1 narcotic]( meaning, in the eyes of the federal government, weed is as harmful as black tar heroin. In other words, weed is technically still illegal under federal law, and the feds can shut a bank down with little notice for working with “illegal” businesses. But legit weed companies can’t just stuff money in their mattresses... Which means some business owners have had to get creative in order to store funds -- like good ol’ fashioned [money laundering](. Donnie Anderson owns a dispensary in South Los Angeles and deposits his earnings into an account that his bank thinks belongs to a property management firm. Many have also turned to cryptocurrency as a form of “banking,” but crypto’s value fluctuates constantly making it less reliable than that cold hard green (cash, not weed). So what’s California doing about it? On a federal level, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network released [guidelines]( that would allow banks to work with marijuana companies, but according to Forbes, only 5% of the nation’s banks have bothered to do so. California Treasurer John Chiang has made a hard push to reform cannabis banking in the state, but currently, the stakes are just too high for banks to go against their federal mandates. Yo, Feds, in the spirit of doobie smokers everywhere -- be chill, wouldya? Feds are not chill chillers  WeWork buys Meetup to keep bringing people together IRL WeWork doubled down on their bet that in a digital age, we still crave face time (like, in-person contact, not iPhone video chats), with the acquisition of Meetup, a site that allows people with similar interests to “meetup” in real life. With a [speculated $200m price tag]( (financial terms yet to be disclosed), the purchase is their latest in a slew of new community-minded initiatives and acquisitions aimed at replacing the sense of community lost in the digital age. Meanwhile, Meetup’s ready for the big leagues Since their inception in 2002, Meetup’s [raised relatively little funding]( compared with their reported $200m valuation), and according to CEO and co-founder Scott Heiferman, they’ve broken even in the past few years despite not raising any additional capital since ‘08. But they’re not satisfied with scraping by anymore. WeWork’s global presence would help promote Meetup abroad and give organizers a more legitimate space to host group meetups, replacing, as Heiferman says, the “[musty church basements]( of yore. On WeWork’s part, Meetup is another platform to help people “connect to their purpose…” And make big bucks off their users Meetup has about 35m members, and the lowest tier WeWork membership (a “[Hot desk” for $220 per month]( costs around $2,640. That means even if WeWork manages to convert 1% of Meetup members to their cheapest membership, they’re set to make about $9.24m off the deal. [Connected to the purpose of profiting](  Brown University wants to nix 100% of their student loan debt The Providence, RI uni is trying to raise [$120m]( in order to rid all student loans from financial aid packages received by their undergrads. This will make Brown the 16th US college (and 6th Ivy League school) to give their undergrads the gift of living free from the impending post-college kick in the nuts so many of us are currently enduring. Fer realzies Student loan balances have jumped more than 150% over the past decade -- that’s [$833m]( since 2007 -- and with the average outstanding individual student loan balance at $34k, the national student loan deficit is now at a record high of $1.4 trillion. According to CNBC, that makes a college education the second-biggest expenditure an individual makes in a lifetime, just under homeownership. Let’s not hoist the Ivy Leaguers on our shoulders just yet First off, Brown is able to do this because there are so few low-income students. According to [recent studies]( Brown has more students in the top 1% than the bottom 60%. And second, it’s not like this money is coming from Brown’s coffers: they’re raising the money, and since tuition at Brown is just south of [$60k]( a year, it makes you wonder why they aren’t just, you know, lowering tuition. [I’ll keep my sins, you take my debts](  A tiny Georgia county wants to house the next commercial spaceport Before today, Camden County, Georgia (population: 52k) was best known as the childhood home of Jay, our growth marketing guru. But the sleepy region is now also the site of a [recently proposed commercial spaceport]( that could soon play a key role in launching the rockets of a growing number of privatized aerospace companies. Not just for peaches Dubbed [Spaceport Camden]( the new digs will be “the only exclusively vertical, non-federal range on the East Coast.” Over the ensuing years, the county (with some help from the private space industry) hopes to construct a launch pad capable of both launching and landing rockets. The county has already made some major strides in getting the project off the ground: back in May, the state passed the [Georgia Spaceflight Act]( which “limit[s] the liability” of commercial space companies -- and in [August]( it had its first test launch. The view from space Spaceport Camden is just the 11th commercial spaceport in the US -- and as the industry is increasingly being commercialized, it’s a good time to be in the space. Valued at roughly $329B, the commercial spaceflight industry has been on the rise since [deregulation]( began in 1984. And as the likes of SpaceX, Virgin, and Boeing work toward pumping out more launches, the little country of Camden is poised to see their investment pay off. [Move over Jay, there’s a new boss in town](  niches make riches This post is the latest installment of Niches Make Riches, a series in which we explore the lives of people who made money in strange, unconventional ways. This week, we tell the story of Richard Montañez, a janitor who invented one of the best-selling snack products in history: Flamin' Hot Cheetos. How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Shortly after Richard Montañez landed a job as a janitor at Frito-Lay, his grandfather imparted a [piece of wisdom]( “Make sure that floor shines,” he told his grandson. “And let them know that a Montañez mopped it.” It was the mid-1970s, and until that point, Montañez had led a tough life. One of 11 children, he grew up picking grapes in California and had to drop out of high school to support his family. The new gig was a big opportunity -- and Montañez decided he was going to be the “best janitor Frito-Lay ever had.” So, in addition to his duties, he started tagging along with sales guys, spending time in the warehouse, and watching the machines operate to learn about the company and its products. One day, while eating elote from a local street vendor, Montañez realized Frito-Lay had no products catering to the latino community -- and he had the revelation of a lifetime: The world needs spicy Cheetos. When Frito-Lay’s CEO sent out a company-wide announcement asking his 300k employees to take leadership, Richard put aside his fear and rang up the chief executive’s assistant. “I was naive,” he later [recalled](. “I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to call the CEO.” Decades later, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos are one of Frito-Lay’s hottest-selling products, and Montañez is no longer sweeping floors: the one-time grape picker-turned-janitor now holds a title he never could’ve imagined... [Read the rest of his story →](  This edition of The Hustle was brought to you by The digital Adderall your Wednesday needs For most working professionals, your second monitor isn’t some nice-to-have, it’s your freaking constitutional right. With it, you’re the photo-editing, Slack-sending, multiple-window-scrolling digital savant your pod mates get jealous of. But without it, you might as well kiss those sweet productivity gains goodbye. [ViewSonic]( knows how important a monitor is to the digital professional, so they’ve smashed heads to create the “curved” [VP3881](. Boring name? Who’s to judge. Productivity powerhouse? No question. Panoramic working conditions ahead The VP3881 packs a monstrous [38” curved screen]( with a 21:9 aspect ratio. That means that when you sit down to work, it literally fills your peripherals. Think of it as a larger canvas for all your digital aspirations -- a fully-adjustable, color-calibrated, [4K-compatible canvas]( Plus, the monitor supports all popular connections like HDMI and the future-proof USB-C -- if you’re still rocking VGA... 1999 called, it wants it’s connector back. See the VP3881 in all its pixel-gleaming glory at [ViewSonic]( -- your work gains will thank you.  0 [SHARE THE HUSTLE]( REFERRALS Lindsey Quinn MANAGING EDITOR Zack Crockett WRITER Wes Schlagenhauf WRITER Sam "All my money's in corn" Parr EDITORIAL EAVESDROPPER Reed Emanuel Pal HELP DESK SUPERVISOR [SUBSCRIBE]( [JOBS]( [ADVERTISE]( [EVENTS]( You opted in by signing up, attending an event, or through divine intervention. [771 CLEMENTINA STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103, UNITED STATES]( • [415.506.7210](tel:+1-415-506-7210) Never wanna hear from us again? Break our hearts and [unsubscribe](