New West Summit will be taking place in Oakland this year, the cannabis conference’s first time across the Bay after hosting its previous two conferences in San Francisco. NWS, which takes place in mid-October, focuses exclusively on game-changing disruptive developments in the cannabis industry and offers three different tracks, including Investment, Media and Technology.

This year, cannabis accelerator Gateway, based in Oakland, will be hosting a pitch contest and awarding $10,000 to an early-stage company that has received less than $250K funding to date and that hasn’t been part of an accelerator program with the current concept. The ten contestants that are selected will have access to coaching and will each be allotted 3 minutes to pitch their business live on stage.

Cannabis startups interested in applying can fill out this application. Applications are due by September 30th, though the number of potential contestants is limited to 10. The application process may end earlier should Gateway select contestants who have applied in advance of the deadline.

New Cannabis Ventures readers interested in attending New West Summit can take advantage of a 50%-off discount. Through September 15th, the cost to attend is just $264.

Exclusive article by Alan Brochstein, CFA Facebook | LinkedIn | Email Based in Houston, Alan leverages his experience as founder of online communities 420 Investor , the first and still largest due diligence platform focused on the publicly-traded stocks in the cannabis industry. With his extensive network in the cannabis community, Alan continues to find new ways to connect the industry and facilitate its sustainable growth. At New Cannabis Ventures , he is responsible for content development and strategic alliances. Before shifting his focus to the cannabis industry in early 2013, Alan, who began his career on Wall Street in 1986, worked as an independent research analyst following over two decades in research and portfolio management. A prolific writer, with over 650 articles published since 2007 at Seeking Alpha , where he has 70,000 followers, Alan is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and a frequent source to the media, including the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, and Bloomberg TV. Contact Alan: Twitter