Populum's home office is downtown, but it has to grow and make its products out-of-state

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WEBVTT TAKES YOU INSIDE THE OFFICE AT POPULUM. DAVID: ON THE EIGHTH FLOOR OF THIS BUILDING DEDICATED TO START-UPS, AN ENTREPRENEUR SHOWS OFF HIS PRODUCT LINE. >> IT COMES IN FOUR DIFFERENT CONCENTRATIONS STARTING FROM 125 MILLIGRAM. DAVID: THE LABEL, SIMPLE AND CLEAN. AND THAT’S THE POINT. >> WE SAW IN OUR INDUSTRY THERE WAS A LOT OF SHADY, SKETCHY BRANDS OR PRACTICES. DAVID: THE INDUSTRY IS CBD. BUT OWNER GUNHEE PARK SAY HIS POPULUM BRAND IS DIFFERENT. YOU CAN’T GET IT IN A STRIP MALL STORE, IT COMES RIGHT TO YOUR HOUSE. >> WE ARE AN E-COMMERCE COMPANY, SO SHIPPING DIRECTLY TO OUR CONSUMERS ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY DAVID: IT IS LIKE THE WARBY PARKER OF CBD. THAT’S THE COMPANY THAT TOOK MAIL-ORDER GLASSES MAINSTREAM. POPULUM SAW AN OPENING FOR TRANSPARENT CBD, FROM HEMP GROWN IN THE U.S., AND PROVES WHAT’S IN THE PRODUCT TO CUSTOMERS. >> A CERTIFICATE OF ANALYSIS DONE BY A THIRD PARTY LAB REPORT. DAVID: BUT THIS OMAHA COMPANY HAS TO GET ITS PRODUCT FROM COLORADO. NEBRASKA FARMERS CANNOT CASH IN. AND WHILE THE UNIVERSITY’S STUDYING INDUSTRIAL HEMP, GOVERNOR RICKETTS ISN’T READY TO PUT THE SEEDS IN THE GROUND. >> I THINK WE ALSO HAVE TO TAKE INTO THE CONSIDERATION THE CONCERNS FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT ABOUT, IS THIS GOING TO PROVIDE A COVER FOR ILLEGAL OPERATIONS? I THINK, AGAIN, THE JURY IS STILL OUT. I THINK WE HAVE TO DO MORE RESEARCH ON THIS. >> I THINK IT IS A HUGE MISSED OPPORTUNITY. DAVID: PARK SAYS THE LONGER IT TAKES NEBRASKA TO START GROWING INDUSTRIAL HEMP, THE MORE HEAD START FARMERS IN OTHER STATES HAVE. AND THERE ARE APPLICATIONS BEYOND CBD, LIKE BUILDING AND CLOTHING MATERIAL. HIS PITCH IS SIMPLE. >> OPEN UP THE OPPORTUNITY FOR FARMERS HERE IN NEBRASKA TO ADOPT THE CROP FOR THEIR FARMS. DAVID: LET ME GIVE YOU A SENSE OF HOW LUCRATIVE INDUSTRIAL HEMP CAN BE FOR FARMERS. LAST YEAR, A CANADIAN COMPANY LEASED 120 ACRES OF LAND IN MAINE. AT THE TIME, THEY ANNOUNCED A PREDICTED REVENU

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Startups are companies seeking to change an industry and successful ones can change the world.Workplace communication platform Slack revolutionized email culture. Warby Parker brought the eye wear shopping experience into your home. PayPal changed the way people send and receive money.These are billion-dollar examples, sure, but they all started with a small group of people who shared a vision for a different customer experience.Companies like Slack, Warby Parker and PayPal are frequently held out as benchmarks for other entrepreneurs, including those in the budding startup culture in Omaha."We saw in our industry there were a lot of shady, sketchy brands or practices," explains Gunhee Park.Park is the founder of Populum -- it's a startup in an industry that struggles with a stigma: CBD oil.Park saw a marketplace filled with strip mall storefronts, cartoon-ish brand names and wild claims about what the product could do for consumers. CBD oil is extracted from industrial hemp, a cousin of the marijuana plant, but it does not contain THC -- the chemical compound that produces a high."When we first started there were a lot of brands that were importing their hemp from Europe and sometimes China," Park said, adding there were few ways to verify what farm grew the hemp or the chemical makeup of the CBD oil.Populum seeks to change that. The branding on its tinctures is clean and simple. Each vial comes with test results performed by a third-party lab showing the chemical makeup of the CBD oil. The company offers a 30-day, money-back guarantee. And you can't get it in a store."We are an e-commerce company so shipping directly to our consumers all across the country," said Park from his company's home office in the AIM Exchange building in downtown Omaha.Revenues and sales are growing, but Park has to source his product in Colorado -- the nearest state to Nebraska where farmers can grow industrial hemp. He has to make the CBD oil product at a facility in Arizona.More states are allowing farmers to grow industrial hemp -- like Kentucky, Tennessee and Maine -- but in Nebraska, growing the crop remains illegal.Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts' office stopped responding to interview requests on the topic of industrial hemp, so KETV NewsWatch 7 asked him about it during a recent taping of Chronicle."I think we have to take into the consideration the concerns from law enforcement," Ricketts said. "Is this going to provide a cover for illegal operations?"The governor pointed to the research into the viability of industrial hemp happening at the University of Nebraska. "I think the jury's still out I think we need to do more research on this," the governor said.Park said Nebraska's climate is perfect for growing industrial hemp and as corn and soybean prices remain depressed, he argues for letting Nebraska farmers plant a more lucrative alternative."I think it's a huge missed opportunity," he said, noting the longer it takes Nebraska to adopt the crop, the further behind it will be against competitors.In 2017, a Canadian company bought 120 acres of land in Maine to grow industrial hemp. The news release claimed the company would harvest 1,700 plants per acre primarily for CBD use. The projected revenue per acre: $90,000.