CANNABIS & TECH TODAY \u00b7 BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY<\/p>\n
Keith Domingo discusses the operating data, regulatory pressures, and AI expenses that shape cannabis business decisions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The cannabis industry has no shortage of optimism. It also has no shortage of onerous regulations, rising operating costs, and bold promises about artificial intelligence. Cannabis entrepreneur and <\/span>Cuetip <\/span><\/a>founder Keith Domingo believes the industry can navigate all three, but only by making better decisions grounded in data instead of speculation.<\/span><\/p>\n After a career spanning Oracle, Activision, eHarmony, mergers and acquisitions, and finance, Domingo founded Cuetip, a software platform built to help cannabis operators understand costs, improve profitability, and avoid expensive mistakes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Before we ever hit record, Domingo and I spent time talking on a rooftop overlooking the Pacific in Santa Monica, passing the conversation between California\u2019s cannabis culture and its business future. His cultivar of choice is Tropicana Cookies, but our discussion quickly moved beyond favorite flower to science, economics, and policies. Later we sat down over Zoom to discuss AI\u2019s hidden costs, the regulations he believes deserve another look, and why cannabis\u2019 next era will belong to operators who know their numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n This interview has been edited for clarity and length.<\/em><\/p>\n Cannabis & Tech Today<\/em>: Which regulations create the most friction in cannabis today?<\/strong><\/p>\n Keith Domingo:<\/strong> \u00a0Cannabis operators want to market the way normal products are allowed to be marketed. I see the Budweiser commercials, I see billboards for alcohol. Cannabis does not have that same freedom. How many people have died in the history of humankind and cannabis? As far as I know, zero. And I\u2019m not advocating that anyone grow moldy cannabis, it does create health problems if you have allergies, but it\u2019s not going to <\/span>kill <\/span><\/i>you.\u00a0 I think some of these regulations came because of an overabundance of caution because everyone wanted to get it right.\u00a0 But then it started ballooning into all these additional regulations. In agriculture, they track cattle and vegetables because if there\u2019s an e.coli outbreak, they want to know which batch it came from. But if no one\u2019s dying and no one\u2019s really getting seriously sick, what\u2019s the point of seed to sale regulation? <\/span><\/p>\n C&T Today: Everyone is talking about what AI can do. Far fewer people are talking about what AI costs. What are people missing about the economics of AI?<\/strong><\/p>\n Domingo:<\/strong> So traditionally AI is on a subscription basis where you pay every month or you pay for a yearly subscription. But now they have introduced tokenization of the workflow. Imagine if to search on Google, you had to pay $5 a search. Companies have already been getting burnt by this [tokenization model] and AI costs have skyrocketed. Last year, leaders at Salesforce believed that AI technology was powerful enough<\/a> to replace 50% of their 9,000 customer support team. So they started laying people off. And this proved to be a costly mistake because once you fire people, hiring them back will be more expensive. Now [Salesforce] has lost trust with their customer base and they\u2019ve reversed. So now a lot of companies are finding out the hard way that AI is not the panacea they thought it would be. <\/span><\/p>\n C&T Today: What is a problem in cannabis that AI is well-suited to solve, and what still requires people?<\/strong><\/p>\n Domingo: If you actually have a developer, AI will make that developer more efficient. But here\u2019s the catch: they have to have experience. If they don\u2019t have experience, it\u2019s not going to work because how do you know the code is wrong if you don\u2019t have experience? AI is good if it solves a fundamental problem. It\u2019s good for developing, it\u2019s good for something that\u2019s algorithmic. But when there\u2019s more complexity, that\u2019s where AI kind of breaks down. I think because AI is flashy, it\u2019s something very new that people are experiencing, that also makes sense why there\u2019s a lot of over promise. You still need people who are equipped with their jobs. What we\u2019re doing at Cuetip is we\u2019re using AI only if it helps the customer or the team. if it doesn\u2019t benefit the customer or team but saves money, I\u2019m not interested in it. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIf you have an experienced developer, AI will make that developer more efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n Keith Domingo, founder of Cuetip<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n C&T Today: Without giving away the secret sauce, what problem is Cuetip solving in cannabis?<\/strong><\/p>\n Domingo:<\/strong> Our main mission is to save operators from making bad cannabis decisions. Our first data provides visibility into the cost of cannabis. Our second app manages your costs when the costs are coming in, when the cash is coming in, what type of things you need to change to make your numbers profitable for the year. When I first started, many farmers were just throwing seeds into the ground and then growing it and then realizing later, <\/span>I spent too much on cost and I assumed I was going to get this price<\/span><\/i>, and they couldn\u2019t sell this amount of volume. So if you don\u2019t know anything about business and you\u2019re a good grower, these tools will help you tremendously because you\u2019ll get a hold of your cost of your revenue. <\/span><\/p>\n C&T Today: Five years from now, what do you hope people say Cuetip has changed in the cannabis industry?<\/strong><\/p>\n Domingo:<\/strong> I\u2019m hoping they will say Cuetip transformed the industry and helped the growers take off the training wheels on how to operate a successful company. Growers and other operators will understand more about their cost structure and how to create true profitability. I see a lot of exporting taking place. Scientific research is going to be amazing with cannabis, and there\u2019s going to be a lot of diseases and illnesses that use cannabis to help reduce the ailments or to make them go away completely. There\u2019s going to be several successful cannabis organizations on the stock market. I looked at the primaries yesterday and it seemed all the people that won were favorable to cannabis. That\u2019s the one thing they had in common. Regardless of party, I expect the next president to fully legalize cannabis.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n Keith Domingo is the founder of Cuetip, a software platform for cannabis operators. His technology career included work at Oracle and Activision.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n Domingo describes applications focused on visibility into cannabis costs and profitability, with the aim of helping operators make decisions while they still have time to adjust the business.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n He argues that usage-based charges can change the economics of a workflow and should be considered alongside the benefit a tool provides to the customer or team.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n He points to development and work governed by algorithms or rules, while emphasizing the contribution of experienced people when a task becomes more complex.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<\/section>\n How connected retail systems and business intelligence can help dispensary operators interpret the data their businesses already generate.<\/p>\nKey Points<\/h2>\n
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In This Article<\/summary>\n
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![\"Keith](\"https:\/\/cannatechtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/keith-domingo-cuetip-founder-768x1024.jpg\")
Regulation and Cash Flow<\/h2>\n
AI Costs and Practical Uses<\/h2>\n
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Data Behind Business Decisions<\/h2>\n
![\"Supplied](\"https:\/\/cannatechtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/cuetip-benchmark-product-illustration.png\")
Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n
Who is Keith Domingo?<\/summary>\n
What does Cuetip aim to help operators understand?<\/summary>\n
Why does Domingo emphasize AI expenses?<\/summary>\n
Which AI applications does Domingo consider useful?<\/summary>\n
Also Read<\/h2>\n
Flowhub Bets on Connected Intelligence as Cannabis Retail Enters the AI Era<\/a><\/h3>\n