James Markunas

CBDistillery's: From De-Banked to $40m

CBDistillery was at risk of losing the ability to process credit cards and digital payments. Despite millions in revenue, BC's payment partners wouldn't touch them, and without a banking solution the company would die instantly. I led negotiations that secured Square, forced a custom BigCommerce, Square & OrderGroove integration, and turned a payments rescue into $40m.

$15M
GMV at Launch
$40M
GMV After Scale
89%
Retention Uplift
CBDistillery fintech and commerce product launch hero image
At-a-Glance

Payments Rescue, Then Scale

This was a commerce build, a subscription launch, and a banking rescue all at the same time. I helped CBDistillery get banked, negotiated Square as the long-term processor, and designed a stack where one-time orders, subscriptions, and wholesale could all run on one clean commerce and payments model.

Role
Senior Product Manager & Solutions Architect
Client
CBDistillery
Industry
CBD • Fintech • Subscription Commerce
Timeline
2020
Team / Stakeholders
15
Budget / Scale
$3
Systems / Technology
BigCommerce
BigCommerce
Square
Square
Order Groove
Order Groove
MS Dynamics
MS Dynamics
Problem

CBDistillery had real volume, real demand, and a real business, but it was one of the hardest merchant categories to bank. Approved payment partners refused to underwrite the account, CBDistillery needed to move off WooCommerce, and subscriptions were a critical growth lever that depended on token vaulting & recurring billing. If payments failed, none of the rest of the commerce strategy mattered.

Mandate

I owned the fintech negotiations + the commerce & subscription architecture required to get CBDistillery banked & scaling. That meant negotiating the processor relationship, aligning BigCommerce, Square, and OrderGroove around a custom integration, and designing one unified commerce engine.

What I Changed

CBDistillery didn’t need a pretty storefront, it needed a banking partner. I pushed the issue, worked back channels, and called in favors until Square agreed to bank the business, which gave the company a real path to scale their entire enterprise.

Outcome

Once payments were solved, the business could finally grow. The new stack supported subscriptions, retention, and real order volume.

Problem Statement

High-Growth Brand Nobody Would Bank

CBDistillery had real volume, real demand, and a real business. It also sold CBD, which made it one of the hardest merchant categories to bank. Every major payment partner refused to underwrite the account, the existing WooCommerce stack couldn't support the subscription model they needed to grow, and without token vaulting and recurring billing, the entire commerce strategy stalled before it started.

The replatform to BigCommerce was the forcing function. But a new platform without a payment processor is just an expensive website. Solving the processor problem wasn't a side quest; it was the condition everything else depended on. I negotiated Square as the processor, which unlocked the subscription infrastructure and gave CBDistillery a path from $15M to $40M in GMV.

CBDistillery fintech architecture and payment stack planning materials

CBDistillery legacy case-study media.

“
“Despite millions of dollars in revenue, none of our payment partners would touch them. Jim worked tirelessly to find CBDistillery a payment provider and then convinced the C-levels at BC to support a custom integration with Square on a short timeline.”
Adrian Sorapuru
Adrian Sorapuru
Director, Strategic Business Development, BigCommerce
What I Owned

I Solved the Payments Problem

I owned the fintech negotiations + the commerce & subscription architecture required to get CBDistillery banked & scaling. I aligned BigCommerce, Square, and OrderGroove around a custom integration, and designing one stack that could support one-time orders, subscriptions, and wholesale.

  1. 1

    Payments processor

    Negotiated Square as the long-term payments processor for a high-risk merchant category.

  2. 2

    Custom integration

    Forced a custom BigCommerce, OrderGroove, and Square integration so tokenized recurring billing would actually work.

  3. 3

    Unified commerce

    Designed the architecture for one-time orders, subscriptions, and wholesale.

  4. 4

    Payments negotiation

    Worked through 10+ processors, gateways, and banks until Square emerged.

  5. 5

    Subscription architecture

    Negotiated the BigCommerce, Square, OrderGroove stack for subscriptions.

Solution

Scalable & Revenue-Driving Commerce Stack

Got Square over the line, drove the integration stack, and helped turn three revenue streams into one operating model.

Payments Infrastructure

Square negotiation

I negotiated and secured Square as the payments spine for a merchant category most partners would not underwrite, which gave CBDistillery a real long-term foundation for scale.

    Subscription Engine

    Order Groove integration

    I helped force the custom BigCommerce, Square, and Order Groove integration required to make tokenized recurring billing, subscriptions, and retention programs work cleanly.

      Unified Commercial Model

      DTC + wholesale alignment

      I designed one stack that could support one-time consumer purchases, recurring subscriptions, and wholesale activity without splitting the business into separate systems and teams.

        Impact

        Revenue, Retention & Subscription Scale

        Once payments were solved, the business could finally grow. The new stack supported subscriptions, retention, and real order volume.

        $25M
        GMV Growth 
        18%
        New Visitors Subscribed 
        89%
        Retention 
        20K+
        Orders per Month 
        Problem

        Approved payment partners wouldn't underwrite.

        01
        Decision

        I worked the ecosystem until CBDistillery had a real processor willing to support the volume, category risk, and long-term commercial model.

        Outcome

        GMV grew to $40M w/ stronger payments & commerce foundation.

        Problem

        WooCommerce wasn't scalable and was development heavy.

        02
        Decision

        I pushed the custom BigCommerce, Square, and OrderGroove work that made one-time and recurring billing behave like one coherent customer & revenue system.

        Outcome

        New site visitors subscribed (18%).

        Problem

        Subscriptions couldn't exist w/o tokenized payments architecture.

        03
        Decision

        Once the fintech and subscription stack held, the business could focus on growth, retention, and volume instead of constantly worrying whether payments would collapse.

        Outcome

        The store handled 20K+ orders per month.

        “
        “Jim saved the day with this Square deal. The team is happy.”
        Chris Van Dusen
        Chris Van Dusen
        CBDistillery Stakeholder
        Recognition

        Press & Accolades

        The strongest validation here is that the public case studies documented the exact commercial outcomes the new stack unlocked, from fast subscription growth to stronger retention and high order volume on the new platform.

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