“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis
Denver, Colorado, United States
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About
I wasn’t always a water evangelist.
After college, I wanted to be a…
Articles by “Raz” (Rich)
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Ending Plastic Pollution: Dreamforce & Beyond
Ending Plastic Pollution: Dreamforce & Beyond
Right now 180,000 people are meeting in San Francisco for the largest customer technology conference in the world, and…
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“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis shared thisEntrepreneurs get far too much credit for being the “builders.” Risk takers? Yes. Intense? Insufferably. Relentless? To a fault. Builders? Yes, but also no. In some ways, it’s like politicians getting too much credit for shaping America. (Even writing that, I hate any metaphor that pulls entrepreneurs and politicians in the same sentence. Yet here we are.) The truth is, our teammates are the builders. They’re the ones turning an idea into something real. Winning customers. Solving problems. Taking the hits. Getting better. Doing it again. I had a great few days in Texas with some of the FloWater sales team. There’s nothing like getting everyone in the same room—sharing what’s working, challenging each other, leveling up, unleashing F-yes energy, and dialing in how we execute the mission. I love this team, the momentum we’re building, and what’s ahead. Texas brought the heat. So did this crew. 🔥 Respect to all the builders. The people on our teams that make things go. Let’s go. Erin Hall Mark Trudeau Mark Villasenor Christopher Greene Stephanie Schumacher Dan Voight, PMP Rylee Maloles
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“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis shared thisI lived three blocks south of the World Trade Center during 9/11. That morning was almost unfairly gorgeous…crisp air, blue skies, tourists gone. It felt like one of those Manhattan LFG days. I got to the office unusually early that day. Then hell broke loose. I’m not going to share my story today because it doesn’t matter. But there are 2,977 that ended that morning and will never be fully told or understood. One thing I remember most is that there are some people in this world with the capacity to make incredibly heroic sacrifices, and so many did that day: firefighters, NYPD, Port Authority, and other first responders. One of the best things I’ve ever read is the New Yorker piece on Rick Rescorla, “The Real Heroes Are Dead.” Morgan Stanley’s head of security (who has been credited with saving thousands). It’s not only a story about a hero, but about second chances. And it’s a pretty incredible love story too. Worth reading. Linked at the end. But that day was also full of people with no training, no uniform, no obligation, and no reason to believe anyone would ever learn their name. There was a need. And they showed up for it. While some were running for cover, others were running into danger to do something. Anything. Twenty-five years of building things has taught me we spend enormous energy trying to identify who has leadership and valor in them. That morning answered it a different way. It can be anyone. Sometimes you find out in about four seconds—and it has nothing to do with a title. 8:46. 9:03. 9:37. 10:03 https://lnkd.in/dgCqWWAS
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“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis shared thisOne quick clip from a recent Adams Media interview. Many don't know this, but about 97% of the water a data center uses onsite is municipal drinking water. Treated for humans. Run through a cooling tower. Those centers running off evaporative cooling are in the majority. Newer closed loop systems use far less water--but considerably more electricity, and they also use more "upstream" water to create that electricity. Evap cooling not only consumed large quantities of water, but takes the clean part off and leaves everything else behind, more concentrated than it went in. Two-thirds of data centers built since 2022 went into areas already under water stress. I'm not anti-data center. I'm pro free market. But free markets have rules, and here there almost aren't any.
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“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis shared thisThere's one checking account of drinking water. You're metered on it. Billed for it. Held accountable for every gallon. Data centers draw from the same account--900 million gallons in Loudoun County last year, two billion nationally in 2023 for cooling alone--and nobody publishes the balance sheet. Most of these data center build-outs go up without a water restoration plan measured in decades. And unlike a school or an office, they never shut off. That's not an argument against AI. It's an argument for showing the ledger.
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“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis shared this75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. That's not a health statistic. It's a business model. A dehydrated person buys something. Then buys something for what the first thing did to them. There's a whole line of industries downstream getting paid on that condition. Who wins? Big beverage. Big food. Big Pharma. And on. Cut chronic dehydration in half and big beverage alone loses ten to fifteen billion. And the rest of America gains $1.4 trillion in benefit. Better health. Longer lives. Diseases that never start. Fifteen billion against 1.4 trillion. Not a hard call--unless you're one of the fifteen.
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“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis shared thisGot asked on air whether Americans should worry about fluoride running short. This is easy. No. Thirty percent of the country already drinks water without it. If you want it for your kids, buy the toothpaste or mouthwash with fluoride. Done. Or get fluoride veneer treatment from your dentist. The things worth worrying about are the ones it's harder to schedule a segment for: Lead. PFAS. Microplastics. Pharmaceuticals. Herbicides. Chromium-6. The list goes on. Those don't need a supply chain. They're already here.
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“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis shared this“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis shared thisTurns out, making noise about what’s in our water gets noticed. FloWater just won GOLD for Thought Leadership Organization of the Year in the 2026 International Business Awards®. We’ve spent years challenging what people accept about drinking water. Asking harder questions. Raising the bar. And, alongside “Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis, pushing for something better on national news channels, children's books, and more. And we’re just getting started. Read more in the press release here: https://lnkd.in/g7sCTa-9Denver-Based FloWater Wins Gold Stevie Award for Thought LeadershipDenver-Based FloWater Wins Gold Stevie Award for Thought Leadership
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“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis shared thisWe regulate what manufacturing discharges into our rivers and reservoirs. We don't appropriately regulate what data centers withdraw from them. That asymmetry is the whole problem, and almost nobody is looking at it. I'm not anti-data center. I'm pro-innovation, pro-entrepreneurship, pro-free market. I've spent a decade building in it. AI infrastructure is going to get built and it should. But we're siting enormous water-consuming facilities on public incentives, in watersheds that are already stressed, with no obligation to report what they use. That's not a free market. That's a subsidy with no accounting. Two policy moves, neither radical: 1. Mandatory water use disclosure. If a facility draws from a shared reservoir, the community drawing from that same reservoir should be able to see the number. 2. Water efficiency standards as a condition of tax incentives. We already attach conditions to public money in a dozen other sectors. This is not a novel mechanism--it's the one we usually use. Do nothing for five to ten years and this stops being an infrastructure conversation. It becomes a drinking water access conversation, in American towns, and by then the facilities are built and the aquifers are drawn down. Clean drinking water is a fundamental human right. And as much as I love and use it, AI is not. We can have both. We just have to decide to measure one of them.
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“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis shared thisI "lose" money on every copy of my children's book on water. By design. Every dollar of revenue--not profit, revenue--goes out the door. Your $10 for the book gets matched, so it becomes $20 and then all of it goes to a water-focused nonprofit. Nothing to do with FloWater. Just organizations doing work that needs doing. Most recently that was Dig Deep. We partnered with them to bring drinking water to St. Michael's Association for Special Education in the Navajo Nation... a school that had been hauling water in by truck to serve the kids who go there. Sit with that one. A school. Trucking in its own drinking water. I've spent over a decade around this problem and that one really has sat with me. So the book ends up doing two things at once. One kid learns something about where water comes from and why it matters. Another kid gets water who needs it most. Clean Water is Awesome. No, Really! Here's the link: https://lnkd.in/g4yyjTyF
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“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis liked this“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis liked thisIt’s Climate Week NYC, and while the conversations are big, one fundamental piece of the climate conversation can be surprisingly easy to overlook: Water. Access to clean, safe water is a fundamental human right. It’s also deeply connected to climate resilience, public health, infrastructure, growing communities and the way we prepare for the future. As leaders gather in New York this week to talk about what comes next, water deserves a permanent seat at that table. Because a more resilient future isn’t just about how we power the world, it’s about how we protect one of the resources every single person depends on. And that cannot wait for industry or government alone. It starts with each of us. “Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis
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“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis liked this“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis liked thisShe was my boss for only eight months. She changed the next 15 years of my career. This photo was taken near the beginning, not long after Kelly Newcomer became my boss. During one of our first performance reviews, she started talking about my path to becoming a manager. I looked directly at her and asked, “When did I say I wanted to be a manager?” I was completely serious. At the time, I led recognition and supported some of the company’s top field leaders, but I was trying to move into customer care. Kelly asked me to give her a chance, so I did. I was newly married and thinking much more about starting a family than building a career. I cared about doing good work, but I did not picture myself climbing an organizational chart. Kelly apparently had a different vision for me. She saw something I did not yet recognize, challenged me to think differently, and kept opening doors. She trusted me to decide whether I wanted to walk through them, and I kept walking. She was only my boss for about eight months before an opportunity took her to New York City. Not long afterward, she recruited me there too, and my career accelerated from that point forward. About 15 years later, Kelly is still one of the most influential people I have collected, as well as a dear friend and mentor. She did not decide what I should want. She simply saw possibility in me before I could see it for myself and created room for me to discover it. That is a kind of leadership I have never forgotten. It feels especially fitting to recognize her today on American Business Women’s Day. Kelly, thank you for seeing something in me before I knew it was there and for helping change the trajectory of my career. Now I’ll turn the question to everyone reading: Who saw something in you before you could see it for yourself? And do they know the difference they made?
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“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis reacted on this“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis reacted on thisThank you to AASA, The School Superintendents Association for inviting me to attend the Superintendent Symposium this week with superintendents from across the country. The focus was on helping superintendents attract, hire, and retain great employees for our district.
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“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis liked this“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis liked thisClean energy and clean water must go hand in hand. As Climate Week NYC gets underway in the Big Apple, Bluewater founder and CEO Bengt Rittri is calling on global policymakers to put a secure water future at the heart of climate action. Today, 2.1 billion people still lack safely managed drinking water. Meanwhile, pollution and pressure on freshwater supplies affect communities across the world, including its wealthiest economies. PFAS, pharmaceutical residues and microplastics challenge water quality from Europe to America. Climate change and overuse threaten availability. Growing industries, including data centres, bring water demands that governments must plan for. So, we desperately need action rather than just more words to protect freshwater sources, prevent pollution, invest in treatment and hold major water users accountable. Bluewater is putting innovation to work ... from water purification and beverage solutions for home, work and play to emergency response. Bluewater's latest portable emergency water purification station can supply up to 10,000 people with two litres of drinking water each per day when disaster strikes. It treats water from rivers, lakes, ponds and even brackish water, removing contaminants including PFAS, microplastics, lead, bacteria, viruses, arsenic and chlorine. For first responders, that means a practical way to bring drinking water to communities when disaster disrupts supplies. A secure water future needs innovation, strong public infrastructure and political commitment. What commitments will leaders leave New York with? And, big question, when will communities see the difference? #ClimateWeekNYC #WaterSecurity #CleanWater #ClimateAction #Bluewater
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“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis liked this“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis liked thisCongratulations to Mrs. Meghan Overbeck, this month's Blue Devil Hero! Meghan consistently goes above and beyond in her commitment to our students, staff, and school community. As an intervention specialist, she is deeply dedicated to ensuring her students receive the support they need to learn, grow, and succeed. Her commitment extends well beyond the classroom, as Meghan regularly volunteers her time and steps in to help at athletic events and other school activities. Congratulations, Meghan, and thank you for all you do for Reading Schools!
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“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis liked this“Raz” (Rich) Razgaitis liked thisTony Conrad a GP at a $5B+ early stage fund called True Ventures got 20 of the top VC's in Silicon Valley to showcase their latest AI investments. Last years showcase went on to raise $4B. Here were my highlights: 1. Puneet Agarwal said "We were wrong about almost everything last year." For example Dell Technologies revised its inference-token estimate up 57x. 2. The hyperscalers like Meta and Google have committed $2 trillion to AI. 3. Only 10% of enterprises have AI at full-scale deployment. There's $2T of supply waiting on a demand that hasn't shown up yet. That gap is the whole opportunity. The insights that stuck, and who said them: Kate Jensen, Anthropic — The enterprises winning with AI aren't the ones with clean data. They're the ones that pick the right project. Her two questions before any build: are you trying to make money or save money, and is it for you or for your customer? If the answer is "save 3% on cost," don't put the frontier model on it. If it's "get a drug to market a week earlier," staff it like a moonshot — every day off a ten-year patent clock is worth millions. And token prices fall ~10x a year, so build ahead of the cost curve. Naveen Rao, Unconventional AI - Every computer has been optimised for one thing: speed. Now, for the first time in history, compute is power-constrained & almost all energy goes into moving data, not computing it. He's now using biology is the existence proof that most of that movement is unnecessary. With his tech he can now ship new hardware every 3 months by building prototypes to learn, not products to sell. "You can't design an airplane purely in simulation." Luis Paarup, HappyRobot - Don't over-guardrail your agents. "the model's never going to get better than the person who wrote that SOP." Arvind Jain, Glean - Context isn't documents. Documents are maybe 20% of what a company knows. The other 80% is judgment — the manager who approves an expense that violates policy because she knows there's a conference in town and this employee never overspends. Capture that at scale and your agent performs like your best people. I met some great people including Elli Hanson from Side Stage Ventures & Shawn Cheng doing awesome stuff.
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Steven B.
The hemp industry is at a crossroads. And it’s not about bubbles vs gummies. It’s about whether policy will protect an entire regulated category… or carve it down to what fits neatly inside a cooler. I just published a new opinion piece titled: “When Alcohol Giants Pick Profits Over Patients.” In it, I explore: • Why “safety” arguments often focus on format instead of dose • What the Minnesota model proves about compliant edibles • How beverage-only carve-outs could reshape the hemp market • Why consumers who rely on low-dose THC for sleep and pain should be paying attention This isn’t an accusation piece. It’s a market structure discussion. For many consumers, this isn’t about novelty. It’s about access. If you believe hemp regulation should focus on testing, labeling, and responsible dose limits — not just packaging format — this conversation matters. I’d genuinely like to hear from: • Retailers • Regulators • Distributors • Consumers • Fellow operators Should hemp policy be comprehensive? Or should it prioritize one format over the rest? Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/g46fGuKj Let’s have the conversation openly. #HempIndustry #CannabisPolicy #THC #Regulation #Retail #MinnesotaModel #ConsumerAccess
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Matthew Myro Rothman
Cannabinoid medicine has an opportunity to become part of mainstream healthcare while preserving the knowledge, practices and organizations that built today's medical cannabis industry. But that future won't organize itself. If the industry doesn't help build the connective infrastructure healthcare requires, existing healthcare systems will ultimately determine how cannabinoid medicine fits within the frameworks they already trust. The question is whether our industry helps shape those frameworks, or simply learns to operate within them. That requires independent governance and dedicated technology. ACCM owns, governs and stewards the Next Frontier Pipeline on behalf of the industry. EM2P2 designed, built and operates the technology that powers it. The pioneers who built this industry deserve a voice in what comes next. #NextFrontier #ACCM #Healthcare
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Adam Terry
Since the headlines yesterday didn't do the bill justice, I read the Wyden Bill and wrote about it. It sets a federal framework for cannabinoids where states do not already have laws, but it does not preempt them from creating their own laws around milligram limits or venue of sale - both more and less restrictive than prescribed. It does preempt packaging and labeling regulations to create a standard. My full write up is here: https://lnkd.in/guYfDuSF
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Patrick Larkin
MM Brands "Day 2 Model" will focus on scientific, health-and-wellness-backed products rather than just high-THC potency. The company intends to use this model to capitalize on the increasing potential for federal cannabis rescheduling in the U.S. Legacy Brand Focus: Leveraging the established reputation of Mary's Medicinals (known for transdermal patches/topicals) Dixie Brands, Inc.. Omnichannel Distribution: Building a network that distributes products through traditional dispensaries while simultaneously developing direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels. Future Retail Expansion: The long-term goal is to move branded cannabis products into traditional retail outlets, such as pharmacies and convenience stores. #cannabis #wellness #MMbrandsinc #marysmedicinals #dixie #mjbizdaily https://lnkd.in/egau4Zy8
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Richard Batenburg
When it comes to capital strategy in the cannabis industry, strategic investors are not simply seeking “exposure” to the sector. Instead, their focus is on acquiring specific capabilities—such as compliant supply chains, consistent quality standards, route-to-market leverage, and brands with the potential to expand across markets. In cannabis, the true test of strategy occurs after the deal closes. Integration challenges can arise due to state-by-state fragmentation, quality assurance failure modes, channel conflicts, and concerns about whether the operating system can scale without jeopardizing compliance or the brand itself. Three primary capital strategies are emerging within the industry: * Asset-heavy vertical integration * Pure brand licensing * Hybrid infrastructure platforms Each of these strategies has inherent strengths. Asset-Heavy Vertical Integration Asset-heavy vertical integration is a strategic approach centered on control and synergies across inputs, manufacturing, and distribution. However, this model concentrates regulatory and execution risks, and its effectiveness depends on maintaining a fully utilized footprint and a replicable playbook across different markets. Brand Licensing - (Admitted bias - The Clear Brands has embraced this strategy completely) Licensing offers a strategic advantage for brands looking to expand reach without owning every facility. This approach can deliver option value across various geographies, but it requires rigorous specifications, testing procedures, and partner governance to ensure the brand maintains its consistency everywhere. Hybrid Infrastructure Platforms Hybrid platforms are creating a “shared services” layer, including compliance, QA, manufacturing systems, and distribution standards that brands can connect to. This strategy is particularly appealing for bolt-on opportunities, provided the platform is truly interoperable and not just a standalone solution. The central question is not which model is currently popular, but which approach best reduces operational risk while preserving brand integrity. Ultimately, capital gravitates toward predictability, since repeatable returns depend on it. This principle is consistent across all consumer categories. From a strategic perspective, it’s vital to determine where to place the bet: should you own the assets, own the brand, or own the operating system? The right choice is the one that increases integration velocity while maintaining quality and regulatory durability. #theclearbrands #TWAXbyTheClear #TheClearEFX
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