六年前，小型初创游戏公司星佳（Zynga）的创业团队成员汤姆•柏李赫还在旧金山福蒙特大街的一间小办公室里工作。柏李赫后来又加入AdExchange和Golden Palace Online Casino等公司，从事软件开发工作。他作为一名机器人工程师的职场经历波澜不惊。2009年，他离开了星佳，在多伦多创办了一家游戏工作室，还曾涉猎酒店行业。

    但如今，柏李赫正在从事一项与之前截然不同的工作：在波士顿以北20英里一家小酒店的宴会厅里，他正在向150位授信投资人解释公司的业务。除了对大麻的共同兴趣外，这些投资人与游戏玩家没有丝毫相似之处。这是ArcView投资者网络（ArcView Investor Network）最近举办的一场展销活动。这个组织的个人投资者每年支付数千美元，了解大麻行业中那些增长迅速的、最热门的公司。

    柏李赫现担任Surna公司（Surna Inc.）首席执行官。这家公司位于科罗拉多州的波尔得，主要面向商业化大麻种植户生产室内气候控制系统。公司之前的名称是Hydro Innovations，后在本周早些时候被OTC上市公司Surna反向收购。

    柏李赫在热情的潜在客户的簇拥下说：“这就是下一波的淘金热。现在的情况类似于星佳刚刚成立时的互联网游戏行业，只不过大麻行业并不是以流行为主导。人们会厌倦游戏，但我还没有见过有人会厌倦大麻。”

    大多数商业大麻种植户选择当地的暖通空调来保持室内的温度和湿度。但Surna公司认为，现有的技术并不是最适合大麻的，因为它不够全面（比如温度和湿度），而且气冷系统的能效远远比不过水冷产品。这家公司的小型产品价格为1,200美元，超大型设备的价格则高达50万美元（Surna公司并没有公布销售信息，只是表示，它卖出的系统价值“数十万美元”）。此外，这家公司自己的系统都由全职Surna员工负责安装（它目前仅有十几名员工）。

    柏李赫解释说：“由于某些原因，大多数公司为种植户开发的产品都以灯光为重点。但这只是其中的一个部分。”

    Surna希望向其他行业扩张——包括更广泛的农业和服务器群组，最终从OTC上市公司变成美国证券交易所上市的公司。但在目前，这家公司的主要任务是，在美国增长最快的市场中谋求发展壮大。

    笔者结束对柏李赫的采访后，一位ArcView投资者网络成员说：“随着监管的放松，大麻市场只会不断壮大。Surna这样的公司要担心的只有执行，而不是需求。”（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    Six years ago, Tom Bollich was working out of a small office on Vermont Street in San Francisco, as part of the founding team of a small gaming startup called Zynga. It was a natural progression for the onetime robotics engineer, who had gone on to software development jobs at such companies as AdExchange and Golden Palace Online Casino. He left Zynga (ZNGA) in early 2009 to launch a Toronto-based gaming studio, and also to dabble in the restaurant industry.

    Today, however, Bollich is in a very different place: A small hotel ballroom 20 miles north of Boston, explaining his company to a roomful of 150 accredited investors who share little with gamers outside of a common interest in marijuana. This event is the latest pitch session for the ArcView Investor Network, a group of individuals who pay thousands of dollars annually to learn about the hottest companies in the burgeoning cannabis sector.

    Bollich is the chief executive of Surna Inc., a Boulder, Colo.-based maker of indoor climate control systems for commercial marijuana growers. The company previously was known as Hydro Innovations, before being acquired earlier this week by OTC-listed Surna (SRNA) in a reverse merger.

    "This is the next gold rush," says Bollich, in the midst of glad-handing potential customers. "It's kind of like Internet gaming was when Zynga started, except this isn't a hits-driven business. People get tired of games, but I haven't seen many people who get tired of pot."

    Most commercial cannabis growers use their local HVAC supplier in order to keep indoor temperatures and humidity in line. But Surna argues that existing technologies aren't optimized for marijuana crops, are not comprehensive (i.e., temperature and humidity) and that air-chilling systems are not as energy-efficient as their water-chilling products. The company's products run from $1,200 for a small system to nearly half a million dollars for a very large one (Surna isn't disclosing sales information, except to say that it has sold systems valued in the "hundreds of thousands of dollars"). It also installs each of its own systems with full-time Surna employees (of which there are only about a dozen right now).

    "For some reason, most of the companies creating products for growers have focused on lights," Bollich explains. "But that's only part of the equation."

    Surna expects to eventually expand into other industries -- including broader agriculture and server farms -- and to move up from its OTC listing to the NYSE Amex. But, for now, it's working to gain traction in one of America's fastest-growing markets.

    "The cannabis market is only going to get larger and larger as regulations loosen," said an ArcView Investor Network member, after I finished speaking with Bollich. "A company like Surna only needs to worry about execution, not demand."