The Rank Really High Story

Built by Operators. Forged Through Adversity. Driven by Data.

The story of Rank Really High does not begin in cannabis.

It begins with three entrepreneurs from very different backgrounds who shared a common belief: businesses should own their customers, own their data, and control their future.

That belief would eventually lead them to build one of the cannabis industry’s most recognized eCommerce and digital marketing platforms, serving hundreds of dispensaries across North America.

Today, Rank Really High powers digital experiences, eCommerce, SEO, advertising, analytics, customer engagement, and AI-powered shopping experiences for some of the most respected operators in cannabis. But the company’s journey was anything but conventional.

The Founders

Dan Mondello

CEO & Co-Founder

Dan Mondello has spent more than two decades building, scaling, and commercializing technology businesses.

Long before entering cannabis, Dan built successful software and digital marketing companies across multiple industries, earning numerous software patents and developing a reputation for identifying market inefficiencies before others recognized them.

Known for his obsessive focus on customer experience, search visibility, conversion optimization, and analytics, Dan became increasingly frustrated by what he saw happening in cannabis.

Dispensaries were investing heavily in digital marketing, yet most lacked visibility into customer behavior.

Critical business decisions were being made using incomplete information.

Website traffic was being driven to third-party platforms.

Customer data was fragmented.

Marketing attribution was often impossible.

Operators were spending significant money acquiring customers while simultaneously losing ownership of the customer relationship.

Dan believed the industry deserved better.

He saw an opportunity to create a platform that would not only power dispensary websites but also provide operators with complete control over their digital ecosystem.

His vision was simple:

Cannabis retailers should own their brand, own their data, own their customer relationships, and own their future.

That philosophy would become one of the foundational principles behind Rank Really High.

Beyond technology, Dan became known throughout the cannabis industry as a strategic advisor, educator, and advocate for digital ownership. His work has helped hundreds of dispensaries improve SEO performance, increase online sales, strengthen local search visibility, and better understand the relationship between marketing investment and revenue growth.

Brendan Duane

Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer

While Dan focused on vision, strategy, and market opportunity, Brendan Duane became the architect responsible for turning ambitious ideas into scalable technology.

A highly respected software engineer and systems architect, Brendan brought deep expertise in platform development, integrations, infrastructure, data management, and enterprise software design.

From the earliest days of Rank Really High, Brendan understood that cannabis retailers faced unique technical challenges.

The industry operates across a fragmented ecosystem of point-of-sale providers, menu systems, inventory platforms, compliance requirements, loyalty systems, analytics platforms, and marketing technologies.

Most vendors solved only one piece of the puzzle.

Brendan focused on solving the entire ecosystem challenge.

Under his leadership, Rank Really High developed sophisticated integrations with leading cannabis technologies while maintaining flexibility and performance.

He helped build a platform capable of ingesting and normalizing large amounts of product, inventory, pricing, terpene, cannabinoid, and merchandising data.

His engineering philosophy emphasized scalability, reliability, and long-term flexibility.

As the industry evolved, Brendan’s work allowed Rank Really High to adapt rapidly to changing market conditions while continuing to innovate.

Many of the platform capabilities that clients now take for granted—deep integrations, merchandising flexibility, analytics visibility, SEO-friendly architecture, and AI-powered experiences—exist because of Brendan’s technical leadership.

Kyle Masters

Co-Founder

Kyle Masters brought another critical component to the founding team: product intuition and user experience.

While technology can solve problems, Kyle believed technology should also be intuitive, approachable, and enjoyable to use.

Throughout the company’s evolution, Kyle helped shape the customer experience, focusing on how dispensary operators, marketers, budtenders, and consumers interacted with digital commerce platforms.

His contributions influenced everything from site architecture and merchandising strategy to product discovery and conversion optimization.

Kyle recognized early that cannabis consumers often face overwhelming product choices.

Traditional eCommerce experiences were not designed for the complexity of cannabis.

Consumers weren’t simply shopping by product name.

They were shopping by effect.

By feeling.

By experience.

By outcome.

This insight helped shape many of Rank Really High’s innovations around product discovery, merchandising, search, filtering, and AI-assisted recommendations.

Kyle’s focus on usability helped bridge the gap between complex cannabis data and meaningful consumer experiences.

The Industry Problem

As cannabis legalization accelerated across North America, dispensaries rushed online.

Unfortunately, much of the industry’s digital infrastructure was built around convenience rather than ownership.

Retailers often relied on iframe-based menu systems and third-party experiences that created significant limitations:

• Poor SEO performance

• Limited customer data ownership

• Incomplete attribution

• Fragmented analytics

• Weak brand differentiation

• Reduced marketing effectiveness

• Limited merchandising control

Many operators didn’t realize the long-term consequences.

Traffic generated through SEO, advertising, social media, email, loyalty programs, and local search was frequently being pushed into environments where retailers had little visibility into customer behavior.

The founders of Rank Really High saw a dangerous trend emerging.

Cannabis operators were unknowingly surrendering some of their most valuable digital assets.

The team believed the industry needed a fundamentally different approach.

Building a New Standard

Rank Really High was created to help dispensaries regain control.

The company focused on creating native cannabis eCommerce experiences that prioritized:

• Data ownership

• Search engine visibility

• Conversion optimization

• Marketing attribution

• Merchandising flexibility

• Customer engagement

• Brand differentiation

Rather than forcing operators into rigid systems, Rank Really High built technology that adapted to each retailer’s unique needs.

The goal was never simply to build websites.

The goal was to build digital infrastructure that could become a competitive advantage.

As the platform matured, Rank Really High expanded beyond websites into a complete ecosystem of digital growth solutions.

Innovation Through AI

One of the company’s most notable innovations came through the development of Rank AI.

The founders recognized that cannabis consumers often struggle to navigate increasingly complex menus containing thousands of products.

Traditional search experiences required customers to know exactly what they wanted.

Most customers didn’t.

They knew how they wanted to feel.

Rank AI was designed to bridge that gap.

Leveraging live inventory data and product attributes such as:

• Terpenes

• Cannabinoids

• Effects

• Strain classifications

• Popularity

• Pricing

• Brand information

• Product chemistry

Rank AI functions as a digital budtender, helping consumers discover products aligned with their desired experiences.

The technology represented another step toward the founders’ larger vision: using data and artificial intelligence to create better customer experiences while helping retailers increase engagement and sales.

Growth Through Results

As dispensaries adopted the platform, measurable results followed.

Clients experienced:

• Increased online revenue

• Improved SEO visibility

• Higher engagement rates

• Better attribution reporting

• Enhanced customer retention

• Greater marketing efficiency

• Stronger local search performance

Many operators discovered for the first time how customers were truly interacting with their websites.

Marketing decisions became more informed.

Merchandising became more strategic.

Digital investments became more measurable.

Most importantly, operators regained ownership over their digital ecosystem.

A Different Philosophy

Throughout its growth, Rank Really High has maintained a philosophy that differentiates it from many technology providers.

The company believes technology should empower operators rather than lock them into dependency.

The founders have consistently advocated for:

• Transparency

• Data ownership

• Open integrations

• Long-term strategic thinking

• Customer success over short-term gains

This philosophy has often placed Rank Really High at the center of important industry conversations about digital ownership, eCommerce architecture, marketing attribution, and retailer independence.

Looking Forward

The cannabis industry continues to evolve.

Consumer expectations continue to rise.

Competition continues to intensify.

Artificial intelligence, personalization, automation, and predictive analytics are reshaping how retailers engage customers.

Rank Really High’s founders believe the next decade of cannabis retail will be won by operators who successfully combine technology, data, and customer experience.

The company’s mission remains the same as it was from the beginning:

To help cannabis retailers own their digital future.

By combining advanced technology, deep industry expertise, powerful integrations, AI-driven innovation, and a relentless focus on measurable business outcomes, Rank Really High continues to help dispensaries compete, grow, and thrive in an increasingly complex marketplace.

What began as a simple belief—that retailers deserve ownership of their customers, their data, and their destiny—has grown into a platform trusted by hundreds of cannabis operators across North America.

And the story is still being written.