Peter Barsoom, Co-Founder and CEO of 1906 – Interview Series

Admittedly, few cannabis brand owners can say they’re gone from working Director roles at some of America’s largest financial institutions to founding a successful brand in an industry still heavily federally prohibited. And yet Peter Barsoom, Co-Founder and CEO of 1906, an edible producer that is utilizing lipid microencapsulation technology among many other innovative strategies, has had that exact professional journey.

So I’m pretty sure you’re the first person I’ve interviewed who received his PhD from Princeton. What did receiving that very prestigious degree usually entail and what were the most interesting subjects that you studied and wrote papers about?

I actually left my Ph.D. program at Princeton in the final year. I realized I didn’t want to study systems from afar—I wanted to be in the room where they were being redesigned. Academic life can be isolating, and the gap between research and real-world impact was just too wide. What that experience gave me was rigor: the discipline to ask the right questions and pursue clear, actionable answers. That mindset shaped everything I’ve done since.

What were some of your regular duties with MMG, and what is the grand importance of the work of that company?

MMG—Mitchell Madison Group—was a consulting firm spun out of McKinsey, focused on financial services. That’s where I learned the power of pricing and consumer behavior. One of my graduate professors was Daniel Kahneman, and at MMG I got to apply his insights in the real world—how people actually make decisions, not how they say they do. We used those principles to redesign how financial products were marketed. It was behavioral economics brought to life.

What were the deciding factors in the professional transition from MMG to the financial sector? What were the most professionally appealing factors of working in the finance industry?

Consulting gives you a bird’s-eye view. Finance puts you on the field. I wanted to take ownership of decisions, not just advise on them. What drew me in wasn’t the money—it was the ability to shape outcomes at scale. Finance also teaches you to operate with clarity under pressure, which turned out to be ideal training for entrepreneurship.

Although it’s a PhD in Politics, how would you say your PhD was most useful in the financial sector? Furthermore, what were the most vital lessons in management and executive leadership that you learned during this time?

My Ph.D. didn’t teach me politics—it taught me pattern recognition. It taught me how to frame questions, separate noise from signal, and challenge assumptions with discipline. In finance, that’s invaluable. As for leadership, I learned that clarity is currency. The best leaders don’t inspire with charisma alone—they do it with consistency, accountability, and the ability to create alignment in chaos.

After over 15 years in the finance industry, what inspired you to create the 1906 brand? What would you say were the most defining moments that led to such an uncommon professional decision?

We built 1906 for people like us—high-performing, health-conscious adults who want cannabis to be precise, fast, and functional. We often say 1906 is cannabis for control freaks. The inspiration wasn’t some grand epiphany. It was a slow-burning frustration with how the market was ignoring consumers who demand efficacy and trust. I didn’t leave finance to get into cannabis—I left to build something better: a wellness system that actually works.

What are the values of the 1906 brand, and why did you pick that name in particular? What is the significance of that number?

The name 1906 marks the year the U.S. passed the Pure Food and Drug Act—the beginning of the prohibition of cannabis. We chose that name to reclaim the narrative. Our values are rooted in truth, precision, and accessibility. We believe plant medicine should be stigma-free, fast-acting, and designed for how people actually live today. We’re not just building products—we’re correcting a hundred-year mistake.

How are the 1906 Drops designed and manufactured in order to ensure fast-acting effects? Throughout the manufacturing process, how do you ensure that the effects of the Drops themselves are distinct from one another?

We took the guesswork out of edibles. Each Drop is engineered using a patented lipid microencapsulation process that delivers a predictable effect within 20 minutes. But onset is just the beginning. Every Drop is purpose-built using a specific blend of THC, CBD, and functional plant medicines—like caffeine in Go, kanna in Bliss, or ashwagandha in Love. We don’t just promise different effects—you feel them.

As a producer of a popular edibles brand, what advantages do you think cannabis edibles have over flower or concentrate products?

Edibles are discreet, precise, and designed for people who want control. You don’t need a lighter, you don’t need to guess the dose, and you don’t need to be part of cannabis culture to use them. Most of our customers would never smoke—but they’re happy to take a Drop that helps them sleep, focus, or de-stress. Edibles are where cannabis meets modern wellness.

Although they seem worlds apart professionally, what have been the most transferable skills that you developed in the finance industry that have proven equally useful when running the 1906 brand?

The most valuable skills I brought from finance are storytelling, risk management, and disciplined execution. Finance taught me to make decisions with incomplete information, to stay calm under pressure, and to always tie strategy to results. But perhaps the most important lesson was this: in both finance and cannabis, the story you tell becomes the reality people buy into. At 1906, we use that power responsibly—to change the narrative around what cannabis can be.

Thank you for joining us, Peter! For more information on 1906, please visit its website.