In 2015, two desert racing aficionados and a laser engineer set out to build a superior light-emitting diode (LED) grow light for the cannabis industry.
This team of friends had a bold and precarious vision in a fast-growing industry that doesnβt easily forgive nor forget. They were hyper-focused on delivering on promises to their customers and establishing trust, especially with cultivators either skeptical of LEDs or who had negative past experiences with LED technology.
It was βa huge gamble,βΒ FohseΒ co-founder and chief executive officer Brett Stevens acknowledges. βBut we had a strong hand. With complete dedication, unwavering integrity, and a team who thought outside the box, we created a product that would change the industry.β
Six years later, against all odds, the small, tight-knit Fohse team is thriving, andβthanks in large part to the Nevada-based companyβs revolutionary designs and money-back guaranteeβcannabis growers have increasingly begun to adopt LED lights within their cultivation operations. Today, Fohse has sold tens of thousands of lights to growers around the world.
βFast-forwarding to where we are today, we set out to do exactly what we wanted,β Stevens says. βEvery goal weβve set has come to fruition. Weβre making the future of cannabis brighter every day, and weβre not slowing down.β
So how did Fohse achieve such success in building high-quality fixtures and earning cultivatorsβ confidence?
Humble and Ambitious Beginnings.
The start of the Fohse teamβs journey, like other game-changing technological innovations of recent decades, began in a garageβin this case, a garage used to store and repair the two- and four-wheel vehicles used in desert racing.
Alex Gerard, now the chief technology officer for the company, was working as an engineer in the medical industry. Heβd carved out a niche research and development specialtyβmedical lasersβand spent his days doing hands-on work in light laboratories. By night, he found himself fixating on a different kind of research. Having grown up in a horticulture-centric family, he was well aware of the challenges growers were facing with optimizing their horticultural lighting practices. He wondered: What if he could deliver both quality and efficiency in a whole new way?
While Gerard designed and experimented, two of his close friends from high schoolβStevens and future Fohse President Ben Arnetβhad uprooted from the Midwest to Las Vegas with plans to immerse themselves in the cannabis industry and local desert racing scene. Stevens, an accomplished driver, had dreams of the Baja 1000, a race in which heβll be competing in 2022.
βWe moved out here to pursue the cannabis industry and our love for the desert,β Stevens says. βWhat better place to do it than Vegas?β
By the time Gerard approached his old friends with his new design, Stevens and Arnet had already dipped their toes into the cannabis industry. The self-described βserial entrepreneursβ had begun with cultivation, but after a βdevastatingβ crop loss, looked to switch to a pick-and-shovel approach: investing in technology needed to produce a goodβin this case, cannabis. And when their old friend approached them with a revolutionary new LED fixture, their curiosity was piqued. The trio, along with two of their friendsβfuture chief operating officer Edwin Perez and future chief marketing officer James Bradleyβbuilt five prototypes in their garage that same weekend. They tested the prototypes within other friendsβ grows with βmind-blowingβ resultsβand the rest was history.
To engross themselves into the project more entirely, the five co-founders moved into one Las Vegas house together, along with a husky, an Akita, and two bulldogs. They pooled their money to buy a boardroom table, which they placed in the houseβs upstairs mezzanine, and got to work.
To sum it up, Arnet says: βWe crushed it.β
It was instantly clear that the group had the potential to change the future of growing. Immediately, Arnet, who had been an avid fan and financial supporter of desert racing, and Stevens divested from the sport and turned their entire professional attentions toward their new venture.
βI knew we were going to have to buckle down,β Stevens recalls.
To engross themselves into the project more entirely, the five co-founders moved into one Las Vegas house together, along with a husky, an Akita, and two bulldogs. They pooled their money to buy a boardroom table, which they placed in the houseβs upstairs mezzanine, and got to work.

βWe looked at each other like, βHow are we going to get this thing off the ground?ββ Stevens remembers.
For a year, the team sat around their boardroom table each day, brainstorming ideas for the launch of their new product. The tableβwhich remains in Fohseβs headquarters todayβwas also the birthplace of the companyβs name. Inspired by βphos,β the Greek word for βlight,β FOHSE stands for Future Of Horticultural Science and Engineering.
After a year of living and innovating together, the founders graduated to a real office in Las Vegas. But the house, like the table, is still in the teamβs possession, a reminder of their beginnings.
Trust Isnβt Given, Itβs Earned.
Creating and branding a revolutionary new LED light was the first, but far from the last, challenge for Fohse. In the beginning, the founders knew theyβd have to face another, perhaps even more seemingly insurmountable obstacle: gaining the trust of the cannabis industry.
In the tight-knit industry, Bradley and his co-founders knew it was easierβand fasterβto ruin a reputation than to build it. The founders knew integrity is everything.
βYouβve got one shot to do what you want to do,β as Arnet put it, βand if you donβt, youβre blacklisted.β
Bradley says the team had to find a way to convince people of the power behind Fohseβs technology.
Working in their favor, the Fohse team had gotten off to a strong start with their prototype and had already made solid connections in the industry through their own cultivation efforts. Their first test grows with the new lights had been a success. Their product workedβit had been proven. And they werenβt going to give up. Their brand, they knew, must be consistent, reliable, and trustworthy if they were to succeed.
To demonstrate their faith in their light and their commitment to new customers, the company founders decided to offer a guarantee: Outgrow your previous fixtures with Fohse lights, or weβll buy them back from you. To this day, no customer has asked for a refund.
βI donβt know how many times we had to sign personal guarantees in those early days, that you would grow just as much or more than a regular crop,β Arnet says. βBut we never had to buy a fixture back.β
To demonstrate their faith in their light and their commitment to new customers, the company founders decided to offer a guarantee: Outgrow your previous fixtures with Fohse lights, or weβll buy them back from you. To this day, no customer has asked for a refund.
The teamβs first sale, which came shortly after the testing phase, gave them their first indication of what was to come. True Fire & Agrocan, a Canadian LP group, approached the Fohse founders and invited them to pitch their new light. After a weekβs worth of meetings, Fohse left with its first sale ever.
βRight out of the gate, we got really, really fortunate,β Stevens says.
Since installing Fohse lighting, one of Fohseβs very first clients (whose name is being kept confidential at the clientβs request) has tracked yield results for 40 hydroponic growing cycles and across eight different cultivarsβand found consistent results. The cultivation company reported harvesting 7,130 pounds under Fohse fixtures, compared to 5,241 pounds of the same cultivars using high-pressure sodium (HPS) lighting. The THC levels of that cannabis has been higher, too, it reports: 21%, on average, compared to 17% under HPS fixtures. All in all, the cannabis grown using Fohse lighting netted the company more than $2.5 million more than the cannabis grown using a typical HPS system.
As the number of Fohse clients has grown, so have the number of success stories. The Grove, a Nevada-based cultivation and distribution company, installed Fohse lights after hearing of the record-breaking yields other Fohse customers had experienced across the country. In the fall of 2020, The Groveβs Fohse fixtures gave off 27% more light than standard HPS fixtures, leading to a 65% increase in dry yield harvest weightsβand healthier, denser budsβall while using 16% less energy than HPS lighting. Green Life Productions, another Nevada-based cannabis business, harvested between 80 and 90 pounds of cannabis on average under their previous lighting system. Under Fohse lighting, the company reports a typical harvest of between 160 and 200 pounds.
Such reports have become typical for Fohse customers. Today, the companyβs fixtures produce an average of 6 pounds per light, with a record grow of 8.4 pounds per light.
The Fohse team has grown since the days of six friends together in a house, with a total of 350 employees, most of whom work in the companyβs manufacturing facility. Through it all, the company has managed to build upon and maintain a tight-knit and diverse core management team, with no turnover in leadership since its founding six years ago.
βWeβve built such a strong team,β Arnet says. βMost startups you see, the teams fall apart, and they donβt make it. Our team makes coming to work every day a blessing.β

βI think weβre really a close-knit team, a family-driven team, that isnβt here for the short term,β Stevens adds. βWeβre here to create value and, really, to provide value for the industry. Once people start working with Fohse, we donβt see turnover.β
Stevens describes Fohse as a βfamily and friends business,β with a collaborative, supportive work environment driving the companyβs success. In some ways, that description is literalβFohse was founded by a group of close friends, with additional friends and family members later joining the team. But the company also works to actively foster a family environment each day, especially as it expands to bring new team members on board.
When hiring people with no previous ties to Fohse or its founders, the company welcomes them with the usual traditions: allowing them to personalize their offices to ensure maximum comfort and inviting them to an introductory lunch to get to know the team. But the companyβs unique approach to inclusion goes beyond on-boarding rituals. The foundersβ philosophy, summed up by Arnet: βYou want to go fast? Go alone. You want to go far? Go with a team.β
Fohseβs founders also credit their success in large part to one key principle: keeping their word.
βDo what you say youβre going to do, always,β Stevens says, when asked what words of advice he has for aspiring entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry. βIf you say youβre going to do something, do it. If itβs not true, donβt say it.β
βThe margin of error, the acceptance of bullshit in this industry, is very minimal,β Arnet adds.
Other ingredients for entrepreneurial success transcend industry.
βItβs kind of like every other industry, cannabis aside,β Arnet says. βIf youβre going to be an entrepreneur, donβt give up. Find a problem, fix it, and work backward.β
The companyβs founders also attribute their success to going above and beyond product manufacturing alone. The company doesnβt just take a βdrop-off-the-lights approach,β as its founders put itβit takes a βpartner approach,β by offering assistance, advice, and other helpful resources to customers before and after installation.
βItβs not just having the best technology,β says COO Edwin Perez. βItβs complementing that with the highest standard of customer service.β
As the Fohse name becomes increasingly ubiquitous in the cannabis industry, breaking down the stigma of LED lighting one fixture at a time, its founders have no plans to slow their momentum. In the coming years, they believe the LED revolution will continue to growβwith Fohse on the front lines.
βItβs the dawn of a new era for the cannabis industry,β Stevens says. βAnd Fohse is leading the charge.β