*By: Madison Alworth* Matthew Nordgren followed in the pro football footsteps of his father, and now in retirement, he's drawn inspiration from his father's experience to launch a career in the cannabis business. "The people who played with him at that time are suffering from all sorts of illnesses and pains, you name it," Nordgren said in an interview with Cheddar. "So it started to also become a passion in my family to try to help people my dad's age to try to deal with sleep and pain and all the things they are going through. A lot of personal reasons to be in it." Nordgren's father George spent time in the NFL as a running back for the Dallas Cowboys. As Matthew explains it, the 70-year-old and his aging football friends are feeling the repercussions of playing a physically demanding sport for much of their career. And the younger Nordgren saw an opportunity there. Himself a former player for the Philadelphia Eagles, he went on to a career in private equity and now is the founder and CEO of Arcadian Fund and Arcadian Capital Management, a venture capital firm in Los Angeles specializing in ancillary cannabis businesses. Among the company's investments is the publication "High Times," which is set [to go public](https://hightimes.com/news/high-times-pots-most-established-brand-going-public/) later this year. He said these kinds of secondary businesses sit better with the company's clients. "Because we had a lot of assets that were highly regulated, highly publicized, our investor base and our current portfolio were assets that really didn't have a lot of comfort in the plant-touching side of the business. So we knew right away that 'High Times' and our background sort of led us to the ancillary side." For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/matthew-nordgren-on-his-break-into-the-cannabis-industry)
