🗽 From Good To Great-Thriving In The Race

Hello from big, beautiful, crowded and historical Mumbai, India!

With a population of 21 M, Mumbai is one of the world’s most cosmopolitan and happening cities. From the world’s largest outdoor laundromat, to the world class High Tea at The Taj Palace, this city offers a lot.

Yet, it doesn’t offer a semblance of opportunity for the budding hemp or cannabis industry. What was once a delicacy for the great Lord Shiva, cannabis has a very hushed tone and the Gates of India have yet to welcome it into their top grossing GDP city.

On the other hand, the NY cannabis market is in full force. With over 230 open retail stores, 450+ brands, and almost a billion $ of sales generated in 2024 alone, this market is moving and truly has the potential to be the Global Cannabis Capital of the World

However, every large opportunity comes with its´obstacles & challenges, and these are magnified even more so in NY because of the pace (pricing compression), talent (saturation of stores & brands) & wrongful war on drugs in previous decades (illicit market).

So then how does NY take advantage of this opportunity and truly step into Greatness?

The answer is not simple by any means but by building a great community, taking advantage of lessons learned, & developing a shrewd game plan for 2025, there is a fighting chance. I’ve spent the better part of the last 2.5 years helping drive these aspects.

In today’s newsletter we’re covering:

1. Community with the CC

2. BOC NEW YORK EVENT RECAP

3. 2025 Game Plan

4. Industry Headlines

5. Holiday Events You Should Be At

Let’s dive in.

⌛️ Estimated reading time: 6.5 minutes

Community With The Cannabis Collective

Last Monday we gathered The Cannabis Collective members for a mouth-watering Executive dinner. This dinner was particularly impactful as it had been a few months since we all had gathered and in that time, NY has experienced explosive growth.

The first question we asked each leader around the room was to share one positive impact they made as a leader that week.

Often, we forget how fast we move. Stopping to connect, ground & share has massive yield especially because of the insights that come from this community & in particular these dinners.

One key pillar in addition to the collaboration is the ability to disagree amicably. We encourage this as a value because everyone has different experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. This is the true gold of our group, and in my opinion, one of the key ingredients of high performing teams that last.

The leaders in this group all are all fighting for a prosperous market but perspectives need to be challenged in order for us to evolve, and think about problems in a more expansive way.

Without amicable & respectful disagreement, there can be no evolution. Without evolution, Greatness will Never Happen.

When was the last time you disagreed amicably with your peer/colleague/best friend? What was the result?

Learn As If You Were To Live Forever -Mahatma Gandhi

The last half-marathon I ran, I did the first 6.2 miles (10K) in record time. I was over the moon, then my body started to break down. I wasn’t thinking about the full race, didn’t have the proper nutrients or hydration…I was just thinking about getting out of the starting gate as quick as I could.

Similarly, This industry is a marathon. Longevity is the name of the Game and we’ve barely started the race in NY & Globally.

One of the core reasons I got involved with Throwing Business of Cannabis NY was because that in order for NY Players to “finish the race”, they need nutrients, hydration packs & a glimpse into the finish line, which is what this conference was built to provide.

The day brought together 300 leaders and featured panel talks, curated networking & TED talk-style workshops from top tier leaders that set the tone for actionable knowledge, key insights to fuel growth & deep relationship building including:

• John Kagia: Policy Director, Office of Cannabis Management.

• Joanne Wilson: Founder, Solomon Wilson, Gotham

• David E. Vautrin: Interim CEO & Chief Retail Officer, RIV Capital.

• Arana Hankin-Biggers: President & Co-Founder, The Travel Agency.

• Sherry Boodram, PhD: CEO & Co-Founder, CannDelta Inc.

• And more see the Full List

The panels were thoughtfully designed to address topics that were already on everyone's minds and aligned with what they wanted to learn from the experts. The panels included:

• Preparing to Grow Up: Funding the Next Phase of Growth in N

• High-Tech State of Mind: Driving Success Through Technology

• Enforcement Action in New York State: An Update from the OC

• Three Billboards Inside New York: New Ad Regulations in NY

Full agenda here

Workshops

In a more intimate setting there were workshops that provided actionable steps for each person to improve their organization, operation, or leadership such as:

• Razor Sharp Strategies to Dominate the New York Cannabis Market

• Tools and Resources for Cannabis Retailers in New York: The Office of Cannabis Management

• Modern Cannabis Finance: Automation to Scale & Master Your Business

• Lessons in Loyalty: How to Build Lifetime Value

  • In this workshop I went deep into how Cannabis can learn about loyalty and Lifetime value from other industry. More specifically Starbucks, Whole Foods, and Sephora

• Building Financial Models in Cannabis Retail: Why, When, and How?

• Influencer Workshop: Reaching New Audiences Through Influencer Partnership

New York Believes it is different, but it needs to be different and learn from other regions or the results are going to be the same.

2025 Game Planning

In order to plan for the rest of the marathon, we must establish our current baseline:

1. The NY cannabis consumer is unlike any in the world, they are already sophisticated-continuing to educate this consumer and bring them back into the legal market will be a battle
   

2. Turning a label into a brand is much easier said than done

3. Saturation & competition is here. It's no longer enough to just be in the game, you must find ways to become sticky & win now

4. Illicit market is finally being addressed from a business point of view - but are the efforts short term in nature or will they be sufficient?

5. Funding is arriving through government programs and external sources (but will it be predatory debt? Is there any equity financing to be had/is this worth it for anyone?)

6. P&L Fluency will be the key to survival. How you manage your cash, burn & plan for externalities cannot be understated

As we step into 2025, more players will enter the market, prices will continue to compress at unprecedented rate, current competition will increase & evolve. Your job now becomes taking these pieces and building yourself a game plan for longevity.

Oh you thought I was just going to give you the game plan for next year? You have to call me/email me/whats app me/text me for that, it’s more of a one on one conversation:)

If You Remember Nothing Else…

The only way to continue to run the race and go from Good to Great (in any industry) is to:

• Leverage your community

• Understand & listen to lessons learned

• Build yourself a shrewd game plan

This way, no matter whatever pulled muscles, cramps & light headedness awaits you, you will thrive

-SKV

📆 Upcoming events

KIND Winter Fair

The premier Holiday event in Cannabis world wide awaits you, The Fourth Annual KIND WINTER FAIR. This event is special as I was fortunate to have a hand in the inaugural event 3 years ago. Over 3500 consumers, budtenders, retail owners will gather for two days of brand activation, food, games & entertainment with over 30,000 grams of cannabis expected to be sampled (only to budtenders and those who possess their Cannsell license).

This year, Sticky Cards (www.stickycards.co) will be digitizing the world renowned ¨budtender passport¨ with a seamless solution accessed/stored right within Apple & Google wallets. This innovative approach will help streamline data collection and empower vendors/partners with immediate analytics and insights.

🍃Tickets here
📆 November 25th and 26th 2024
📍15 Saskatchewan Road. Toronto

Holidays with The Collective 2024

Don´t Miss our last Collective Event of the Year. Details below, tickets will go quickly. As a gentle reminder, if you are an Executive member, your ticket is comped!

🗽 Cannabis Collective!
📆 December 12, 2024 6pm - 10pm
📍Tickets

As the world becomes more complex, it becomes more and more challenging to stay grounded, focused and aligned. Stay ahead by fostering unity, innovation, and trust across your teams and yourself. Don’t miss out on upcoming events and insights that will help shape your success in the months to come.

- SKV