Good morning, and happy Hall of Flowers to y’all. 💐

The readers that open this thing every week know that this newsletter is not news; it’s a stream of consciousness fever dream about cannabis, tech, psychedelics, and social issues - which I desperately enjoy writing, and which I hope you enjoy reading.

In the spirit of continuously adding value for more and more subscribers, I’ll be transitioning the Thursday post to focus on three actionable tips for navigating / surviving the cannabis space, based on things I’ve learned during my tenure. I will still interview folks for Canndid and send those out as they become available (Dre Neumann from Jushi is up next, and hoo boy is it a doozy), and I will still write random missives when I feel the urge to make a point. But let’s all try this for a while and see how it feels.

🕺🏻

🚀 Three tips for surviving and thriving in cannabis tech sales

This topic is near to my heart, because I have lived and breathed it for 4+ years.

1. Choose your company wisely 🤔

The first (and most important) point I’ll make is that not all cannabis technology companies are created equal. I have watched the space ebb and flow, and many companies have gone under - due to subpar management, subpar technology, or subpar go to market strategy / execution.

Consider the following:

When I joined Jane, there were over 50 endemic point of sale solutions to service 2-3k dispensaries nationwide.

When I joined Jane, the eCommerce space was dominated by Weedmaps and Baker.

When I joined Jane, texting and loyalty providers were just starting to gain steam.

The survivors have a lot in common - and most of them do at least one thing (tech, management / people, go to market) well.

Salespeople - here’s how to vet a company that gives you an offer.

• Dig deep into the people - especially management. Does the management team have a clear vision for the future? Do they share your ideals and philosophy around the plant? Listen to every podcast you can find. Read every article where the CEO is quoted. Request informal chats with current employees. If the people aren’t impressive and passionate, it means they likely won’t swim in the same direction, and the company will have trouble.

• Do research on the technology. We hired Bij Firouzan in 2019, and he was a tough cookie. We got a call from a dispensary in Santa Cruz asking if we knew someone named Bijan, because some dude had been calling and asking about Jane. Bij was doing his research, talking to customers, taking a temp check on Jane in the market. Be like Bij.

• Do research on fundraising, go to market strategy, traction to date. Is there a path to market share? Is there a path to revenue? Is there a path to profitability? Have they accomplished anything meaningful yet? Is there enough money to survive for the long haul? Also, equity is wonderful, but 0.5% of $0 is $0.

2. Do not partner with everyone

This industry has bad habits, because most canna tech companies think it’s okay to purchase market share with investor funds. The result is that everyone rev shares with everyone; everyone sends referrals to everyone; everyone does webinars with everyone.

You should vet your partners based on:

• Do you have complementary products (e.g. do you avoid ‘stepping on each other’s toes’)?

• Do you see reciprocity (e.g. do they return the favor)?

• Do they (truly) have your mutual partners’ best interests at heart? This is a tough one to vet, admittedly, because we’re all running businesses. A few conversations with management usually shed some light on the overall vibe

Partners are incredibly powerful, but if they are overused, the resulting deals are not incredibly sticky.

*Special note re: consultants: I do think some canna tech consulting firms are really in the game for the right reasons - if they have objective reasons why they recommend A over B, that’s all you need to know. Make sure you have a best-in-class product and they usually reward you. 

3. No one cares about you

I used to arrive at a demo, virtual or otherwise, and talk about Jane for 50 minutes. It didn’t close a lot of deals.

What the better sellers on my team taught me, and what I begrudgingly learned, is that no one cares about me, or Jane. For every prospect in every industry - they are out to solve their own problems, not hear about your company.

• Ask questions

• Listen

• Take notes

• Spend some time (not a lot) describing how your system can help alleviate some pain

People want to avoid pain. Help them in that mission.

📚 tl;dr

• 3 for Thursday: Tips for surviving and thriving in cannatech sales

  • Choose your company wisely: vet the people, the tech, and the go to market strategy

  • Do not partner with everyone: partnerships are important and strategic, so take them seriously

  • No one cares about you: people want to be heard, they don’t want a presentation

• It is Thursday. Happy Hall of Flowers