Cannabis Consulting Services
The cannabis industry evolving at different speeds in every market, the rules are constantly changing, the financing markets dynamically shifting, and new challenges and opportunities are appearing daily! As the global cannabis markets continue to open, every business has new opportunities to deal with!
We have been involved in both the domestic and international cannabis markets. We can help you plan for where the market is today, and position your business for where the market will be in 18-24-36 and 60 months.
Because the cannabis industry is evolving at breakneck speed, positioning your business with a perspective of where the industry will be, and not just where it is today is necessary to ensure that your business can reach its potential.
Whether your business is local or global, more competition is coming, and you need to be prepared. If your business is looking to grow there are many significant marketplace differences to consider and prepare for. Depending on your needs, the following are common areas that we help cannabis businesses with:
Financing your Cannabis Business
Most cannabis businesses raise capital. To raise the capital you need to have a compelling story, financial models and use of funds plans that drive meaningful growth, a direction as to what type of funding your business requires, a network to access, and a plan of action among many other things. We have experience raising capital not just for Cannabis companies, but with software, IT, mining, and more.
Every day you spend financing is time lost developing your business. We can help you shorten the timeline so that you can focus on execution.
Cannabis Compliance Regulations
Implementing a comprehensive product compliance strategy should involve independent certification of a company’s processes. While certifications are a key step, product compliance also involves supply chain transparency, privacy, consumer and patient safety, and ESG among other areas.
Banking and product compliance in the cannabis industry are very distinct areas of management, but both are critically important. Obtaining the right certifications at each step of production future-proofs your business, allows it to charge more for premium quality products, and also helps you protect the business and yourself from liability risks in the future.
In looking at cannabis compliance regulations, governments and industry participants have common interests, but different paths. We have worked with government agencies around the world to resolve complex issues. We have helped them put in place laws and regulations that open markets and help support sustainable industry growth.
Banking Compliance
When most entrepreneurs start their businesses, banking compliance is not at the forefront of their minds. But as the business develops it becomes an issue. Your bankers can advise you with regards to what you need. Banking compliance issues are not rocket science, but in the global cannabis industry, there are unique challenges. Tracking the chain of custody of the product is something we should all be mindful of, not just for traceability purposes, but also for multiple facets of our compliance strategies. Having the wrong solution in place, or a solution that isn’t ready for your growth can crush your opportunities. With so many other operational problems to deal with, ensuring that banking doesn’t become a problem is one thing that you don’t want to worry about.
Product Compliance
If you are not familiar with the requirements under GACP, GMP, EU-GMP, cGMP, and other certifications, your business will run into trouble. There are a lot of people in the industry who throw those terms around, and they really don’t know what is involved in obtaining, (and worse maintaining), these certifications.
If you are a US-based operator and not looking to expand internationally, do you need EU-GMP? It’s easy to say no, but without really understanding the implications. You definitely don’t need EU-GMP certification as an in-state US-based operator today, nor as an MSO (Multi-State Operator). But CGMP should be at the top of your list. There are many very good reasons that independent certifications are beneficial to your business.
Seeking the right certifications for your business is only one step in the right direction. It is easy to waste a lot of time and money if your business doesn’t proceed properly. Our associates have worked with the foremost certifying organizations globally, both in cannabis as well as in pharmaceuticals. The FDA will be involved in the industry at some point, and when they get involved businesses won’t have time to adapt, at the minimum, your business is either CGMP certified, or closed. The FDA won’t tolerate weaker state standards for cannabis than it does in any other consumable product, and since the FDA standards are known, what does it say about a business selling products today that knowingly fails to meet FDA standards?
Legislative & Regulatory Advisors
One of the most important questions governments need to ask themselves is “why”? Not why to permit an industry to develop, nor why they need to allow their citizens to obtain the treatments they require, rather why should they focus their industry support on a particular area, and how will that support help develop a sustainable industry?
Regulators and legislators approach the challenges differently. Legislators want to understand ‘why’ opening their market makes sense, and ‘how’ it will benefit their constituents. Regulators need to consider ‘how’ the various aspects of the industry interact across ministries, ‘why’ certain rules need to be in place, ‘what’ needs to be updated and added to their existing frameworks and which systems are updated to support the implementation of the laws. finally, They need to define ‘how’ and ‘when’ to intervene to correct inconsistencies and violations of the regulations.
In some geographies around the world, cannabis production is not as well-suited to the climate or environment, but due to the local talent pool, research and the development of Intellectual Property (IP) and new products are ideal. While some markets are ideal for building a vertically integrated industry, most are not.
We help legislators define what they want the local industry to become, helping them determine where to place their efforts in support of sustainable economic growth that benefits their population. We have worked with regulators to work with them to help draft national regulations while providing a global perspective on their local goals and objectives.
Capital Markets & Corporate Finance
There are a number of paths to choose from when seeking capital to fund a growing business.
While most services businesses are best suited to bootstrapping, many other areas are capital intensive in the startup and growth phases, and therefore need a healthy infusion of capital to begin operations, to survive downturns, or to drive growth. No business fails because it’s properly capitalized.
Every business is different in its needs, and your business’ capacity to raise capital is affected both by the needs and the promise. Investors or lenders want to know and understand how they will recover their investment, and make a profit. Whether you are considering raising capital via equity, debt, borrowing, going public, or via any other path, we can help you determine the optimal structure and develop the right message to raise the capital your business needs. We can also help you develop the appropriate pitch documents, get your data room ‘investor ready,’ and provide support at any and every stage needed. Fundraising isn’t easy, but with experience, it gets simpler and less daunting.
Operational Expertise
It’s pointless for anyone to help you succeed who hasn’t dealt with the operational challenges your business is facing. It’s also incorrect to ask a grower about compliance, or a compliance expert about growing. While they should both have deep knowledge of the other’s role, they should also understand that neither one of them is a domain expert in the other’s field.
We have built businesses globally, in the cannabis industry, and in other industries. There are distinct and unique complexities to bringing products to market in the cannabis industry, but not to the business as a whole. We have operational experience across every facet of a business to bring in the right advisors and deliver results quickly and efficiently for your business.
From Problem to Opportunity
Gaining and maintaining a holistic view of how all the components of a business interoperate is not trivial. The cannabis industry is more challenging than most.
The worst thing anyone can do is believe they are masters of all operations in any business because then it’s more likely that they are really masters of none. Asking for help is the most empowering thing anyone can do. In the cannabis industry, we all need help because there are more changes happening on a regular basis than in any other industry.
A proactive attitude provides the perspective necessary to make opportunities for growth and success appear. Let’s discuss how we can help you gain and maintain that perspective.