Monday, January 1, 2018

The Next Episode

If you've landed here, you are someone who has either helped me along my professional journey (and I cant name you all as there are too many, and likely some I would forget to mention); are a friend or colleague with at least a passing interest in my professional endeavors; or you thought you were clicking a link to the Dre/Snoop song.  So, if the latter, I linked it for you, and my apologies.

But if you fall into the prior two categories...I am making some changes. If you don't feel like reading my prose, you can skip about half way down to get to the real skinny (where it says THE REAL SKINNY). But if you care to indulge me...I began with Dixie Brands, Inc. almost four years ago to the day, throwing corporate caution to the wind as I knew in my gut that legalization was not only the right thing to do, but also held tremendous opportunity for those willing to take risks early. And for the record--I say early in the context of a life-long corporate guy like me. There are MANY who risked far greater, far earlier than me to move Cannabis ahead. I am grateful to those who took the risk so that I could find a home.

But back to Dixie and my jump to the green side. I knew that it would be a wild ride, filled with new adventures, new friends, new opportunities, a lot of firsts, a lot of uncertainty and a lot of personal/professional growth. Turns out, I might have underestimated. It was crazier than I anticipated. We built and launched multiple new brands (Aceso and Therabis); new products (chocolates, gummies, etc.); and new markets (CA, AZ, MD, NV and even OR for about a month).  I helped shape legislation in multiple markets. I saw more "opportunities" come and go than I can even remember (this industry has ADHD like none other). I met hundreds of new colleagues who I now call good friends, having been in trenches with them unique to this industry alone. And I saw the good, bad and ugly of how to run/grow a start-up business in a start up industry. The good news for me is that there are precious few of those experiences that I would have traded because all of it has given me a perspective and clarity that I might not have had five years ago, and certainly not ten years ago. It also led me to this next adventure, which I call CXjoe.

As I began thinking that my time at Dixie had run its course, I started to put out some feelers to see what was out there. Three things became clear to me:
1) There is a LOT going on outside of Colorado as I spoke with some amazing, strong, profitable and innovative companies in IL, MA and CA.  Colorado likes to "think" it's the center of the cannabis universe, but that kind of thinking will end up leaving this state behind, not ahead, as legalized cannabis grows.
2) The next wave of innovation for the Cannabis industry is not, in my mind, the next greatest gummy flavor. In fact, I firmly believe that only the strongest of single vertical companies (edibles or otherwise) will survive in the long term. Rather, I believe the next wave is coming back full circle to bridging medical and "recreational" use by dialing in dosing, effect and results backed by data. There are some really exciting companies working hard to create "recreational" products that provide consumers/patients with the ability to leverage very specific cannabinoids, delivery systems and dosing regimens to achieve successful health outcomes with cannabis. That's not to say that there's not still a huge market for people who just want to "get high" (and there's plenty out there), but those products might become commoditized in a race to the bottom for pricing, dominated by a few larger brands. The "growth" will occur within new users (the proverbial soccer moms and seniors) who want to know what they are getting, why and how to use it.
3) We are still lacking a certain maturity as an industry and even the exciting companies still aren't quite ready for a full time team of executives. Or they are in constant fund raising/flux mode and can't quite afford someone with over 20 years of experience. Which is how I got to CXjoe.

THE REAL SKINNY. I formed CXjoe, LLC in an effort to create a "shared executive" program with several of these exciting, growth stage companies. Specifically, in addition to on-going consulting with Dixie, I started working with the following companies in varying capacities from marketing to business development and operations this past December:
-GoFire: Check them out at GoFire.co. An amazing team of young, talented and passionate professionals who are creating a first of its kind, dosable vaporization platform driven by "Internet of Things" (IOT) smart technology in the proprietary cartridges and device.  The wisdom and natural leadership I see from Peter Calfee, the CEO of GoFire, far exceeds the years of experience in this team and I love just being in the office with all of them.
-MedPharm: Led by Albert Gutierrez, MedPharm just completed a state of the art, next-level, integrated facility with cultivation, lab, ISO clean room, extraction and production all in one. This team, backed by leaders in chemistry and compound pharmaceuticals, will leverage this one-of-a-kind facility to produce not only the highest quality recreational extracts (some of which are custom formulated, such as "become" which is a line of vape concentrates formulated by women and for women), but also proprietary formulations which will be licensed in legal markets around the country and around the world. www. medpharmholdings.com.
-Cannabrand: If you've been around PR and marketing in the cannabis industry, you have likely heard of Olivia Mannix and Cannabrands. They have led the way with Cannabis specific branding, PR and marketing since 2014.  There is a great team of young professionals at Cannabrand and I am proud to be working with them on providing some additional strategy and tools for their stellar list of clients, as well as helping to shape some of their growth moving forward.

In addition to working with a tremendous line up of start-ups in the Cannabis space, I am also adding "professor" to my list of experiences. I will be teaching a marketing strategy MBA course at DU this Winter. While my wife likes to remind me that I am just an adjunct and not a real "professor" --that wont stop me from milking that title for all I can. And from potentially getting a jacket with leather elbow patches. Hat tip to my friend Lowell Miller for connecting me with this opportunity. My relationship with Lowell is a great reminder for anyone reading this that networks, and staying in touch with people over the years is critical to finding growth and opportunities.

I try not to indulge in public self-reflection too often, so if you've read this whole thing...thank you. It was about three years in the making since my last blog post, so I had a lot to get out. I hope you have a great 2018, and if you're interested in how this "shared executive" thing turns out, let me know and I would be happy to keep you updated. Of course, if you have opportunities to discuss (either for CXjoe or any of the companies I am working with), I would love to hear that as well.  The best email for me moving forward is hodiodi@gmail.com.

Finally, and most importantly, if you are one of those who has lent me multiple ears and helped me make these important decisions along the way--thank you. I dont know how people make big decisions without the kind of support I have from my friends, colleagues and family. And thank you to my Dixie peeps for the opportunities and challenges that have brought me here.

Feels good to get this all off my chest and official. Thanks for reading.
Joe

30 comments:

  1. Joe, Congratulations on your next chapters. Those start-ups smart enough to engage you will benefit from your wealth of knowledge, experience, and skills. Most importantly, the Denver MBA students lucky to have you in the classroom will learn from your vast business and life experiences. All will be enriched through the opportunites to work with you. Wishing you continued success.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Lowell. Really appreciate all your support. Glad to have you in my court!
      Joe

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  2. Nicely said Joe, heartfelt and honest. I appreciate your candor and would love to connect with you sometime soon.

    Todd Wheeler
    303.883.8001

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Todd. Appreciate the note and that you took the time to read it! Feel free to reach out at hodiodi@gmail.com.
    Best
    Joe

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