Advanced Vapor Services Co-Founder Reveals Company's Pillars Of Success At Benzinga Conference

Benzinga’s recent Cannabis Capital Conference edition hosted a riveting talk among Alex Kwon, CEO and cofounder of Advanced Vapor Services and cannabis-specialized law firm Zuber Lawler’s managing partner, Tom Zuber on how a cannabis ancillary business can thrive amid industry-specific challenges.

Kwon believes now is a “really exciting” time for cannabis, with 3.0 already “upon us” and lots of winds of change -although these have been a sector’s constant “for almost two decades.”

Feeding from different perspectives including operators, ancillary markets and capital deployment, for AVS it all began with the search for a solution to issues the team spotted while developing the business. 

From Producing Derivatives To Becoming A Hardware Company

AVS started with land acquisitions and development in Northern California. That led to building a production facility for liquid plant derivatives and targeting cost efficiencies: the best way to cultivate, the different extraction methodologies and how to get the best cost per millimeter in a consistent manner.

That search led to the firm’s next stage: hardware cartridges. The team dived into understanding all existing cartridges while noticing some shortcomings in that channel. 

Kwon says it was a kind of “serendipitous path” for AVS, acknowledging it was an area that the team needed to understand better in order to grow. As such, hardware started as a side project, helping them with potential solutions for issues arising in their dedication to understanding the plant extracts and the derivative side. 

“So one thing led to another on hardware, and it took off like a rocket ship.” Their solutions, he says, are “rooted in really the cannabis aspect of it.”

See Also: Vaporizing Cannabis: Latest Tech And Its Benefits

Hardware Consumer To Supplier: A Problem-Solving Pathway

For Kwon, one of the main problems for brands in any sector is quality consistency or reliability. While searching for the best way to deliver their cannabis products, he says “a pain point happened” and the hardware failed both for production companies and consumers.

And that void became the vehicle for AVS’ hardware development.

So how to provide consistency? A key point, says Kwon, is controlling the supply chain, understanding how the game works and what being a controller means not only from a quality control perspective but also the inputs and how the inner pieces correlate.

This, says Kwon, gives a company flexibility, and adaptability, and enables it to operate at a very high standard, a key aspect for clients and consumers. 

“We consume these products as well, so we want to understand what's in it, and that it's consistent,” he told Zuber. That is, ultimately, AVS’ role. “To help companies trust they know that we're going to deliver every time, as in so many times, so much of that is missing.”

Regarding the public perception of product safety, Kwon sees it as a concern in not just cannabis but the large vaping category in general.

“It's really all about understanding the safety and science of toxicology, understanding standards that should be set; just how these products are brought together and what they actually mean,” he says. And that goes for all companies, especially when considering existing regulation risks.

Learning Through Challenges & Leadership Timber

Kwon says AVS, as well as any entrepreneur building a business, tends to face many challenges. In their case, those included issues with partners and even legal actions. Getting through them, he says, is what brings strength and clarity.

“It's been just being curious and really focusing on our people,” he says, adding that he believes competition is good, if only for the purposes of innovation and driving the industry. 

See Also: Bridging The Gap In The Cannabis Tech Industry: Meet The Woman VP Redefining Standards In The Vaping Industry

There will always be hurdles, challenges, and geopolitical and market risks creating what he calls “peaks and valleys” and “stages and ages” for all businesses. “So you have to be prepared to have whoever's in the foxhole with you. You've got to understand your people really well.”

Closely related, Kwon sees leaders should be able to form an excellent team and understand people's personal goals, deeply intertwined with what stage of their lives each is in.

“Having intentional thoughtfulness about whatever those people are and alignment with the companies there is incredibly crucial,” he says. In this sense, leaders should be able to articulate a vision, talk about strategy and tactics, and eventually be able to replace themselves and let other people grow. 

“So it's the human element of that, and I think it's all kind of intertwined. Not only is leadership but the purpose of what you’re doing: alignment and clarity on where you're trying to go is, I think, what is important for leadership,” Kwon concluded.

Photo: Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference