EXCLUSIVE: For Cannabis Companies, The Key To Growth In Ultra-Competitive Market Is 'Be Choosy'

California is the toughest of cannabis markets, and the key to future growth is to be picky, cannabis lawyer Sahar Ayinehsazian told Benzinga's Market Spotlight: California conference Thursday. 

Cannabis businesses must understand what their strengths are and stick to them, said Ayinehsazian, a partner at Vicente LLP. 

"Be choosy. Choose your partners. Choose your money wisely," she told a packed room of cannabis executives and investors at BioscienceLA in Culver City. 

Jamie Pearson, the president and founder of the consulting firm New Holland Group, moderated the discussion on cannabis industry growth strategies.

After Ayinehsazian described her role as an attorney who draws her cannabis clients' attention to the critical details of their businesses, Pearson joked: "being a buzz kill is your job." 

Snoop Dogg's Death Row Cannabis is focusing on California first, said CEO Tiffany Chin. 

Snoop truly cares about cannabis, and is focused on the quality of Death Row's product, she said. 

The company was "hell-bent" on finding a strain Snoop would smoke, she said: "We were very successful and now all he smokes is Death Row Cannabis."

The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference is returning to Florida in a new venue in Hollywood on April 16 and 17, 2024. The two-day event at The Diplomat Beach Resort will be a chance for entrepreneurs, both large and small, to network, learn, and grow. Renowned for its trendsetting abilities and influence on the future of cannabis, mark your calendars – this conference is the go-to event of the year for the cannabis world.

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Gold Flora Corp GRAM Chief Revenue Officer Mark Russ said he joined the company after looking at the market landscape and asking which companies are poised to survive. 

The company, which merged with The Parent Co. in 2023, has over 100,000 square feet in indoor growing capacity and 16 retail locations it owns and manages.

"Our goal is to maximize those strengths we have in a profitable way," he said. 

The Last Word: Cannabis from California is like tequila from Mexico and wine from Napa Valley, said Graham Farrar, the president, co-founder and chief cannabis officer of California cultivation giant Glass House Brands.

"It's not that California's better at everything. We just happen to be better at this."

Related Link: EXCLUSIVE: RAW’s New Line Of Ultra-Thin Rolling Papers ‘Ethereal,’ Transforms Smoking Experience

Photo by Dustin Blitchok.