We want to be the Best Producer of Cannabis, says Paul King of Cannafornia
March 10, 2020
Erin Roche, Candy & Flowers
As CEO of Cannafornia, what’s your vision for the company?
We want to be the best producer of cannabis, and also the best storyteller. Story telling gives us a way to communicate with people better, to educate and entertain, and get them the strains they need to make their lives better.
Why did you start Cannafornia?
We’re growing a plant that’s helping a lot of people. Someone had to grow the best cannabis and we decided it was going to be us.
How do you like being in the cannabis industry?
Helping people was the goal, and an unexpected perk is I love being with people in this industry, they’re really good people, and you can’t say that about many other industries.
What differentiates you from other vertically integrated brands in California?
What differentiates Lebron from the rest of the NBA? There’s levels to this. Everything we do is thought out and strategic and we’re driven and uncompromising.
We are headquartered in Salinas, CA – the salad bowl of the country and one of only two cities in California where you can grow large scale greenhouse. We have a profitable business model. We wholesale most of our product and if we’re not getting COD, we’re not selling it. Also, in terms of storytelling and marketing, we’re doing better than almost anyone in cannabis. We have 60 people that run everything and we’re continuing to improve and hire new people.
How are you profitable when you have to compete with the black market in California?
I’ll give you an analogy. The British cycling team was so bad for so long, for over 100 years they couldn’t win anything. Bike manufacturers refused to not only sponsor them, but refused to even sell them their bikes because it would hurt their brand.
Then they hired a new coach and his philosophy was if you look at everything that goes into it and you make everything just 1% better, the sum was exponentially better. He made incremental progress in many different areas, from the angle of the pedals to the lubrication on the tires to the less obvious, he got coaches for cyclists that taught them how to meditate, hired surgeons to teach them how to properly wash their hands so they don’t get sick, painting the team bus white so they could see any dust particles that fly around and cause deterioration to the bikes.
Little things that really helped. In 5 years, they went from so bad for so long to winning 60% of the medals at the Olympics. They always wanted to win, any Olympic team does, that didn’t change; it was about consistency and attention to detail and making incremental changes daily and the results finally showed.
That’s our approach and it’s paying off.
What do you want investors to know about Cannafornia?
We are a top five brand in CA and a top 5 greenhouse grower. We are good stewards of capital and fiscally responsible using as little money as possible to make great progress.
What steps have you taken to ensure quality control as you move into another state?
We’re going to have to hire new people but we’ll apply our high quality standards for the new team and focus on becoming the best in Florida.
Who is your biggest competitor in Florida?
We can compete with and beat Trulieve on cultivation, storytelling and marketing. The only thing we don’t have are dispensaries but with dispensaries pioneers take the arrows and the settlers take the land. We will be ready for 2022 when the recreational market opens!
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