When you have a good thing going on, everyone wants a piece of it.
Once we secured a facility and packaging and our products got rolling, interest from other parties began to surface and we made the mistake of partnering with an outside firm. We had the very first large-scale condenser/extraction system — a prototype — from a company that had been trying to break in to the cannabis vertical for a couple years. We even put on an event around this condenser and invited everyone in the state to come see it.
At the time, we were up for our annual license renewal, which requires an inspection. The addendum to add the device to our protocol was sent to the state Department of Health. A week after submission, and prior to inspection, the manufacturer required that we send the prototype to an event in Washington, D.C., which we did.
We were then told that getting it returned would require a small deposit and the sale price of $45,000. This was unacceptable and seemed to be less the positioning of someone who was a partner and more of a predator. For us, the solution was not to take the easy route and pay the fee but rather to look at the condenser’s place in our operation and figure out how to replace it. That led to working with a great laboratory glass blower to come up with a condenser that operates at pharmaceutical production rates.
Once we started to share information about our new setup, there started a low roar of interest. That interest in the price and availability of our setup got us to thinking that we might be on to something.
It was also a reminder that you have to be very choosey with whom you partner.