Mark Zekulin is disrupting what used to be an illicit market and is now a regulated market. He is the president of the largest cannabis company in the world, Canopy Growth Company. It is valued on the Toronto Stock Exchange at about three and a half billion dollars. In this episode, we talk about his journey as an entrepreneur who moved from a safe comfortable job as a lawyer to someone who fumbled with the question what do you do. In the early days, sometimes he would answer I work in pharmaceuticals and other times he would say he sold marijuana.
His story is yet another example of disruptors seeing opportunity where others see risk. His bet to buy an old chocolate factory and tell the world that they were growing marijuana has paid off. Along his journey, he has had many disruptive conversations and continues to have them. Contrary to what I thought, it is not the big regulatory changes that will have an impact on his business, but it is the small ones. In this episode, we explore how small regulatory changes can have an impact on his business model.
Mark welcomes the day when you can order your wine and your marijuana beverage on your way home from work. In this new and untested market, there are many opportunities and uncertainties. As perceptions and policy around marijuana change, it opens Mark and his company up to learn their way into many unknowns. As they have in the past they will continue to play the long game by focusing on infrastructure and building out a stronger customer base. For Mark, “there is never a dull day in the cannabis business”. Hope you enjoy listening to this episode.
Links mentioned in the podcast:
Canopy Growth: https://www.canopygrowth.com/