Progress Report: 11.18.22
Grasshopper Family,
The team at the farm is absolutely crushing the remainder of harvest. We have thousands and thousands of pounds of flower to trim, QC, and package. The trimming might be done within a week! That is contrasted by how long the last harvest took, which was approximately eight months.
Why are we so proud of this rapidly approaching milestone? For the same reason we celebrated how it took us four weeks to transplant five thousands plants outside last year and it only took five days this year. Efficiencies continue to surface because this team is moving to the next level of our operation. Dialing in is going well. Quite well.
We got our first snow. But, the team knew it was coming. They made sure to have the remaining biomass stripped and transported before it hit. It was not an easy lift, but they got it done!
While the flower continues to travel the harvest process, the winterizing projects are taking place as well. Taking care of our farm is paramount.
Our farm was featured in two MJBiz articles, the most widely distributed cannabis news source in the world. They also organize the largest cannabis convention in the world, held in Las Vegas each year. We did not attend the first two years. This was a deliberate decision. We needed to operate our farm for two seasons before we could understand what we needed to consider from the largest gathering of cannabis vendors.
MJBizCon was this week. There were over 1,300 exhibitors and more than 35,000 attendees. Three of us attended. It was the perfect time. We went in with the mission of how to further dial in the Michigan property to increase our efficiency, while also considering the buildout of the New Jersey farm. I was joined by Caroline from Michigan and Madison, our first New Jersey employee. We met during the weeks before the convention and discussed a strategy that would allow us to not just look for vendors, but look for business partners. The distinction is we don't want to just order something. We want to work with someone who understands what we want to do and then sticks with us throughout the entire process.
Now, it would be very easy to get distracted by shiny objects with the sheer amount of exhibitors. But, when we focused on what could benefit our outdoor grow, it narrowed the list down almost immediately. We also found that they organized the vendors very efficiently, helping in case there was a vendor we did not identify for a conversation, which did happen.
We met with people during the convention. We took meetings over breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We even got to meet some of our existing vendors in-person, who we had only previously met via Zoom. The hours were long. The dry air of the convention hall and desert chapped our lips. The continuous conversations wore our throats out. And the energy spent connecting with people drained us. We returned today....exhausted.
Alas, it was exhilarating.
We walked away with approximately 30 potential partnership opportunities. Some are coming to the farm early in December to help us understand how we might work together.
I came to realize very quickly that we are doing something quite different. We always felt it. But, this really put the icing on the cake. We are an outdoor farm producing premium sun-grown flower. Everyone was fascinated with our scale, story, and pictures. They were also blown away with our lab reports and track record.
But another aspect of "fascinating" actually happened before the exhibit hall even opened. Caroline and I attended specific seminar tracks all day on Tuesday. She attended the marketing track and I attended the CEO finance track. I was blown away by the end of the day.
A better part of Tuesday was spent listening to very high ranking members of US finance speaking on all aspects of cannabis. The financial scorecard of a cannabis business was covered - very thoroughly. They shared the mistakes of how many choose to approach the financial well-being of their company. They walked through KPIs owners should be focused on. As they worked through their list I created a report card for Grasshopper Farms.
We not only passed with flying colors - we absolutely aced it.
I connected with eight of the panelists, exchanging cards and ideas for meetings. I have already met with three of them. These same titans of finance are now starting to specifically assess us. So far, the feedback has been incredible. They love how we raised our startup capital. They reviewed our performance and commended us for how we responded to the market event that took place last November. They congratulated us on being awarded licenses in New Jersey.
And they said we are blazing a trail in a space that is going to explode in the coming years - outdoor farming of flower, pre-roll material, and biomass.
The team at the farm continued to crush sales and fulfillment while we were at the convention. Keep in mind that we produced and sold a total of 5K pounds of flower from our 2021 harvest, which took nine months. We have already sold 1469.62 lbs of flower and 277,382 pre-rolls since October 12th. These are heavy lifts and we could not have gotten them done without the sales from Adam and Kayla and the fulfillment from Caroline, Von, and Olivia.
Yes. You read those numbers right.
Maybe...just maybe...we can attribute this to the mindset we have been employing at the farm and we used at the convention - patience and consistency while working on dialing in efficiency. This was employed a little differently at the convention. There were so many shiny object booths - things that were interesting, but had no actual value to an outdoor farm. And there were so many opportunities to hang out and party. So many. But, we didn't. We stuck to the plan and focused on the good of Grasshopper Farms.
Maybe this is why we are starting to feel like we are standing out...in a good way. Maybe.
I met a couple more folks worthy of sharing. One is a Vietnamese gentleman growing with his family in Oklahoma and actually running a positive cashflow business in a state that is upside down with supply. He is able to do it because he works in a similar way that we do. Another is a processor in Ireland. And one more was the CMO of an organization in Iowa, Colorado, and Michigan. All of these meetings (and more) uncovered reasons to talk more. Potential partnerships. These partnerships are not just good for business. They are going to be absolutely critical as this industry continues to evolve. Partnerships.
A rising tide helps all boats.
I went running every morning in Las Vegas. My turnaround point has an amazing Hindu shrine where I stopped and took a moment to give gratitude each morning.
I do the same with these emails. I very much appreciate you, your energy, and your support.
Have a fantastic weekend.
