Maxime Kot, president and co-owner of The Cannabis Business Advisors, has a remarkable knack for keeping up with the cannabis industryβs breakneck pace. In addition to securing numerous cannabis licenses for operators across 17 states, Kot has pivoted her national consulting firm to meet the demands of new operators in recreational states as the demand for licenses in medical markets has cooled.
βThe landscape has changed from being harder to secure licenses to now it being easier,β she says. βSo, just like the industry, we have to be fluid and we constantly have to change our focus on what the industry needs. While itβs easy to get licensed in some states, itβs never going to be easy to open.β
Kot says opening a facility is the most common challenge her firm is seeing lately, but it isnβt necessarily a new obstacle or a new service offered by her company. Itβs just that the new recreational states seem to be less concerned with creating barriers to entry and more interested in establishing their markets. Although the demands from her companyβs clients have grown in scope, from businesses looking for help expanding and scaling to needing assistance with mergers and acquisitions, they havenβt replaced the companyβs main licensing work.
βA good 50% to 60% of our business is still focused on licensing because there are a lot of southern states that still need our help, and they havenβt legalized yet,β she says.