If you could rebuild your business from scratch, what is one thing you would have done differently?
John Shute | PufCreative | CEO
“I am proud of the path I took, but I would have leaned more into financial planning and SEO from the start. Even though we perform well now, early investment would have made a big difference. I also would have focused more on HR. My team is everything and building strong support early matters.”
Marianne Cursetjee | Alibi | CEO
I truly believe that mistakes are opportunities for learning. If we started the business over today with what we’ve learned over the last eight years, there would be different choices for capital expenditures and infrastructure. But I think the process of scaling based on experience is invaluable. If we started today, we would probably make new mistakes and have to learn different hard lessons. All of our experience (both the good and the bad) has brought us to where we are today; Alibi is successful not in spite of our challenges, but because of them. We are strong, adaptive, and excited about the opportunities in front of us.
Jesce Horton | Grand National | CEO
“Great question. I might say to start in an easier market, but Oregon shaped me. I’d focus earlier on building an investable financial narrative: clean books, early profits and managing EBITDA to attract the right investors when the time came.”
Everett Smith | Presidential | CEO
“That’s an interesting question. Truthfully, if I had to start over today, I don’t know if I could do it. The industry was very different 10 years ago, and I feel lucky that I got into it at the right time. I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, so I wouldn’t change a thing. Presidential is where we are today because of the trial and error, mistakes, and successes we’ve experienced along the way.”
Amna Shamin | CannabisEvents.Global | Director of Content Marketing
“If I was starting again today, I would start attending networking events sooner. Attending conferences and local meetups has led to not just friends, but referrals to some really great projects. I’ve lived all over the world since 2014 so with a bit of planning, I could have more easily and quickly built up my global network versus connecting one-on-one over years. In most industries but especially in cannabis, your network is so important, both for insights and referrals. As a consultant, people knowing the quality of work I do has been critical for referrals to interesting and impactful projects.”
JoJo Simmons | 3isFor | Co-founder
“I’d trust our instincts sooner. Our business was built on clear values and a strong vision, but early on, we sometimes felt pressured to conform to others’ expectations. Looking back, our best work and growth came when we embraced what set us apart. I wouldn’t trade the lessons learned, but I’d reach that clarity faster if I could do it again.”
Jeff Scrabeck | DIZPOT | Co-founder
“Rather than focusing on what we would have done differently at the beginning, we prioritize continuous data review to identify opportunities for pivoting when necessary to support an ever-changing industry. Our goal is to consistently provide excellent service to our customers by adapting and improving based on current insights, trends and marketplace challenges. Being a cannabis-born company, we’ve come to learn that the only constant in cannabis is change. It doesn’t matter where you start, it’s where you are and where you’re going.”
Marc Rodriguez | Green Leaf Business Solutions | CEO
If I had the chance to rebuild Green Leaf from the ground up, I would have been bolder in trusting my vision from day one. Early on, like many entrepreneurs entering a highly regulated and stigmatized industry, I sometimes second-guessed how fast or how far we could push. We were cautious in certain areas—whether it was in tech investment, strategic partnerships, or even in how loudly we advocated for cannabis businesses. But the truth is, this industry rewards conviction and clarity. If I could do it over, I’d lean harder into innovation earlier, surround myself even faster with like-minded people who believed in the mission, and build with the confidence that what we were doing was not only necessary, but transformative.
Will Read | CannaPlanners | CEO
I could say “everything” or “nothing” and both would be true. One thing I would have done differently was trust myself more. As I look back on my journey, there were moments where I let other people’s opinions shake my confidence, and I backed off decisions I knew were right. I think ultimately, that was a mistake in some capacity. Paradoxically, that lack of trust in myself in the beginning, taught me a lot too. Every mistake, every failure made me who I am. At the end of the day, you just gotta leap into the abyss and build the thing.
Greg Tannor | FlowerHouse | CEO
I am very proud of what FlowerHouse looks like now, but it wasn’t always like this. I would have been more conservative with initial growth and scale of the business. We believed the market was going to be something different than what it was for the first year/year and half. I would have started much smaller and adjusted with the market.
Rick Bashkoff | Lit Alerts | CEO
“Without a doubt, we would have used AI tools sooner. While we were very quick to adopt automations that have transformed our ability to scale our software company, using AI in our development workflows is something that we should have incorporated or explored sooner. In 2025 we’ve invested heavily in incorporating AI into our workflow and we’re on the cusp of these tools becoming central to how our service evolves. We just started with a basic question: What are we doing today that we wish someone else could do?”
Paul Weaver | Boston Beer Company | Head of Cannabis
Where to begin?! It’s easy to play Monday morning quarterback or “LinkedIn Pundit” in the global cannabis industry. One area I think we’re finally getting good at is our approach to retailers and chain stores. We’ve learned so much about how to be great partners to our dispensaries and help improve their business. Ultimately, these learnings are all par for the course in a new industry, and we try to keep a mantra of “only new mistakes.”