Jigar Patel of NorCal Cannabis Company: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business
An Interview With Jason Hartman
Remember to have fun. I think a lot of folks in this industry didn’t come to cannabis just to have a job. They came here for the movement. They came here for the plant because they really enjoy it. And I think a lot of the time folks have forgotten to have fun.
As part of my series about “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business” I had the pleasure of interviewing Jigar Patel.
Jigar Patel is the co-founder and co-chief executive officer (“CEO”) of NorCal Cannabis Company (“NorCal” or “the Company”), a vertically integrated cannabis company with operations in the world’s largest cannabis market. Drawn to the cannabis industry by his love for the plant and its limitless potential more than 20 years ago, Patel has since become a key player in California’s explosive legal market. In leveraging his extensive knowledge of the history and culture of California’s cannabis landscape, he has modernized the business practices of a formerly prohibited industry and facilitated the development of one of the most compliant, efficient cannabis operations in California’s history.
As co-CEO of NorCal, Patel is responsible for directing agendas, driving profitability, managing company organizational structure and overall strategy. He was responsible for seeing the growth of the Company from inception to its current state, increasing its revenue from $2M to $70+M in just three years. He also managed a strategic pivot from a high-growth revenue company to one emphasizing profit margin while still maintaining sustainable growth.
Jigar’s passion for the industry shows not just in the numbers, but also through his work in combating the negative stigma around the industry and fighting for social justice. While he also continues to own and operate his own winery, Jigar Wines, his goal is to leverage his position in California’s competitive market to bring cannabis, its culture and NorCal’s innovative operational practices to the world.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you share with us the story about what brought you to this specific career path?
My story is an interesting one with a lot of twists and turns, but not that unlike many entrepreneurs who were early to the legalization movement and birth of the legal cannabis industry.
Even though I was born here, I grew up in a traditional East Indian family, so needless to say being successful meant becoming a doctor, lawyer or engineer. Working in cannabis really wasn’t something that was on any of our radars in the early 1990s. However, like a lot of people, I started to experiment with cannabis in college while attending Purdue. As I explored the plant more, I began to understand what it had to offer, not only to me, but also to the folks I was friends with. Some of them were suffering from conditions like anxiety and found that the plant helped them cope. Others were athletes looking to treat pain after a big game. Cannabis also helped open my eyes to a different kind of reality, and one where I didn’t need to follow a traditional path to achieve success and happiness. It introduced me to like-minded people from diverse backgrounds, all with one commonality: the love for the plant.
When California passed the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, more commonly known as Prop 215, I knew my future was out west in the new world of legal cannabis. At that time, California was the hub and birthplace of what would become the legal cannabis sector in the U.S. The privilege of being on the frontlines from the very early beginnings has allowed me to understand many aspects of not only cannabis as a business, but also its movement and culture.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Over the course of 20+ years working in cannabis, one of the most interesting lessons I learned as a business leader is the value of the old adage: “it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” After California legalized cannabis for adults in 2016, the sector experienced rocketship-like growth for several years. That growth seemed endless, but of course, it wasn’t. It was followed by an extended Black Swan event — the COVID-19 pandemic — which wreaked havoc on markets across the globe, and particularly so in the fractured and still federally illegal cannabis sector.
Back in 2015 after NorCal’s founding, we casted a wide net and took a multichannel approach in an effort to quickly scale our operations across nearly every segment of the cannabis supply chain. For example, at one point, NorCal was the largest delivery provider in California. In 2020, we were handling north of 3,000 orders a day in a region that reached about 18 million people. However, the reality was that part of our business wasn’t making money. After taking a hard look at numbers, we decided to exit cannabis delivery and sold off our assets in that market segment. We did that because we knew this would be a marathon — not a sprint — and we wanted to position ourselves to succeed in the long term.
For the first time in years, we had the opportunity to focus strictly on our core business and really strategize on how to build a brand in the world’s largest cannabis market, which turned out to be the right decision for us. Today, our flower brand, lolo, is one of the top sellers in California — which is a real testament to surrounding yourself with good people, because at the end of the day you simply can’t do it all by yourself.
Can you share a story about a mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
In the early years, we made the mistake of thinking that participating in every aspect of the supply chain from seed to consumers was the only way to compete. What we have learned is you can’t be great at everything, so focus on what you do really well.
By streamlining our operations and focusing on cultivation and brand development, we were able to quickly improve operations and expand the lolo brand, which is now carried in more than 400 dispensaries across California. Through that experience, I learned to trust my gut, especially when critical business decisions don’t always have a clear-cut answer.
Are you working on any exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?
As cannabis becomes more acceptable and its use becomes more widespread, it’s important to look beyond just selling flower. That’s why we’re introducing new product lines, form factors and appropriately sized SKUs to meet the needs of both the cannacurious and legacy consumers.
We’re also really excited about the continued rise of our brand, lolo, and its potential to break into the wider market to become a premier, national flower brand. Our primary market will continue to be the West Coast, but we’d love to partner with like-minded folks to spread our brands to the East Coast and other upcoming markets.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I don’t think it’s one particular person, but a team that I’m grateful towards. The heart and soul of NorCal is its people. There’s a group of about 20–30 core folks that have been with us since day one who’ve seen NorCal grow from its infancy, weather the many storms over the years and evolve into what it is today. I am most grateful to the folks who have been with us since day one as well as the new people who have come into the mix. Without them, NorCal wouldn’t be where it is today, so thank you. We could not do this without you.
This industry is young, dynamic and creative. Do you use any clever and innovative marketing strategies that you think large legacy companies should consider adopting?
We tried the traditional marketing route and it just didn’t work for us. No matter the amount of money we dumped into marketing, it didn’t help us achieve our sales goals. We found real success when we focused on building our brand with quality, consistency and price in mind. This is especially true with our flower brand, lolo, which was built with virtually no marketing dollars. We feel like we cracked the code by connecting with consumers to understand their needs and then providing a product that well-exceeds those expectations. Our goal is to bring lolo and other brands to discerning consumers nationwide.
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the Cannabis industry? Can you share 3 things that most concern you?
What I am most excited about is the research and development that’s taking place in the sector. Right now, we have only scratched the surface as to what the plant can do medicinally. Gaining a better understanding of how cannabinoids like THC and CBD interact with our endocannabinoid system — which regulates the central and peripheral mechanisms of food intake, lipids synthesis and turnover in the liver and adipose tissue and glucose metabolism in muscle cells — will be critical to uncovering the plant’s benefits in ways we can’t imagine right now.
I am also super excited about the role data and technology are playing in driving operational efficiencies across the sector. For years the cannabis sector operated underground, which meant that a lot of technologies used in other industries weren’t accessible to us. The integration of these technologies has real potential to transcend what we thought was even possible. For example, I believe that the evolutions we are seeing in HVAC and lighting systems and AI and automation are going to enable cannabis businesses to operate more efficiently at scale. As the sector continues to adopt new technologies and capitalize on data analysis, we as an industry are only going to become smarter and more efficient — which will transform the sector in ways we never thought was possible.
Lastly, while the legalization fight is far from over, I look forward to continuing to play a meaningful role in bringing the benefits of cannabis to people across the U.S. and eventually around the globe. The movement has a long way to go in overturning draconian laws that have been proven to be racially biased. The time is now to end mass incarceration and we should no longer tolerate a system that enables wealthy individuals to profit while others rot in jail and suffer. That is not the American way. With more than two-thirds of Americans supporting full legalization, it’s important that we continue to pressure our elected officials to enact meaningful legislation and right the wrongs of the justice system.
Today, it is estimated that the state-legal cannabis industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in the country. In fact, the sector has already created approximately 430,000 jobs across the country, representing 250% growth over the past five years — which is the fastest job-creation rate for any industry in the U.S. According to BDS Analytics, global cannabis sales in 2021 rose to nearly $31 billion, a 41% increase over the year prior. The vast majority of those sales — $24 billion — took place in the U.S. so I look forward to the day when the cannabis industry is treated equally, just like any other sector.
With only Canada, Georgia, Malta, Mexico, South Africa, Thailand, and Uruguay, along with the Australian Capital Territory and 19 states across the U.S. legalizing adult-use cannabis, this fight is far from over and I remain excited about the future of cannabis — not just in the U.S. but around the globe.
Can you share your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business”? Please share a story or example for each.
Be authentic. This industry and its consumers are smart and can see right through bullshit.
You can’t change the market; it’s too big and too dynamic for any one player. You can only do your best to follow your vision and trust your gut. A lot of times in a growing business you end up taking advice from folks who may not necessarily understand your experience or your vision. Don’t worry about what others are doing — believe in your plan and do what you do best.
This is a marathon, not a sprint. Make smart business decisions for the long term and position your business to endure future challenges.
Your people are your biggest asset, treat them accordingly. We have a core group of people that have been with us since day one. The trust that we’ve built over the lifetime of NorCal is priceless. Be loyal to your people. When the going gets rough, that’s who you have to rely on.
Remember to have fun. I think a lot of folks in this industry didn’t come to cannabis just to have a job. They came here for the movement. They came here for the plant because they really enjoy it. And I think a lot of the time folks have forgotten to have fun.
What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help their employees to thrive?
I think communication between executives and the boots on the ground is super important. More often than not, your employees have better insight into the day-to-day operations of your business, and know exactly what will and won’t work. I also think people too often get carried away with spreadsheets and don’t really understand the consumer who’s actually using the product. I think it would behoove a lot more CEOs to actually understand what they are selling and who they are selling to.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Part of the reason I got into the industry is because cannabis opened me to a whole new world and fundamentally changed my path in life. The movement I work on every day is to bring the cannabis plant and everything it stands for to more people. I think it’s the great unifier. I’ve seen so many diverse folks get behind it and become one through cannabis. Every day we’re working on spreading the word about this magical plant and what it can do for humanity. I think the unifying power of cannabis is something that needs to be talked about more.
What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?
Readers can follow us on LinkedIn at NorCal Cannabis Company and on Instagram @norcalcann, where we regularly share our latest news and company updates.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
