He co-founded a cannabis business with $35,000 capital and turned it into a Billion Dollar Company before ‘retiring’ at the age of 35. He’s written a book about his experiences, including how he navigated an award-winning marketing campaign called the Never Jaded tour. An investor, Chairman of the Board, and interim CEO in the digital asset custody startup, Brane Inc. Adam Miron is committed to helping early-stage, often high-risk, startups grow. Adam joins me on “I’m a Millionaire! So Now What?” to talk about his entrepreneurial journey, and how he can’t leave the entrepreneurial hot seat for long!
Here’s some of what we discuss:
A fateful dinner party: the beginnings of HEXO Corp:
“My business partner and brother-in-law, Sébastien St-Louis, is the CEO of HEXO. We were both in the position where we generated enough residual income that neither of us had jobs. But we were also looking for something to sink our teeth into that would give us the nest egg. Sébastien came to me at a friend’s barbeque and said: ‘Man, I figured it out. I know what our business is going to be.’ And I'm like, great. What is it? He goes, ‘We're going to grow cannabis.’ He told me that the government had announced that they would award commercialized licences to growers.
We spent the next year and a half in my tiny 150 square foot basement where you couldn't quite stand up straight, put our business plan together, raised our first capital and hired our first employees until we bought the farm.”
Navigating cannabis regulations and a rebrand
Initially, HEXO was called Hydropothecary, but tight regulations made it difficult to create awareness. “We wanted to make medical marijuana accessible to the new market around us. While the brand was highly appealing to the soccer mom demographic, their physicians were unwilling to write the prescriptions. When the legal market came around, we realized we weren't going to be just selling medical marijuana to a small group, we needed a brand that was all encompassing, that would reach a much wider audience. It wasn’t just a rebrand (to HEXO), it was a rethink on who were going to sell it to.”
“We found that those that consume cannabis, on average, earned more money than their peers, and had a 20% increased likelihood of holding advanced education. These ‘closet cannabis consumers’ were well educated, high standing members of society, and we said, ‘that's who our brand is going to be for. The curious and the never jaded. We wanted to say that it’s okay to smoke a little bit of pot after a long day, on a stressful day, and go to sleep. And so HEXO was born.”
This episode is jam-packed with information about starting up a company, interweaved with vivid stories about Adam’s personal experiences. He shares their inspiration for the ‘Never Jaded’ tour and how this award-winning marketing campaign targeted those active, curious, and social explorers, removed stigma, and built awareness. We talk about his investment portfolio, how Brane Capital became the ‘bank for banks’ to provide safekeeping of crypto assets and how he gives back to the community.
Fun, Frank Advice: Go all in
“I genuinely believe that fortune favours the bold. One of my mentors would always say to me: ‘If you’re ever going to start a business, your mortgage has to depend on it for it to work.’ You can't have one foot in and one foot out. You have to take those risks, you have to take those shots, and you have to be willing to bet, if not all of it, almost all of it.”
Have a listen for more inspiration from Adam!
If you’d like to reach out to Adam, you can reach him on LinkedIn, read Billion Dollar Startup or learn more about Adam’s projects on his website.
And if you’re at the helm of a thriving business or startup, looking to exit, or simply have something to share with the Self-made Nation, do get in touch. I’d love to hear your story.
“I’m a Millionaire! So Now What?” is sponsored by Double to Sell, Canada’s premiere, invitation-only workshop for business owners who want a cash-rich exit. Contact me for more information.