There was passion, power, and plenty of practical business advice from the women (and one man) who took the stage at the recent IgniteIt event in New Jersey. As the industry shifts away from the early “shiny-object” phase, operators are increasingly doubling down on what works. A few years ago, the prevailing growth strategy was to go wide, not deep. Today, that mindset has changed.

Miss Grass CEO Kate Miller said the company is prioritizing focus over expansion for expansion’s sake. “We are focusing on what’s working,” she explained. “More specifically, we are investing in our priority markets.” While the brand currently operates in eight states, Miller noted they no longer treat every market equally; instead, they concentrate resources on their top performers rather than spreading themselves too thin.

Find Your Partner and Do-si-do

Faye Coleman, CEO of Pure Genesis Dispensary, emphasized that success in cannabis rarely happens alone. “You don’t have to stand alone and fight this battle,” she said, encouraging operators to think creatively about partnerships as stepping stones to growth.

“Sometimes your retailer is your partner. Sometimes your vendor is your partner, your ancillaries are your partner, even your insurance carrier is your partner,” she explained. “All those partnerships do exist.”

Coleman also stressed the importance of flexibility. While waiting for their dispensary application to move forward, she and her team pivoted into beverages to generate revenue and maintain momentum.

Angela Brown, CEO of Coast Cannabis, agreed that partnerships are essential for survival and expansion, particularly given federal restrictions. “The idea of shipping across state lines is a dream we all have, but not a reality,” she said, noting that collaboration is often the only viable path to multi-state growth.

From a manufacturing perspective, SōRSE Technology CEO Howard Lee said he still considers New Jersey an emerging market and has seen similar cycles before. Early entrants often arrive flush with enthusiasm and capital, but many fail to survive. “You go through this first wave of very enthusiastic partners… many don’t make it,” he said. “Then you find the partners who have survived the chaff — and that’s when the relationship really starts to work.”

Roz McCarthy, CEO of Black Buddha, added that not all partnerships need to be perfectly balanced to be valuable. She compared them to a dance — one that requires testing the chemistry before committing. “Maybe it isn’t a 50-50 split in Jersey,” she said, “but the relationship can create opportunities that push your business to another level.”

During negotiations, Coleman stressed the importance of defining and enforcing non-negotiables. “How do you make certain that they understand and respect the agreement? You put clauses in for when they break it. That’s what you do,” she said.

She also underscored the importance of mindset in choosing partners: “There are three types — survival, thriving, and winning. Get with the builders and the winners. Don’t let people waste your time.”

The Exit Strategy Many Operators Forget

Lee also offered a cautionary tale about partnership risks, warning operators not to overlook exit terms. He shared that his company once accepted a major investment in exchange for territorial exclusivity, only to become locked into a stagnant relationship for two years when the partner failed to execute.

“We never negotiated a strong exit,” he said. “We couldn’t buy back the exclusivity or unwind the agreement, and it cost us millions in lost revenue.” His advice: always ensure contracts include clear pathways to terminate or restructure partnerships if they stall.

Where Outsourcing Saves Money—and Where It Doesn’t

As new operators continue to enter the market, outsourcing has become an increasingly popular strategy to reduce barriers to entry. But the panelists were quick to point out that outsourcing isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution—and without proper planning, it can quietly erode the margins operators are trying to protect.

Lee encouraged new businesses to consider outsourcing to established, large companies. “Don’t be afraid of established large businesses that have enormous resources,” he said. Co-packers and packaging companies with mature R&D and quality teams can be valuable partners, particularly for operators who aren’t yet ready to build those capabilities in-house. The key, he argued, is to use those relationships as learning opportunities, not just as cost-cutting measures.

For operators trying to gauge when it makes sense to invest in headcount versus outsourcing, Lee offered a straightforward metric: revenue per employee. “Just divide your revenue by the number of employees,” he said. “At some point, it’s going to make sense to invest in people to do that job, but you won’t know it until you have revenue per employee.” In today’s capital-constrained environment, that discipline is essential. “Ten years ago, capital was easy. You could hire a bunch of people. But now you really have to manage—can I outsource it before I get more capital?”

Coleman urged operators to tap their professional networks before selecting outsourcing partners. “We’re leaning on each other to give those recommendations, because let’s face it, we’re a small industry,” she said.

But beyond finding the right vendor, she stressed that operators must first understand their own businesses before outsourcing anything.

“What you own is your competitive advantage,” Coleman explained. “I would say the first question you need to ask is: have you done an inventory of your business to understand where you need to outsource, what you need to own, and what you need to park on.” Too often, she cautioned, operators chase a specific opportunity without adequately assessing their financial models, growth pace, or capital runway. “Have you done the right financial modeling to make certain that if you outsource, you’re going to make the margin? Or if you grow too fast, do you have the capital budget to keep pace?”

Where Innovation Really Comes From

“The innovation comes from all sorts of places,” Lee reflected. “The first thing is, you gotta listen to your gut—and at the same time, you gotta listen to your team.” He agreed, data matters, but so do the delivery drivers and frontline employees who hear directly from customers every day. When you have no data, follow your instincts. When people tell you what they want, listen to them.

AI as a Business Tool—Not a Business Strategy

Several panelists pointed to artificial intelligence as a growing force in their operations, though they were careful to distinguish between using AI as a tool and letting it drive the business.

McCarthy shared how Black Buddha recently partnered with an AI engineer to build a custom real-time dashboard that pulls market data and synthesizes it into actionable intelligence. “When you’re cash-deficient and don’t have unlimited resources, you have to make smart decisions about where you’re spending your time,” she explained. The dashboard now gives her visibility into New Jersey’s top retailers, their spending by product category, competitor pricing, and sales velocity—all in real time. “That’s going to be the dagger for me to outperform what I did last year,” she said.

Brown echoed the sentiment, noting that AI has become a company-wide initiative at Coast Cannabis heading into 2026. “If you are going to grow into multiple marketplaces and utilize partnerships, you have to understand the data for each one of those states,” she said. “It’s impossible off the top of your head to know everything in five markets, eight markets.”

Coleman offered up caution, “AI is great as a tool,” she said. “Be careful, it does not lead to the innovation of the business.” She believes that operators who let algorithms chart their course risk losing the human judgment that built their brands in the first place. She also tied AI adoption to team quality. “Does your team poke holes in your strategy consistently? If they do not, you have the wrong team. There’s nothing like having everybody say okay—that’s when you know you’re already dead.”

Portfolio Strategy: Margin Drivers vs. Brand Builders

Brown stressed the difference between assessing margin drivers versus your brand builders. For her company, data and customer feedback have guided product development, particularly in understanding what works for most consumers in categories such as sleep-focused edibles.

At the same time, Faye Coleman cautioned that while AI can enhance decision-making, it should never replace human leadership or strategic thinking in identifying opportunities and challenging assumptions.

Finally, Kate Miller noted that innovation increasingly involves structuring diverse product tiers — from premium, high-margin offerings to value products — while balancing working capital constraints. Panelists also highlighted flexible deal structures, such as revenue-share models, as innovative financial strategies that enable brands to scale without overextending resources.

When Working Capital Is the Bottleneck, Consider a Hybrid Model

McCarthy closed the discussion with a candid account of a costly lesson in working capital management. Early in Black Buddha’s brand journey, she took on contract manufacturing deals she couldn’t sustain. “I lost money, I lost credibility, I lost opportunity,” she said plainly.

An investor reviewing her financials encouraged her to consider revenue-sharing and royalty models as strategies, particularly for brands building market traction without deep capital reserves. Under this approach, the manufacturing partner absorbs the operational load while the brand focuses on driving sales velocity and expanding retail presence.

“Don’t feel like it has to be one versus the other,” McCarthy urged. “There could be a hybrid.” A brand might use revenue-share arrangements in new markets to establish traction, then layer in co-manufacturing deals in markets where they’ve already proven demand to preserve capital while building the distribution footprint needed to scale.

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