CannaInsider interviewed Emily Fata, a NYU graduate and finance professional who moved to Colorado from New York in 2013 and formed Green Pioneer. Her primary focus is helping entrepreneurs raise capital, but she also works with real estate and technology investors to help them better understand the cannabis industry.
Emily specializes in building realistic data-supported financial models and also helping cultivators and products manufacturers tell their story to prospective investors. She uses data she has collected over the past three years as well as local market demographics to help create the financial models. While financial projections are an important part of attracting investors, the essential task for the entrepreneur, according to Fata, is to prove one knows the market better than anyone.
Fata notes that energy cost assumptions are one of the most critical inputs in her pro forma projections, and she suggests that outdated technology still is predominant, creating an opportunity for new technologies, including LED lighting. Different styles of growing require different cost assumptions as well.
Key Takeaways:
1:41 – Emily talks about how she got started in the cannabis industry
3:56 – Emily’s primary clients
4:43 – Most important data for investors
5:51 – Emily discusses how she backs up the data for investors
8:08 – Where business owners fall short in expectations
10:13 – Unrealistic expectations investors have
12:11 – What Information Investors Want
15:13 – Emily discusses which costs business owners should watch closely
17:05 – LEDs vs. traditional lighting
20:08 – Emily talks about cannabis pre-prohibition
22:28 – Geography considerations when opening a dispensary
25:09 – Advice for manufacturers moving from cultivation to concentrates
26:50 – Emily’s book recommendation
30:11 – Contact info for Green Pioneer Ventures
Listen to the interview “Using Data to Help Cannabis Investors with Emily Fata”: http://www.cannainsider.com/data-cannabis-investors/
