The Cannabis Business Coach Michael Zaytsev interviews Michael King, Co-Founder and CEO of Kings Garden.

King was born in Russia, grew up in NYC, worked on Wall Street, became a professional powerlifter, earned a graduate degree in criminal justice and international law, and transitioned to a successful career in real estate –all before getting involved in the Cannabis industry.

Earlier in his career, Mike worked on the Street at WorldCo, a top equity trading firm, as well as iCap Trading, where he managed more than $200 million of capital. He later developed a successful career in real estate, representing clients in transactions valued at more than $300 million. He also facilitated private equity transactions for prominent clients across multiple industries.

As CEO of Kings Garden, Michael King has grown the company into one of the most successful Cannabis brands in California, scaling up from 10,000 square feet to now building out over a quarter million square feet of cultivation space. King shares his perspective and experience on raising money, building a team, why so many brands failed, and much more.

In this episode of The Cannabis Business Coach Podcast, we discuss:

• why it’s important for the executive team of any Cannabis business to have both Cannabis and business expertise

• reading thousands of pages, meeting hundreds of people, taking dozens of trips, and why putting in all those hours was necessary before really getting into the Cannabis business

• Michael’s secret to being able to put deals together quickly and how he raised millions of dollars for his Cannabis business in less than 24 hours

• why it's absolutely necessary to be relentless and commit to the process if you want to be successful. spoiler alert! the process is going to be painful

• how Michael’s immigrant work ethic and knowing where his parents came from, drives him to provide a great Life for his kids

• the expensive nature of indoor Cannabis cultivation and how one mistake can end up costing millions of dollars

• how so many Cannabis product brands got it wrong by taking a backwards approach and putting brand before product

• why you can never be comfortable as a CEO

Recorded on 11/30/2020

Additional Resources:

The Cannabis Business Book

Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable (Tim Grover)