The Cannabist Company Holdings Inc. (CBSTQ) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Okay. Let's get started. We still have some members of the audience joining in, but welcome to today's Neo Spotlight. And we're going to focus today on a company that has been listed with us now, I would say, for probably more than 2 years, and that is a U.S.-based multistate operator in the cannabis industry, Columbia Care. I'm very pleased and very honored to have with me today, Nick Vita, the CEO of Columbia Care; and Jesse Channon, the Chief Growth Officer of Columbia Care. To the audience, welcome. Thanks for joining us. You will have the opportunity to go through this discussion again as it will be available on social media within the next 24 hours. But don't hesitate during this meeting to send in questions to the Q&A function, and I will make sure that we address those during our discussion. Nick, Jesse, welcome.

Thank you.

Thank you. It's a true pleasure to have you and considering that the audience is always made of people who know you probably very well and people who are still discovering companies would love to start with asking you a question, I'll address it to you, Nick. Can you give us the overview of Columbia Care? Like where is your focus? What is it that you're doing? And where are you today in your journey?

Certainly. So Columbia Care is one of the largest multistate operators in the United States. We operate both in the EU and in the U.S., we are 18 markets in the U.S. I think what makes us distinct is that we're fully integrated in all of our markets in the United States. We're in all of the best markets. So we have the second largest number of markets, but those markets that we're in were truly are scaled. And we're market leaders. And I think the way we construct the portfolio is such that we have a sort of a portfolio of mature markets. We have a very large portfolio of very fast-growing markets and then we have a number of markets that are sort of somewhere in between. And what that allows us to do is really develop brands to develop sort of and leverage technology and data and really build as a long-term sort of market leader that has sustainable advantages in a variety of ways at what we will talk about today. And so we're very excited to be here. We're actually, I think, one of if not the oldest multistate operator. And we're at the point where I think you're seeing a huge inflection towards profitability, which we would expect to see continuing over the next several years.

Thank you, Nick. And let's talk a little bit about the way forward. I think you spend a lot of time on innovation. You're looking at ways to continue to fuel and accelerate that growth. Jesse, that's maybe an area for you to zoom in on what are you doing in that space? And I think these are things that are pretty unique.

Yes. No, it's been an incredibly exciting last 12 months. We've really been focused on future-proofing as many things as we can, right, as an organization. We believe that there's a lot of strategic initiatives that had to be kicked off this year in order to be ready for the continued scale and expansion as Nick referenced in some of the more mature markets and some of the emerging ones that are incredibly exciting. And I think as an industry, we had an opportunity really to lean in on technology, specifically in innovation and data to learn more about our business. So to learn more about the customers and the patients we serve, to learn more about the things that matter to them. So a couple of the things that we've been incredibly focused on from a growth point of view, we've obviously done a lot, which has been really well covered from a branding point of view and launching now one of the most falling brands in Seed & Strain, which is offered in, I think, 7 or 8 states at this point, expanding over the next 2 months into more markets. We've seen that followed on with launches of brands like Amber and Press and now Classix is coming up in plant sugar and 777. So we've had this incredible explosion of brand. And all of that was really based off this concept, the finding that lowest common denominator, the things that matter to the audiences that we serve. And we launched a platform, which received a lot of press over the last couple of months called Forage. And it's really the first of its kind product discovery that was built in-house by Columbia care with our partners. And it was filling a gap that we saw in the space from a data point of view, which Nick referenced, which is most of the data that we receive as a multistate operator, historically was in arrears. It was after the transaction. And as everyone on this call and everyone who operates in our space knows, we operate in a supply constraint in many states, sort of supply chain. And that means that oftentimes, people are buying what's available, not necessarily what they would have wanted. And what Forage does is it gives the consumers a really fun, very powerful experience for discovering new products, leveraging our proprietary algorithms and sort of lightweight AI, if you will, that we've built internally, but it also provides us a ton of data that shows that this is what people are actively looking for in these markets. So as we see markets like Virginia with the introduction of Flower, as we see markets like that is converting to recreational, we can better plan and we can better merchandise in the future and make sure that we have the strains and the products that matter to the people that we serve.

So you're definitely using the approach, the technology and the strategy that big retail rents are using and that you don't really see with many of your peers or competitors, I would say, in the market. Nick, what makes you so different from competition because there's 2 things that I continuously see with your organization. That is, one, you execute upon what you say; and 2, you continuously to look at innovating. What drives that? What are your key differentiators that explain that?

I think that there's an element of hunger and humility, which is sort of a nice balance to have, meaning we have every expectation and every ambition to be the best of what we do and to define that excellence in a very particular way. So as you heard from Jesse, the way we use and basically leverage data, the way we collect it, the way we leverage technology. That makes us different. That makes a difference because then we can find the better -- the right brands for the right segments of the market. It makes us smarter in the way we allocate our capital. And by the way, the capital allocation is one of the most important things, especially when you have a national platform. But I think the scale of the organization is something that also makes it different. I think oftentimes, people think of us traditionally as a medically oriented company. We are one of the largest purveyors of medical and adult use. I think what makes us special is that we never forgot our medical roots. We understand that the market is still 20% medical, even once adult use converts. And so you have a massive part of the market where there's absolutely no focus whatsoever being given by many of the sort of the larger operators. And then you have the 80%, which is the adult use part of the market. And what you've seen us is transition into those markets as our markets have transitioned very aggressively, very effectively to the point where, in New York, we're not just one of the largest operators, we have the largest sort of supply chain capacity on the East Coast in New York, right? We have the largest facility, I think, stand-alone on a settlement basis in Trinidad, Colorado, in the country. We have scaled so that we're capped out in most of the markets in terms of the infrastructure. But what that allows us to do is really go out and find the best people. And so when you think about what attracts somebody to Columbia Care versus another organization? Well, it's about taking advantage of the optionality of the industry, right? This is the only industry that I can think of where you truly do have to make what you sell in many markets. And that's a huge competitive advantage or disadvantage, depending upon your perspective. We turned it into an advantage by really optimizing the supply chain, by becoming a very consistent parting within the wholesale market and then by leveraging our own retail channel. And by doing that, we think it gives us a lot more flexibility in the way we leverage our corporate assets, our overhead and ultimately, what you've seen is us go through a very concerted effort to build a national platform, which is unique in the industry. I think there are 5 or 6 operators that have very strong regional footprint, but nothing really to compare to what we have. As you've seen, last year, we were EBITDA negative for the year. This year, we're going to be very EBITDA positive. That profitability at the gross margin and at the EBITDA margin level is going to be reflected by the scale that I'm referring to. But I think what really becomes interesting is that when you see a more competitive market, you also see competitive dynamics. You see pricing pressures. You see some markets where the growth rates naturally begin to abate, how do you really capture market share profitably and how do you drive that relationship with your consumer, it's by doing things that we've done. It's by optimizing and turning our retail footprint into the cannabis. It's by taking our brands and we're really positioning them properly, both in the wholesale and to our retail channel. It's by constantly trying to take best-in-class approaches from outside the industry and import it into an industry because right now, we have a very unique opportunity with the way the market is constructed. And we think that's going to be durable advantage for the next several years as well, things get settled at the federal level. But in the meantime, we have the safe back to look forward to. We have all of these different changes at the state level to look forward to. And then we have the consumer, let's call it, transition phase to look forward to, which is now that people are familiar and comfortable with cannabis, when will the kind of curious begin to really see that transition into the cannabis market, and we're seeing that wholesale. And sometimes, it starts with the medical avenue. Sometimes it's towards regulatory adult use. But the demographics are all over the map. The people are diverse as the country itself. And that's something we are if you really understand who you cater to and who you serve and what communities, what matters to the communities you serve, you will always have that advantage. So I think that those are probably the most important advantages. But Jesse, I don't know if you have anything to add to that.

No, I think you're exactly right. I mean we continue -- one of the things that's always stuck with me, Nick and I had a conversation when I started about what are we building for, right? And I use the term future proofing, but really, what is it that we're getting ready for? And I think it's 2 things, right? I mean, one is obviously, and Josh you mentioned it, there are a lot of incredible organizations out there already that are doing many of the things that we in the industry are trying to build into. So it's not necessarily that we're reinventing the science. We're having to, I think, do some creative things in order to make it work for us, the nuances of being a multistate operator. But the other side of it is the customer base that we serve, the customer patient base that we serve today is going to expand dramatically over the next 3 to 4 to 5 years, depending on how you look at this. And I use this with my team all the time, 75% of the people that we will serve in 2025 do not exist yet. Right? They are in that kind of curious bracket. They are people that are just starting to understand some of the benefits, especially from a health and wellness point of view for the products that we manufacture and provide to our customers and patients. And so we have to build brands, and we have to build retail experiences with the cannabis. We have to build technology platforms and mobile web and native applications that speak to and reach that audience in a way that our industry has not yet, and much of that is because we all know that we're coming from a place where you sell everything that you produce. And whether you're a medical program or ultimately a state that moves into a recreational or a belt use program that demand exists early on. But as things continue to mature and as we continue to see a competitive landscape that is good, it's good for the customers. It's good for the patients to have great companies trying to continue to get better, right, at the things that we produce. We want to be at the front of that. And I think the only way to truly do that is to take a step back and listen and make sure that we're providing the platforms internally to gather that information, to understand these audiences and to spot those emerging segments of the market as they come to there. And I think that's something that we're trying to do that's necessarily unique.

Yes. Nick, I thought you want to add something? No. I thought there was something in the back of your mind that I put forward. Go ahead.

There is -- I mean, I think that -- and this won't come to a surprise to anybody on the phone. But look, we're expecting to do about $500 million top line this year. That's up from less than $200 million last year, right? The type of growth we're seeing is spectacular, but it's not unique to this industry. When I look at the sort of the 3 most transformational markets in the United States today, it's probably New York, New Jersey and Virginia. We happen to be market leaders in all 3. Now I think that does make us unique. But I think more important than making us unique. It allows us and it puts us in a position where we can begin to help to develop the expectations for the consumer early on. So that, that phenomenon that Jesse is referring to, which is if you make it, they will come, that all of a sudden becomes a little bit different. It becomes -- if you make it for me, we will come. And that matters because that's how you really build an enduring brand. How are you building enduring relationship with consumer, how you are really building an enduring industry. And so that's sort of Goldilocks phase and I think that we've all benefited from the industry, we will continue. But because of our size, we intend to be an agent that actually forces that change upon the industry by offering products and services and experience that consumers actually are accustomed to outside of cannabis. And that makes a huge difference in the way the market will develop. But also, frankly, opens the door for a lot more conversations sooner with people who may not otherwise think of cannabis is a product that's right for them. So we're -- when I think about New York, we're one of the largest operators in New York today. New York is going to go from a $100 million market to a $5 billion to $7 billion market. That will happen pretty quickly. And the new Governor is going to be an agent of that change with the support of the legislature. We are absolutely all in to New York because we think it's going to be a great market and a great precedent for the national landscape. Virginia has already begun taking shape -- it's funny. The day that Flower came to Virginia we had not only our first, but our first and our second largest individual revenue days in individual facilities, dispensary facilities nationally in the history of the company. So going back to 2012, Richmond and basically our 2 dispensaries in Virginia set new records for a single day performance-based on the availability of Flower. We would expect to see many of the same phenomena that take place in New Jersey, which we are building out right now, and we expect to see really sort of transform the financial profile of our company. But if you think about where we were last year at about just south of $200 million of revenue, each one of those loans could be a market size for Columbia Care that is in excess of that revenue base. So you think about the scale, you think about the way we can make an imprint on the market, the way we can actually facilitate all the political and community goals along with our sort of own corporate mission and goals, that is a massive opportunity. We've seen it happen in places like Illinois. We've seen it happen to a lesser extent, in places like Massachusetts. But now that there is robust access to capital markets, robust access to capital, and really sophisticated management teams looking at the world with a better lens than we used to, us included, I think that really opens north of something that no one has ever seen before. And so in the world of catalysts, in a world of volatility, in the world of infusion, all you really have to make a bet on is if you're a market leader in Virginia, if you're a market leader in New York, if you're a market leader in New Jersey, we go down the laundry list of markets that are all transforming and changing materially so then you really have an enormous amount of sort of asymmetric upside, which doesn't really exist outside of cannabis because it's a very, very unique regulatory framework that underpins everything. So I mean that's how I think about the things that Jesse is doing right now in the context of, well, why does that matter from the standpoint of investor and ultimately, I think investors should take a great deal confidence knowing that these catalysts are embedded in our portfolio. And they're already fully baked, right? They're totally transformational, but they're also very transparent. And so as long as we're ready for it, which is what we've been doing for the last couple of years, it should be a very good next couple of years for Columbia Care.

Yes. One other thing, to the 2 of you, I hear an incredible amount of maturity, like you're clearly a company that is mature and you see it through the way that you execute, you execute on your plan, you see it in the way that you deploy your strategy, the way that you innovate, I think you used the word Nick, look at what other industries are doing and see what you can leverage from there. But then at the same time, we will have a lot of people looking at the evolution of the market and saying, this is still a very emerging market. Look at the volatility of the stock, look at many companies that definitely -- there's very good companies out there, but there's also companies that have absolutely no mature behavior, if you allow me to say that. What is your answer to those people? Everything is amplified, of course, by itself at the moment.

Yes. So if we can all agree, and I think everybody would agree that the cannabis market is a very big market. The question that I sort of try to answer to your sort of series of questions. The way I think about that is really simple. I don't go to sleep worrying about revenue, right? My job today is to drive margin profitability so we can reinvest in the business, reinvest in assets to really optimize shareholder value. Revenue will come. I have no shortage of that. So it's funny. We are unwilling to trade revenue for margin, quite the opposite. We really try to maintain discipline there, especially at this point in our life cycle. But what becomes interesting is that you have this enormous juggernaut of an industry, which is an emerging market, you have the benefit of selling with the dynamics of an emerging market in the most developed markets in the world from a macro theme, that's a very rare opportunity. And then, by the way, you have this artificial impediment, which is based on a variety of things that actually prevents some of the larger scale operators from coming into that market, which gives us the ability to build scale, to build national scale and global scale and make ourselves strategically relevant. So that people -- competitors when they come into cannabis, they really want to recreate everything from scratch because they want to look for best-in-class. And that's why we've always been very focused on like compliance, risk management, because living to fight another day and optimizing your business and doing it in a methodical, thoughtful way over a longer period of time, sometimes sort of seems slow relative to the marketplace. But I'd rather look back in 2, 3 years and say, we didn't make any quit halts. We didn't -- we made high integrity. And by the way, because of that, we've been able to track a definitively institutional capital base. And so when you look at our owners today and you look at the names of the companies of the institutions that are invested in our capital structure in the equity and in our fixed income for that matter. And you look at our cost of debt just as a proxy for where really sophisticated investors are pricing our risk. What you see is a very significant disconnect between our stock price and multiples and our cost of debt as a starting point. And I think that's important because the debt markets have always been a leading indicator for both upside and downside. And so that fundamental analysis when you pack into that -- the opportunity from momentum with the retail investor, all of that is just sitting here like a coiled spring waiting for the opportunity to really break out and make itself available to the U.S. capital markets and the European institutional investors, hearing about the safe fact being attached to an appropriations bill. And hearing that there are leaders in the Senate and the house that really want to get this done, gives me a great deal of confidence because you may not have to see comprehensive reform. But the worst-case scenario is you have a business that's literally doubling in size year-over-year over year with natural organic growth and improving margins, a very rare thing. Then you have a massive market that is only getting bigger, which is actually institutionalizing, which is very unique. And then you have this sort of very unusual dynamic where all of a sudden, if you get one small change at the federal level or at any given state. I mean look at the profound impact Virginia could have on our business, right? That's just one example. You really have something where it may take a little bit of time because of technical issues of the marketplace. But the fundamentals are what ultimately will drive value. And I think you're going to see something really spectacular over the next couple of years from, not only from us from others, as you see that in musical chairs where someone who may have been great in 2019 or 2020 may not be in the same place in 2022 because they didn't have the same composition of markets. But that's something where we constructed and we approach those markets in a very particular way for a very particular region. I think that's going to be something that will really enlighten sort of potential investors as to how we thought about our strategic direction and the way we allocate capital.

So you covet the business, you covet the catalysts that you see. We talked about investors. Let's zoom in now on maybe less sophisticated investor, the retail investor. We know we have a pretty important part of the market nowadays. And maybe you can add on that also less equipped parties such as smaller buy side firms, family offices, think about financial advisers. What is your message to them? If they look at what you just talked about. Think about the story, you think about the outlook. Look at where the market is. What is your message to them? Is this the right moment to step in? Or you think they should wait a little bit, look at how certain things are going to pan out, should they may be not wishing that to anyone, should they maybe say, let's wait a little bit longer. There's a very serious correction taking place in the market maybe in the next couple of months, growth stocks are going to be at the forefront of who gets impacted. And I'm not asking you to give me a view on how you think the markets overall are going to evolve. But what would be your message to those investors with respect to Columbia Care?

So a couple of things. And I'm a bit of a contrarian by nature, right? I mean we found in Columbia Care back in 2012, whenever we thought we were paving my own parents thought I was going to end up going to jail. And thankfully, that didn't turn out the way they had predicted. But everything we've done has been a little bit different. We lead in -- Jesse has led the industry with the way we've innovated on the technology side. No one's really thinking about it because they don't have to. We really believe in building brands, but doing it on a national scale, which is why we waited to start rolling up brands until we could actually manufacture these things. We leaned into Colorado when everyone was looking the other way. We first pointed into the most competitive market in the world, which is the second biggest in the world, why is that, so that we could learn the lessons and prepare for the next patterns in the next cycle of that little that invariably develop in every market that we're in. And so there are a whole range of -- we've tried to really think in a very kind of long-term way about the business. One thing we haven't done, and this is entirely -- it was a tactical decision that I made, and time will tell whether I was right or wrong, we did not reach out to the activity sort of reach, let's call it activity standard conduits for retail investors. And we didn't do that because we wanted to create an institutional capital base. So that's what we've always done. Not to say we won't. But what we didn't have and needed was a brand, we needed pillars, we needed to have a singular location nationally that people could drive down the road and see and say, you know what, that's the stock, right? It's a very different approach that that has a qualitative element that needs to be in place for us to be successful in that. With the brands, meaning the product brands that are being rolled out right now that are being sold all over the country by us and others with the introduction of cannabis, we now have that catchiness, we have that -- I would describe it as a sex appeal, right? That makes a big difference to a retail investor. And because of our tacticals, once the retail investors begin to hear about us and understanding what exactly we are and where we are placed in the market, I think you actually see a real sort of benefit to the way the existing marketplace sort of functions because a little bit of demand can make a huge difference. And what's very interesting is that for some of the smaller investors, along with the retail investors, there is no better value, meaning we have all of these things happening right now. We have all very positive trends. We're going to be very competitive from a profitability perspective in short order to all the best tier -- sort of the top-tier competitors. But the fact is, we're trading at a pretty substantial discount because people still think of us as a [indiscernible] They think of us as being under scale. That's just -- that's patently untrue and incorrect. And I actually bear the burden for the failure to communicate insufficiently. But I think our numbers will speak for themselves. I think our sort of -- our differentiated service and experience will speak for itself. I think that one of our best sales pitches is just saying -- telling people to go to one of our stores, you experience Columbia Care for yourself. And that's a rare thing, right? So it's not just we're the biggest. It's just -- we have a mission. We have a purpose. We have a corporate culture that really embraces all the things that matter to us and therefore, matter to the people we serve, investors, communities, patients, consumers and regulators, among others. And so I would say that we -- because of our valuation, because of our positioning, because we're about to see this significant shift over the next 12 months financially and because we're actually positioned in all the right markets by design, that's going to be a hell of an opportunity for someone to see. And what I like about it is that it's contrarian, right? Everyone's sort of -- we're out there, and we're making -- we're doing all things are doing, we're keeping our heads down, but we haven't really been that promotional. It will be a lot more easy for us to be promotional once we have these pieces in place, and they're actually coming into place right now.

Well, Nick, I will tell you, I wish that more companies will be thinking like you guys are because you said maybe you didn't do enough. On the other hand, I see many organizations that's not only in the cannabis industry that are far too promotional and in fact, selling nothing. And I think that's also, by the way, something that is negative to all emerging industries and something that we are very frustrated about also when we see that happening with certain types of companies because it's very tough for the quality that is out there to see those as bad experiences that investors go through. And I think that taking an approach where you deliver. And then you focus on getting those types of investors in, I think that congrats of -- hats off for doing it that way because not many do it that way.

Thank you. One additional thought I would just share, which I think cannabis companies, Columbia Care included differently than a lot of high-growth companies is that we are actually profitable. Typically, you see a reversion of mean of multiples in high-growth companies because they're an idea that has yet -- whose time has yet come. It's yet to come. For Columbia Care, for our competitors, we have real businesses. Every day, thousands, tens of thousands of people are coming in and voting with their wallet, that we are the place they want to spend their disposable income. And in a market where you have hyperinflationary factors you have all of these exogenous things that can really compress the disposable income of the consumer. When you see that type of willingness and sort of loyalty, I think it should really speak to investors to think about this because I actually consider cannabis to be a bit countercyclical, meaning it's great when times are good, it's even better when times are bad because we actually are a safe, healthier alternative than many of the things that people would otherwise do. And we saw that during the COVID crisis, by the way, right? And so that thesis played out exactly the way one would have hoped. And so actually, I think that it's a moment in time when I would encourage investors to sort of take a step back and look at what these companies, our company is doing financially and from a -- just from a growth perspective and compare that to the sustainability of some other markets. And I, frankly, I would have hard time finding anything that can perform quite as well.

I think your answer to my question is with the -- but you didn't allow me there, and I was going to stress one point, and that cannot be stressed enough profitability. I think that, that is what everyone needs to look at. We're at pretty much at the end of our session here. But I would like to finish it with one last question. And I think Jesse, you kind of covered it briefly when you talked about 2025, but can you guys take a step back now and you look at 2025, where do you think your organization is going to be? And I'm not only talking here about figures and growing the businesses that you're doing now. I'm more thinking about what is going to be your geographical footprint. What other businesses or initiatives you think are potentially going to emerge within that time frame. And I'm not talking about catalysts either, I'm talking about what is your vision on how this business is going to develop?

So Nick, I'll take a stab first, I'll stay away from geographical or financial, but I'll just speak in a little bit of a higher level. I think that what we want, right, and what we're ultimately building towards and sort of the guiding light for so many things that we're doing is this concept of empathetic education. And what I would be incredibly proud of in 2025 is the cannabis being seen as one of the most trusted places to ultimately discover, learn more and really sort of have that partnership in that journey of integrating cannabis into your life. We say all the time that cannabis is defined by being approachable but unapologetic and passionate, right? And so I think that if we can create an environment and we can create a next level retail experience that ultimately welcomes in all of these audiences of customers and patients that we're going to serve and really create some intersection of that medical and recreational usage, but does it in a way that creates a platform that really allows the discovery and for education and for engagement. I think that's a win. And I think that not only is that sort of my hope, hope is not a strategy. So I don't want to use the word, but not only is that my hope, but that's what we build to and what we're seeing at. But I think it has to happen because I think that our consumers are becoming more sophisticated, and we see this with the adoption of all technologies of products, right? The next-generation always becomes adopted faster than the previous one, right, radio versus TV versus Internet. I think that what we're seeing with cannabis is that our users are becoming sophisticated and educated at a velocity that is unbelievable, right? I mean we're going from trial to almost expertise and kind of sore in months and years as opposed to these lifelong journeys that we've seen in other verticals. And so we have to build to that. And so for 2025, I think that we provide a brand temple where we are creating the best products, not just our own, but the best products from all over the industry that provide a place for people to come in and get an incredible experience and an incredible engagement, whether it's in person or with technology to discover the things that are going to be the best fit for their lifestyles. That's my goal for 2025. And again, my hope, and I think a necessity as an industry. We can't be a transactional dispensary network as an industry in 2025. If we are, then I think those companies are in trouble, and I think we've failed our customers. So that's my goal for 2025.

Thank you, Jesse. And the one thing that I learned about your company is that the word hope is not really the word that drives the company. It's usually strategy, plan and delivery and execution, I should probably say. So I can see that vision. Nick, anything you would like to add around some of the other questions that I had beyond what Jesse and you already said.

No. The only thing I would say is this is a really important inflection moment when I mean in history, if you look at back to cycles, when all of these companies, including ours, that have made these enormous capital investments are preparing for these changes and the opening of these new markets to be real market leaders. But that's happening right now. And so is it a quarter early, maybe? But is it a year early? No way. And we're going to see the impact of these market changes in the next 2 quarters. And going into basically 2022 and throughout 2022 and 2023 and that is an also place to be as an operator, as a company and an investor, it's a great opportunity for us to really hone in on the morale and the culture of the organization and to really engage with our consumers so that we effectively become agents of our own success. And so I can't tell you how excited I am. I can't say how excited the team is. I've never seen a greater set of innovative minds come together for -- to basically change the way people think about what is the largest cash crop on the planet. And you think about that, we are literally changing the entire narrative. And that to me is really, really profound, powerful and exciting.

Gentlemen, thank you very much. I think we ran a little bit over, but I could not just stop it at 12:30. I think the conversation was growing very nicely inside to a great. I appreciate all your transparency and the way you were extremely generous in answering all the questions and sharing your views and your thoughts. All I can say is looking forward to see the journey move on. And I think it's going to be a very exciting journey. Nick, Jesse, thank you for your time. And again, we'll be able to look at all of this again and particularly for people who could not participate very soon on social media. So let's get those messages out. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thanks very much.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Good bye.