Introduction
Earlier this year we launched Higher Origins to serve the California Cannabis industry. And what a year it has been! Over the course of the last 9 months, our community/compliance platform has grown to serve 181 licensed facilities, track nearly 1.5 million plants, over 6,000 harvests, and over 40,000 packages of cannabis. This growth, coupled with thousands of hours of development, networking, and analytics has put us in a great position to achieve our goals for the coming year. None of this would have been possible without the support and contributions of the Higher Origins community. We are a team of two, helped by several part time collaborators. We are not funded or influenced by any large interests like Barclays, Casa Verde, or Y Combinator, so every decision we make is driven by the small license holders we work with.
Mendo Mystic Farms
Over the past year, our relationship with Mendo Mystic Farms has proven invaluable in building and testing out our compliance and marketplace features. For full disclosure, Mendo Mystic is owned and operated by our developer’s family. The ability to test our features on a legacy farm has allowed us to quickly iterate and figure out what works and what doesn’t. While other cannabis software companies rely on consultants or large-scale farms, we can field test our products right on the mountain. The pounds we’re tracking aren’t theoretical, they’re real, and we know the people who grew them- we even grew some of them ourselves. Thanks to Mendo Mystic and our other neighbors, we have concrete proof that our product and business model works and directly benefits legacy farms and their business partners.
Higher Origins Marketplace
The main development goal of 2022 has been to establish the Higher Origins Marketplace. This marketplace is designed to provide a central location to connect cultivation sellers and wholesale/retail buyers. Our core focus within the marketplace is to establish a template of partnerships which cultivators on Higher Origins can use to easily and affordably self-brand and prepare their product for retail. This process involves bringing together multiple partners and options to help with packaging, manufacturing, transport, and fulfilling the state distributor-as-middleman requirement. Ultimately, we have curated a path of least resistance through which small cultivators can sell their cannabis at a sustainable price level.
This supply chain has now been established, and we are in the final stages of wrapping up our proof of concept transactions. Once we clear these first deals, we will be ready to scale the marketplace and begin to put the power to dictate price back in the hands of farmers. To get this far has taken thousands of hours of software development, hundreds of calls to farms and retailers, and dozens of drives the length of the state. And we’re only getting started.
Forward Looking Statements for 2023:
Analytics
In the coming year, data sharing and analytics will become a major focus. Using information sourced from State DCC data and our user base, we will be sharing insights and trends from throughout the California industry. Analytics will be both publicly accessible through our website and articles for large industry wide trends, and private for members only for more localized market trends. The more information that we can share to educate the market, the better. Keep an eye out for our 2022 market year in review analysis, dropping mid-January!
Marketplace
2023 will be the first year of growth for the marketplace user base. Our goal is to ensure steady growth and deal flow through the marketplace for all users. We will start the year with a solid base of Higher Origins users, and a network of fantastic industry partners and collaborators on our side. Practically, what we must do is expand and onboard the number of buyers and sellers on our marketplace in order to establish a healthy market volume. To date, our user base has mainly consisted of cultivators, but to balance the marketplace we must also attract a significant amount of retailers and distributors. Naturally, this means extensive networking and direct outreach to license holders throughout California. To be clear, development will not take a backseat to growth, as we will continue to provide support, bug fixes, and user-requested features during this growth phase. The official details of pricing, features, terms, and onboarding will be released in an announcement in early January.
User Representation
We will be expanding the ways in which we promote and platform our users. To start, all users will be given a free profile where they can upload an image or logo, describe their business, author articles, and display their products. This profile will function as an online presence which users can use to represent their business, as well as how they can be found on the marketplace. User created articles will be displayed on the Higher Origins homepage for visibility. This gives users a chance to share their stories, experiences, and expertise with the Higher Origins community and beyond.
In Conclusion
If you are reading this, Thank You! Community members like you are why we do what we do, and we are very excited for what the new year will bring. Cannabis is a hard industry, and we’re very glad you’ve been sticking with it. Happy Holidays, and we’ll see you next year!
(Don’t forget to pack a bowl for Santa!)
-The Higher Origins Team