Pull Over

If you know me, you know I’m a pretty enthusiastic person. And I know I’m at my best when connecting people and ideas that are meaningful to me. To the extent it exists, this is my current best guess at my “purpose” in life.

You could say I’ve been working on one big idea for about nine years. I’ve poured my heart and soul into Delta Emerald Ventures. It’s an extension of me, my lived experience, my learnings. It’s been with me for a quarter of my life and most of my professional career.

It’s my answer to the question “How do you build the optimal platform for deploying capital in cannabis?” It’s also about questioning the status quo and the relentless pursuit of truth.

From the seed of an idea, it’s grown to an unstoppable force of exceptionally talented people and state of the art technology. The beginnings of a cannabis information ecosystem.

All we’ve done, and all that we will do, is done with deep gratitude for the help of countless people. People like Rafael Sarango , who inspired me in mathematics and eastern philosophy at age 12. Tim Relyea, who took a chance on me very early in my career, at the lowest point in my life following the death of my father, no less. George Overstreet, for teaching me the value of “boots on the ground” research. Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, for giving me the knowledge that I needed to succeed at JP Morgan and onward. Pat Cronin, who helped me navigate the esoteric world of fund building. Austin Ogilvie, the best entrepreneur I’ve had the privilege to know. My wife, Soph, and her undying counsel and support. My business partner, who I can’t publicly disclose. And of course, none of this would be possible without my mom, Victoria Herrin. The list goes on!

Tears of joy are welling up as I write this. To think a kid of modest beginnings could be lifted up, countless times, so that he could reach for the highest levels of his potential is both testament to public education done right and the greatness of the people who surround me.

This Big Idea I’ve been working on accelerated in 2018, when I took personal vacation to fly to California and visit Socrates Rosenfeld, Howard Hong, and the rest of the Jane team at their HQ in Santa Cruz.

I’ll never forget that trip, especially the last hours of it: driving my rental to the airport, Alexander Saint Amand on speaker phone, trying to synthesize what I learned and talking about what to do next. Warrior mode?activated!

I was forced to pull over, my head was spinning so much. I couldn’t wait any longer to put my thoughts and ideas to paper. I was seeing connections I had never seen before. Connections, once recognized, that felt as if they’d been in front of my face the entire time. Like the feeling of finding your keys in your pocket after having looked for them everywhere else.

You’d be a billionaire if you could bottle that feeling up: the excitement that comes from seeing with new clarity. The feeling of the future unfolding before you, not knowing for sure what will happen, but knowing that you’re on the right track.

That feeling is rare. I can’t say I’ve ever felt it again as strongly.

Until now.

Very few people know the full story of how Delta got to this point. I’ve kept relatively quiet the last four years, working with deliberate speed on the Big Idea and recruiting as many people as possible to make this vision a reality. The Delta Dispatch is the furthest we’ve gone toward sharing our views publicly. But that changes today.

I realize that sharing this journey with others is one of many ways that I can give back. You can expect to hear more from us as we enter the next phase of Delta’s development.

We’ve updated our website (please be patient with the mobile UX!) Going forward, it will serve as a repository of insights. Oh, and CannaDataCon 2024 is officially happening.

Two big, radical, new ideas are percolating. They’re related, and will only become real through sharing the responsibility, ambition, and upside. The mission is more important than any credit that can be earned. I hope you’ll join us. We’re just getting started, and we are relentless.