Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Mitchell Kurz, Co-Founder of Phytoca, located in Melbourne, VIC, AU.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Our business supplies medicinal cannabis products via specialized pathways for unapproved therapeutic goods in Australia. These products include THC and CBD oils and flowers. Our customers are all patients who access products through pharmacies that are prescribed by doctors.
Tell us about yourself
My family has been working in cannabis for 40 years, cultivating unique cannabis genetics, resulting in specialist cross-breeds of cannabis. I was living and working on one of the family farms in the USA and traveling regularly to Europe when I first heard that cannabis was being legalized in Australia. I knew this was an opportunity to bring these specialized genetics to Australia.
The motivation came from knowing there would be an oversupply of cheap and inferior goods swamping the market and understanding that people needed to experience the true therapeutic potential that this plant offers. The last thing I wanted was for people to rise up against the stigma, seek out a doctor against their GPs wishes, pay through the nose for a consult, pay overs for the product, and then receive a cannabis medicine that was average at best.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
My biggest accomplishment to date has been creating a successful business from scratch with only (minimal) self-funding. In the pharmaceutical industry, we are competing against companies with huge funding. My business partner and I started the company as a side hustle, born from pure sweat, belief, and motivation and to create a profitable company from day one out of next to nothing is something I'm very proud of.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
One of the hardest things that come with being a business owner is having to find solutions to problems you haven't necessarily dealt with before. In many workplaces, you can pass things to the lawyers or marketing department or at least lean on the experience of other more learned team members. Being a business owner without staff (initially) can be a daunting and grueling task.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Just start - regardless of whether it's the final business you will end up in or not, there are so many learnings on the way that every experience is invaluable whether it succeeds or fails.
- Work in an area you are passionate about and believe in, as this definitely helps you when it comes to the next tip.
- Focus on sales first. With this, everything you want is possible. Without it, there is no business. I focused on brand/image/relationships and a whole lot of superfluous factors because, to be frank, I was intimidated by going out and selling.
Once I mustered up the courage and went for it, the whole business changed, and it enabled me to execute the parts of the business that had other value.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://phytoca.com.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Phytocaau/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phytocaau/
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchellkurz-phytoca-cannabis-australia/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/phytoca/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
Turn your craft into recurring revenue with Subkit. Start your subscription offering in minutes and supercharge it with growth levers. Get early access here.