Welcome to SUNDAY SESH, authored by Scott R. Grossman. Scott is a 25+ year “hand’s on” consumer investor focused on transformative change—and now a full-time investor and operator in the cannabis sector.
Scott has led over $4BN of active investments across public and private companies throughout the capital structure—from consumer startups to legacy turnarounds—at the intersection of internal change influenced by rapid and relentless secular change.
Scott began his career at Soros Private Equity after banking, spent over a decade at Magnetar Capital joining near its inception to become a Senior Portfolio Manager, and later founded Vindico Capital, a concentrated “constructivist” fund focused on small-to-mid cap transformations. Over the past 5 years, Scott has led a “cannabis-first” growth strategy from the ground up for a NYSE-listed company.
Whether he’s been an engaged investor—or an aligned Board Director and operator from within—the common thread has been partnering with management teams to navigate and execute change—with the humility, grit, and expertise required to empower C-suites and Boards to act.
SUNDAY SESH: TRANSFORM OR DIE
SUNDAY SESH focuses on cannabis through a unique narrative, with the necessary context to understand how this $100BN emerging industry fits into the broader investment, business, political, and cultural zeitgeist as our world rapidly transforms.
You can’t understand cannabis unless you understand the consumer. And you can’t understand the consumer unless you closely watch the periphery. Even if you don’t care about cannabis, SUNDAY SESH provides significant edge and insights on the transformations that matter. Cannabis just helps us understand them better.
In the past, life moved largely in linear paths. Change was relatively slow and easier to see coming. Today, we’re forced to operate inside exponential curves where everything compounds—innovation, information, energy, capital, signal, and noise. And with it comes fear, uncertainty and doubt.
SUNDAY SESH was originally written for an audience of one to pressure-test personal high conviction views. I’ve learned from some of the best—bosses, coaches, mentors, partners, peers—inside some of the best institutions. And like you, my insatiable curiosity drives me to keep learning from other experts who’ve mastered topics that I believe are—or will be—additional sources of edge.
Our goal? To help, educate, and pay it forward—especially for our future leaders who haven’t yet found great mentors and institutions along the way. I was simply lucky.
CANNABIS IS A PERFORMANCE TOOL
I was never a “dead head” nor a “stoner”—but rather a high-performing (but definitely rebellious) kid who didn’t exactly take the “traditional” path my CV claims. By 13, I was a 2nd Degree Blackbelt in Taekwondo, then a competitive D1 athlete that happened to also be very good at school. I had talent, but the secret was discipline, process, and always working my ass off at whatever I passionately pursued. Still do.
For over 30+ years, I’ve strongly argued cannabis prohibition was misguided. I leaned on economic theory, but most of what I argued was simply common fucking sense. And lived experiences.
To win on the field and in the classroom—especially with the insane amount of training, traveling and studying over dual seasons at an Ivy League institution—I simply couldn’t afford to be hungover or strung out on pain meds.
In my late teens, 20’s, 30’s—and now late 40’s—I consistently found cannabis to be a valuable “tool” for performance. From avoiding addictive pain meds, to dealing with my Type-A anxiety and pressure, to optimizing my sleep, to unlocking self-compassion to help solve major life and work problems, and avoiding alcohol which for me was always a painful waste of time, money and calories.
Staring at my glass of wine nearly 30 years ago, I knew deep in my bones cannabis would eventually transform everything in its path.
Cannabis is a performance tool.
JOIN OUR SESH
For cannabis-focused investors and operators—or those being crushed by cannabis’ influence—you already know: there are very limited experts and analysts covering this space.
We believe the value will be obvious, fueled by our experience and differentiated “on-the-ground” perspective across 25+ states and now globally.
Outside of cannabis, you likely care about all the industry and company-specific transformations in our “consumer” fairway. Topics, ideas, and deep-dives in consumer help navigate change in our portfolios, our careers, and our lives given our myopic focus on change.
Paid subscribers get early access to timely posts (2-4x/month) to give you edge, along with access to our archived (paywalled) posts. You’ll also have exclusive access to my chat where I’m posting follow-ups and data points in real time and answer your questions directly.
Free subscribers will get access to most posts after paid subs have time to digest, along with sporadic free posts that we share to pay it forward.
***SUNDAY SESH or any commentary by Scott R. Grossman is not investment or financial advice. Any assertions made in SUNDAY SESH represents the author’s opinion. Do your own risk and diligence, and “know what you own.”
