Australia Brisbane part of the future Namaste cannabis empire

Australia on the way to legalisation

Surprisingly, this one-stop-shop will also make a home Down Under, as Namaste already has a presence in Australia through two online vaporiser stores: NamasteVapes.com.au and Australian Vaporisers.

Dollinger says Namaste is well-poised to take advantage of growth in the medicinal cannabis market in Australia, but there’s a way to go yet in terms of both legislation and public perception.

“If you go into the room and start talking about cannabis people will look at you sideways, even in somewhere like Australia which is full of educated people,” he says.

“But those people will still call it the ‘devil’s weed’, which it’s not. It’s a product that’s proven to be helpful, healthy, and medicinal.”

Despite these perceptions, Dollinger says Namaste still has over half a million Australian customers for its products. He thinks the country is sitting where Canada was a few years ago in terms of softening of attitudes towards legalisation and medicinal cannabis use.

“We’re positioning ourselves for a future in Australia, and I think the industry is all about timing. If you look at Namaste and when we went public, we could not have timed it any better,” he says.

For other companies in Australia hoping to get in on the cannabis industry, Dollinger has a number of key pieces of advice, the first of which is never underestimate the amount of capital you’ll need to get started.

“You’ll need to have very deep pockets. Don’t underestimate how much capital is needed, and you’ll need to have a plan to grow sustainably as buyers fall in love with the product,” he says.

“Also make sure you’re making at least 50% gross margin on your product, otherwise you’re going to find it extremely hard.”

But more generally, for startups looking for new niche markets to go into, Dollinger warns against going into the cannabis growing space, even in Australia. Instead, he urges startups to think outside the box.

“There’s plenty of people growing, so try and think of the added value you can bring to people and where you can have a specialty. I don’t encourage getting into the growing side — it’s called weed for a reason because it grows like one,” he laughs.

“I think there’s a big opportunity in home-grow kits, developing a turnkey solution for growing at home along with finding ways to get people cannabis pre-rolled once it’s legalised.”