The next MSO in the making Founder of Canadian cannabis mega company Aurora, Terry Booth is at it again but this time in the US. Leveraging his new company, AUDACIOUS (AUSAF:OTCQB) key subsidiary's tech and brand recognition has allowed them to expand their national footprint with minimal capital expenditure. He joins Dan Humiston to discuss their rapid expansion and what it will take for them to move from a tier 3 to a tier 2 MSO. Produced by PodConX MJBulls - https://podconx.com/podcasts/raising-cannabis-capital Dan Humiston - https://podconx.com/guests/dan-humiston Terry Booth - https://podconx.com/guests/terry-booth AUDACIOUS - https://audacious.net/
The next MSO in the making
Founder of Canadian cannabis mega company Aurora, Terry Booth is at it again but this time in the US. Leveraging his new company, AUDACIOUS (AUSAF:OTCQB) key subsidiary's tech and brand recognition has allowed them to expand their national footprint with minimal capital expenditure. He joins Dan Humiston to discuss their rapid expansion and what it will take for them to move from a tier 3 to a tier 2 MSO.
MJBulls - https://podconx.com/podcasts/raising-cannabis-capital
Dan Humiston - https://podconx.com/guests/dan-humiston
Terry Booth - https://podconx.com/guests/terry-booth
AUDACIOUS - https://audacious.net/
Dan Humiston: [00:00:00] today on MJ bulls. We are joined by Terry Booth, the CEO of audacious Terry. Welcome to the show.
Terry Booth: Amen. Thanks for having me, Dan.
Dan Humiston: Well, I'm, it's a real honor to have you. I'm glad you could stop by. a, the founder of Aurora cannabis, your position in the cannabis history is secure, but it doesn't mean you're stopping since stepping down as the CEO, you've launched another highly publicized project. And that's why you're here today.
Let's learn more about uh, Degas. Can you give us an.
Terry Booth: Yeah. I retired from Aurora for about seven and a half hours
Dan Humiston: Yeah.
Terry Booth: assigned to see what else was out there. Started a med PPE business in Edmonton. I grabbed myself a building and was talking to the people that Australia was for some time with respect to. How I may or may not fit in. And there was some talk about being a chief strategy officer and I didn't bite on that one.
And then of course, a dissident battle started against [00:01:00] Australia's from its shareholders. They were going to turn the company into a FinTech. It was born as a cannabis company and we weren't about to let that occur.
And stop it at all. And those things are interesting battles. People go at each other's throats, but it's many, maybe a reflection society where the these proxy firms write up the press releases at the same time. You're still talking to the dude. I'm still good friends with Scott Dowdy and , their company was not in the right direction for us shareholders.
So. Boom comes November. We win significantly. So we knew that probably in August we were going to win and we started to set the groundwork for audacious I joined in March
we were only in Nevada at that time. We're now in Nevada, California, Oklahoma, Missouri, Massachusetts. And we've got some hard work going on in New York and New Jersey. We're working on deals in Florida, it's amazing what we've accomplished. I'm really pumped about it.
Dan Humiston: Well, I've heard you describe it as an MSO in the making, but it sounds like it's an MSO in maid because with all those states, man that is [00:02:00] press of growth over such a short period of time. You had a really good foundation of subsidiaries was that sort of central. And how your ability to grow as fast as you did some of the key subsidiaries that you guys had under your umbrella.
Terry Booth: I'm a hundred percent dr. Duke Fu was part of the dissident battle and he was actually involved in a lawsuit against Australia. But when he joined the dissonant battle and won it, we made an interim CEO and he started, getting Nevada back in shape.
His businesses in Nevada and then we made the public of the cornerstone investment. Was that.
Dan Humiston: Yeah.
Terry Booth: used to stand for Aurora Larson projects. Thomas Larson is brilliant. He's been in the horticultural industry for over 30 years, passed on from his father. And when I met that dude in the Netherlands and he showed me around some of these greenhouses, I was shocked at how far ahead they were in north America.
These greenhouses, they build it in the old school. There's a greenhouse was the same as an outdoor. No, you have going to have the proper [00:03:00] yields. You're going to be susceptible to disease and whatnot. This is nothing like that. We call these indoor grow with supplemental sun there's as many lights per square foot in these grows as there are in a typical indoor grow, but we happen to have a glass roof and that classroom helps us quite a bit with our, our microbiome.
It helps us get those juicy little buds at the bottom of the plants by having reflective glasses, as quits cruel glassy, the sun comes into this glass and it doesn't can't get out.
So, so away he goes. Peeled out of Aurora about the same time I did. And I was a part of that reducing the core app to a core asset versus we didn't need much more grow in Canada. As we were over supplied in Canada and there's a few projects she was working on around the world that he picked.
Again. So he picked up the Australian project. It's a 350,000 square footer, and he's picked up a few facilities in America when he picks these facilities up to build them. I stick my big nose in and I say, Hey guys, we'd love to have some of your.[00:04:00] And we'll pay for the cannabis at a cost plus 10%.
You would think they'd tell you to pound sand, but they don't, because what they're getting with Alps is also the post commissioning and the post production systems. And we call that , APIs and 80% of incredible monitoring system. And you get your. Cultivation experts and your crop consultancy people because now our product is in your facility.
We want it to stay in good shape. Cannabis disease is systemic. So if you're going to have. Powdery mildew, or God forbid, those nasty little mites or any type of insect, it's going to be systemic. So you're going to pay the same attention to your rooms that we're paying to our rooms and they love it.
And a good example of that is the guys in Massachusetts. When we, they first phoned us thinking we were a loan company, Australia's capital. And we're not that anywhere guys, but what are you up to while we're you. Licensed in Massachusetts social equity license. That includes 110,000 square feet of canopy for dispensary's delivery and manufacturing where, oh, [00:05:00] well maybe we can help you out there.
And they were not. And now we know how to even how to grow weed. We've managed over a million square feet in the old days. And Kelly under, under who posts and whatnot. Well, I, I got them on the phone with Thomas Larson and Juul foods at Northern California guy. He was employee number six at Aurora, and they started speaking cannabis.
And within two hours, these guys, a mass, they knew they needed these guys that helps to build their facility. That's our planet. It's very hard to replicate that plan.
What it does, it also leap, frog you into licensing. Right? Otherwise, if we were in mass, we'd be applying right now and would probably take us, eight months to a year to get fully licensed. Or we come in there and we've got 12 and a half percent of their canopy and we immediately have product And oh, by the way, we're hoping to help them out with the manufacturing license where we'll take total control over that.
Dan Humiston: It feels like instead of an MSO in the making, it's a, roll-up in the making. Cause all these groups are like, wow, that I love to be part of Terry's team and he's bringing all these great assets and great. [00:06:00] Infrastructural advantages that I wouldn't have otherwise. So that seems like such a smart strategy on your part.
Terry Booth: Yeah. It was one of those things. You mentioned the MSL word. Sure. We're an MSL, but I call this an MSL three this market cap, and we're below a hundred million bucks. It's killing me.
When we do the cops against our competitors, we should be an MSO too, which is north of 500 million. So that's my job. My job is to create the liquidity in the stock. I'm pretty good at that. I'll do it again. And then once we get past that, MSO it, then the MSL one is our target and that's it in the north of a billion dollars.
And you're not going to get there in these days. And that's how we got there before we went to 14 billion at a we're at one point and that was all about size and scale and an acquisition of big companies, big money, and do that anymore. The markets are expecting it to make, make some money to profit, to, to raise money in a responsible way and spend it on a creative deals, ones that are actually making money.
And, I tip my hat off to the American cannabis crowd or crew they're still around. [00:07:00] It all. And a lot of them are making money and they can't deduct their expenses, from their from their costs. So it just crazy, those things are gonna change. They can't deposit their money in banks property.
They can't use visa, debit cards. It, when those things change, man, it's going to accelerate this business and the ones that are left standing as they are now are going to do very well. .
Dan Humiston: You have a really great experience team. We're not going to have chance to talk about your team, I'll have links in the show notes, so you can look them up, but super experienced team. But the the idea of. Catching an opportunity early on. And that's what you're leading us to is for an investor or a person looking for a stock now is the time I believe. And maybe you can tell our listeners why you think now is the time to get in, because I don't think it's ever going to get any.
Terry Booth: There's industries and it is in the first inning.
It's a very nascent industry but for your listeners and investors, if you go to our website, either the audacious.net website or the Australia's.
Corp com website, [00:08:00] our decks are there.
Dan Humiston: I'll have all of Terry's information and information in the show notes. You can click the links, check out their investor decks. Like I said, this is not an MSO in the making.
This is a company that's going to hit the moon.
Terry Booth: I was real quick. I was talking to a banker in March about this idea and they pretty well kick. Their ass is out of the office. They didn't do small deals. We were only looking for 5 million bucks. I sort of, tail between the legs left. Geez. I didn't really go over that.
Well, we met with that same banker two weeks ago and he literally put his head in his hands. Is that how the hell did you do what you guys have done? So. Yeah. And it's a credit to hardworking people that know this space
so we're pumped about it. It's a great, great investment. I tell you that.
Dan Humiston: Well, it's an experienced team , and that's really important, especially now in cannabis. You can't just wing it anymore, but Terry, we'll do this again. Once you get a little more traction, we'll do this again. But thanks for being on the show today,
Terry Booth: Hey, happy new year, buddy. All the best.[00:09:00]