The initial period of struggle and repeated failures, while painful, is what forges a resilient team and a strong, frugal company culture. These early hardships create shared experiences that define the company's DNA for years to come.

Emilie Choi explains that market downturns are beneficial because they drive out short-term "mercenaries," allowing dedicated builders to thrive. Her promotion came from proving she could operate effectively during a downturn, rewarding her resilience when others fled.

Regulatory uncertainty has depressed valuations for brands that burned capital fighting state-level rules. This creates an arbitrage window for investors to acquire established brands at a discount before federal rescheduling unlocks their true market potential and valuations rebound.

The best time to launch a company is at the bottom of a recession. Key inputs like talent and real estate are cheap, which enforces extreme financial discipline. If a business can survive this environment, it emerges as a lean, resilient "fighting machine" perfectly positioned to capture upside when the market recovers.

Early ventures into legally ambiguous or "get rich quick" schemes can be an effective, albeit risky, training ground. This "gray hat phase" forces rapid learning in sales, marketing, and operations, providing valuable lessons that inform more legitimate, scalable businesses later on.

Resilience is not a learned trait for entrepreneurs but a fundamental prerequisite for survival. If you are still in business, you have already demonstrated it. The nature of entrepreneurship, where the 'buck stops with you,' naturally selects for those who are resilient and adaptable.

Entrepreneurs in bull markets often misattribute success to skill alone. A market downturn reveals the true difficulty of business, humbling even the most confident founders and forcing a reassessment of strategies that previously seemed foolproof. True resilience is tested when market conditions change.

The prolonged downturn eliminated weaker competition and forced surviving companies to become financially disciplined. This "cleansing moment" means remaining players face a better competitive landscape and operate with leaner cost structures, setting them up for significant upside as the market recovers.

The demand for extremely high-THC cannabis is a direct consequence of prohibition and over-regulation. Just as alcohol prohibition led to moonshine, when consumers take risks or pay high taxes, they demand the most potent product for their money, skewing the market.