Why is Culture so Important in the Cannabis Industry?
In cannabis, growth is usually measured through cultivation space, provincial listings, product launches, and market share. Much less attention is paid to what happens inside a company as it gets bigger.
Scaling an operation can be mapped out on a spreadsheet. Preserving trust, collaboration, and a shared sense of purpose is much harder. As the cannabis industry has matured, many employees have experienced the pressures of rapid growth, constant change, and workplaces that can feel increasingly transactional.
At Vanquish Brands, the team says it has tried to build something different. With nearly 70 employees and continued expansion underway, the company behind brands like Pistol and Paris has grown quickly while maintaining what many staff members describe as a close-knit atmosphere built around trust, collaboration, and shared ownership.
When employees across the company were asked what they value most about working at Vanquish, four themes repeatedly emerged: support, opportunity, accessible leadership, and authenticity.
Trust Creates Room to Grow
For Amanda Langset, a Quality Assurance Associate at Vanquish Brands, the company’s culture has had an impact that extends beyond the workplace.
“Working with Vanquish Brands has been a huge part of my life for the past year and a half,” said Langset. “I’ve never bonded so closely with my co-workers as I have at Vanquish, it really does feel like a crazy, quirky family here.”
Langset says the support she has received from leadership and her coworkers has helped her grow both personally and professionally.
“Vanquish has given me a lot of confidence in myself as a leader and as a person,” she said. “Feeling their support and encouragement has given me the opportunity to take on responsibilities I wouldn’t have considered myself for otherwise.”
That sense of growth and responsibility was echoed throughout the company.
“Working at Vanquish has helped me grow both professionally and personally,” said Tracy Galceran, Vault Coordinator and Cannabis Inventory. “I’ve taken on a lot more responsibility over time and have learned skills and systems I never expected to.”
For Galceran, feeling connected to the company’s broader mission makes that responsibility more meaningful.
“It’s rewarding to feel like the work I do has a real impact on the day to day operations and future growth of the company,” she said. “Overall, I’m proud to be part of a team that cares about quality, works hard, and continues to push forward together.”
Staying Hands-On as the Company Expands
One of the biggest challenges for any growing cannabis company is maintaining a personal, hands-on environment as its team and operations expand. Employees can become further removed from leadership, departments can become siloed, and the sense of shared purpose that defined an organization’s early days can begin to disappear.
According to Vanquish employees, the company has worked to prevent that from happening.
“What makes Pistol and Paris special is how hands-on and connected everything feels,” said Anthony Zerafa, Territory Manager for Ontario. “Dylan’s involvement in the day-to-day operations sets the tone and there’s a real sense that leadership is present, engaged, and genuinely cares about both the product and the people behind it.”
Zerafa also points to the collaboration between departments as something that separates Vanquish from more traditional corporate structures.
“From cultivation to distribution, there’s a natural flow where each team supports the next, creating something bigger than the sum of its parts,” he said. “It’s that combination of strong leadership and seamless teamwork that makes this place stand out.”
Nathan Karse, Territory Manager for British Columbia, says the company’s culture was immediately noticeable when he joined the organization.
“The family atmosphere that everyone brings is something I’ve always valued when working with a smaller team,” said Karse. “It never feels overly corporate or transactional, everyone truly wants to see each other win, and that creates a culture that motivates you to give your best every day.”
Karse says the environment has also changed the way he thinks about workplace culture more broadly.
“Being part of a team that values relationships, trust, and authenticity has reminded me how important company culture really is, and it’s made getting up for work every day something I genuinely enjoy.”
Collaboration From Genetics to Distribution
At a cannabis company, collaboration is not simply an internal workplace ideal. It can directly influence the consistency and quality of the finished product.
Cultivation, genetics, quality assurance, inventory, marketing, sales, and distribution all play a role in moving cannabis from the facility to retail shelves. When those teams operate independently of one another, important information and opportunities can be lost along the way.
For Cody Rossi, Cannabis Supply & Genetics Coordinator at Vanquish Brands, the company’s collaborative structure has created more room to innovate and develop within the sector.
“My favourite thing about working with Vanquish is the culture of real collaboration,” said Rossi. “It’s rare to find a company where cultivators, genetics teams, and leadership all pull in the same direction but Vanquish actually does it.”
Rossi says the company’s willingness to trust employees with meaningful responsibility has also accelerated his own professional development.
“The pace, the trust, the responsibility, has pushed me to level up fast,” he said. “I’ve grown more in the last few months than in the last few years.”
Protecting the Culture at Scale
At the centre of the company’s approach is Vanquish Brands founder and CEO Dylan King, who says protecting the workplace environment has always been a priority.
“One thing I’ve always said when interviewing potential hires is that I’m extremely protective of my staff and the culture we’ve built,” said King. “I have a zero-drama policy.”
King says maintaining that environment becomes even more important as the company continues to scale.
“My staff are the engine behind everything we do,” he said. “We’ve built a culture that feels more like a family than just a workplace.”
According to King, leadership accessibility is one part of the company that will not change as Vanquish grows.
“One thing that will never change, no matter how large we get, is my open-door policy,” he said. “Every single employee knows they can come talk to me if something is on their mind or if they need support.”
That culture has also helped shape employees outside of their immediate roles.
“These past 3.5 years working with Vanquish have challenged and shaped me in ways I never expected, allowing me to grow and thrive both personally and professionally,” said Bradie Sparrow, Marketing Manager.
“What sets Vanquish apart is the culture of innovation, resilience, and collaboration that exists across the entire organization,” Sparrow added. “It’s rare to find a workplace that feels both deeply professional and deeply personal, and that balance is what makes Vanquish Brands such a special place to be.”
Sustainable Growth Starts With People
As the cannabis industry continues to evolve, companies across the sector are still trying to determine what sustainable long-term growth actually looks like.
Facilities can be expanded. New products can be launched. Distribution can reach additional provinces. But none of those achievements guarantee that a company will retain the people, knowledge, and internal relationships required to support that growth over time.
For the team at Vanquish Brands, the answer appears to extend beyond products and expansion plans. It comes back to something much simpler: building a workplace where people feel trusted, supported, and genuinely want to be.
In an industry accustomed to measuring growth through output, Vanquish offers another metric worth considering. A cannabis company’s ability to scale may ultimately depend just as much on the culture it protects as the products it produces.
Last Updated on September 14, 2026 by Colin Bambury
