Last week we had a gathering of Brytemap staff, stakeholders and family members to welcome our new COO, Scott Denholm (if you missed the announcement, see it here). We were outside on a terrace overlooking Baltimore’s Quarry Lake on a beautiful evening, and it was a great and rare occasion to have most of our team, who work varying schedules from multiple locations, in one place at the same time.
And of course, it was an occasion that called for a few brief remarks from the boss. I had not prepared anything, but I wanted to give Scott an appropriate welcome and thank the Brytemap team for their continuing hard work.
I pointed out to everyone that given Scott’s background, he could have chosen to join nearly any company in the industry, could have gone to an industry hotbed like Oregon or California, but instead chose to cast his lot with a small but growing firm in Maryland, “… this Little Engine that Will.”
I didn’t plan that line, but I keep coming back to it because it’s true not only of Scott but of all the talented people who make up the Brytemap crew, and our financial backers as well: there is no shortage of options for people who want to work in, or invest in, the cannabis industry. That all of these amazing people – Scott included – have chosen to be a part of the Brytemap story is very humbling.
There are many challenges involved in any startup, and when its industry has as many moving parts as ours does, those challenges are multiplied many times over. Nothing in our future is guaranteed, but it’s comforting to know that all these good people are all on board as we chug up that hill together.