"Most businesses, when they first start, are hesitant to hire because it costs them a lot of money. They believe that if they can do it, why pay someone else? We taught Lisa how to let that go and hire people so that it could free her time to do what she should be doing," Mr Pham says.
Today, Ms Nguyen employs 20 people, and Astrid is growing exponentially month on month.
"Chris was like, 'Lisa, you can't manage 20 people anymore. You need to make departments, you need to make teams, and then you need to have those team members report to you…," says Ms Nguyen with a laugh. "Learning that within a year and a half is crazy. It took a lot of grit and learning from our mistakes. But now we're at a special stage of growth where we know our purpose, our culture, and a model that works, and now we're asking, 'How do we maintain a people-focused culture whilst we are hyper growing?'”
Still, Ms Nguyen has "loved every second" of her start-up journey.
"I think one of my biggest learnings was trying to figure out what kind of leader I want to be for my team and what kind of impact I want to have on patients and this industry," she says. "I want to be a compassionate leader, lead by example and make sure the team can create their own legacy.”
Mr Pham offers a sounding board for the business challenges she encounters as she develops her leadership style.
“Having Chris there creates that real structure and backbone for me whenever I have a problem. In an emerging industry like cannabis – there are a lot of problems. It is a different perspective from Chris because he works with many different start-ups. He often reassures me that many of my problems are quite normal, and has taught me how to pivot at each curve ball."
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7HWrGWcp51jrrZ70qmmp6ufp7Kle9CGf4iQY4GypY%2B4aqhpb2anvriBjpqsrKyilrmqrdJmnaKqo6l6p7HMmqOeZZyasW6z0Z6cp2Wgna6zucCcsGg%3D