In April 2026, I posted a reel with a simple thought: this year was not going to be only about who was biggest. I was paying more attention to who was moving together.
That idea still matters to me, but I would sharpen it now. Collaboration is not automatically a strategy. It becomes one when two organizations can combine strengths, define the work, and create something neither would execute as well alone.
Cannabis makes the case unusually clear
Cannabis operators work inside a market with state-by-state rules, constrained advertising, complicated distribution, uneven access to capital, and plenty of other friction. Rebuilding every capability internally is expensive.
That makes partnerships attractive for practical reasons. A company can bring a product while another brings local manufacturing. One organization can bring an audience while another brings expertise. A media partner can extend reach that an operator cannot easily buy through conventional advertising.
The point is not that collaboration beats scale in every situation. It is that scale is not the only way to add capability.
Alignment needs structure
Moving together sounds friendly. Doing it well is operational.
Who owns the customer relationship? Who does the work? Who approves what? How is revenue divided? What happens when the first plan stops working? What does success look like for each side?
If those questions are fuzzy, the partnership probably is too.
Start smaller than the announcement
I like partnerships that can prove themselves before they become grand declarations. Test a shared event activation. Try a limited product collaboration. Build one piece of content together. Make a few useful introductions. Learn how the other team actually operates.
A small project gives both sides something more useful than enthusiasm: evidence.
The advantage is complementary capability
The best reason to collaborate is not that another company has a logo you want next to yours. It is that they are good at something you need, you are good at something they need, and the combination creates a better outcome.
That is the part of the April post I would keep. Moving together can be powerful. The useful question is not whether collaboration sounds good. It is whether the collaboration makes both sides more capable.
For the general partnership framework, read What Makes a Good Business Partnership? For the operating layer, read A Partnership Announcement Needs an Operating Plan. The broader collection lives at Relationships & Business Development.
Source: Instagram @hollerwithholler. 2026 is not about who is the biggest, it is about who is moving together.