"I expect the world to become more connected and data to continue to play a vital role in understanding how companies operate and are optimized."
Nohtal Partansky is the Founder and CEO of Sorting Robotics. He is a serial entrepreneur and former NASA-JPL engineer. At NASA-JPL, Nohtal was a cognizant engineer on the MOXIE project; an instrument currently on the surface of Mars producing oxygen from the Martian atmosphere. After leaving NASA-JPL, Nohtal founded Sorting Robotics with his two co-founders, Cassio Dos Santos Jr. and Sean Lawlor.
In 4 short years, Nohtal has led Sorting Robotics in building innovative equipment for cannabis manufacturers and vertically integrated brands. While building Sorting Robotics, he witnessed first hand how the lack of automation in the cannabis industry disrupts the value chain and erodes profit margins. Today, Sorting Robotics is working to solve those problems with AI-driven machines deployed all across North America.
About Sorting Robotics
Sorting Robotics is the premier industrial automation technology company for the cannabis industry. Specializing in robotics, computer vision, and AI technologies, Sorting Robotics helps break through the toughest bottlenecks of cannabis brands and processors utilizing a combination of real-time production data analytics and modern IoT hardware. This proprietary technology has been engineered to help manufacturers and processors grow and scale their operations efficiently, effectively, and profitably.
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Table of Contents
In the past year, what is the greatest business achievement you’d like to celebrate with your team? Please share the details of that success.
Nohtal Partansky: When we hit profitability. Robotics companies are notoriously difficult to build because you have a mechanical component that is cost intensive with hardware, and then you have software that is very personnel expensive.
The fact that we were able to build a team that was able to balance both value to the customer and our internal costs is exceptional in my opinion. To celebrate, we went out and had a huge Korean BBQ party with the company and their significant others; afterward, we went to a nightclub for some fun on the town.
Quiet quitting, The Great Resignation, are an ongoing trend causing many businesses to struggle keeping talent engaged and motivated. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued and misunderstood in the workplace. In your experience, what keeps employees happy? And how are adapting to the current shift we see?
Nohtal Partansky: Firstly, all my employees are paid very well so none of them feel like they’re being taken advantage of. The next thing I see is that most people come to work for a startup because of the complaints you just mentioned.
At Sorting Robotics, we have a very “best idea wins” culture. Radical candor is a buzzword that I like to use around the office because every interaction we are fighting the problem, not the people. This ethos enables a safe place for everyone to contribute and feel heard. The company is still very small so I don’t see how there’s any room for disengagement or quiet quitting because it would be very obvious to the other employees
What advice do you wish you received when you started your business journey and what do you intend on improving in the next quarter?
Nohtal Partansky: We are building industry 4.0 with a heavy emphasis on AI, robotics, and IoT devices. The internet is in the DNA of every product we build, so we’re really future-proofing our technology for remote monitoring and diagnostics. I expect the world to become more connected and data to continue to play a vital role in understanding how companies operate and are optimized.
Online business keeps on surging higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for the year to come and how are you capitalizing on the tidal wave?
Nohtal Partansky: I would say most of the basic building blocks are there for the cannabis infrastructure on the consumer-facing side. Where I see the biggest challenge is getting a proper financial infrastructure put in place to serve the needs of businesses.
It’s extremely frustrating that customers in some states have no access to traditional financial services. We live in such a weird period for the cannabis economy where there is over-regulation, extreme market growth, extreme market compression, and huge voids for affordable professional services.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Nohtal Partansky: I would say most of the basic building blocks are there for the cannabis infrastructure on the consumer-facing side. Where I see the biggest challenge is getting a proper financial infrastructure put in place to serve the needs of businesses.
It’s extremely frustrating that customers in some states have no access to traditional financial services. We live in such a weird period for the cannabis economy where there is over-regulation, extreme market growth, extreme market compression, and huge voids for affordable professional services.
In your experience, what tends to be the most underestimated part of running a company? Can you share an example?
Nohtal Partansky: The complexity of dealing with the human aspect of a technology company. Many times the technology, although extremely complicated, isn’t the bottleneck; it is actually the human component.
Whether it be finding the right employees or conveying your value proposition to a prospective customer. You can’t run a company from an excel spreadsheet even though, ostensibly, you should be able to.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Nohtal Partanskyv: The ability to see if someone can do what they actually claim they can do. If I had that level of clairvoyance, my job would be pretty damn easy.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Nohtal Partansky for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Nohtal Partansky or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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