There are many requirements to beginning a successful business that extend beyond the basics of a buyer and a seller, or supply and demand. This is especially true for the arena of medicinal marijuana, which is becoming increasingly main stream. Medicinal cannabis is now legal in 16 states and estimated to be a potentially $40 billion business. Given its profit potential, medicinal marijuana appears to have outgrown the basement and beeper culture from whence it came. It’s ready for Wall Street. Today, there are a bevy of profitable possibilities that come along with streamlining the sales process and catering to the needs of medical marijuana patients. General Cannabis (CANA), the first public medicinal cannabis company of its kind, has been a trailblazer on the new frontier of medicinal cannabis, a fact illuminated in an article in Culture magazine last week.
Author, Chris O’Keefe points out the importance of technology in today’s business landscape and the manner in which thriving-large scale businesses can benefit from the added level of interaction. Medicinal cannabis especially, with the occasionally hazy legality and grey areas, benefit from a business model has a lot to gain from technology. General Cannabis recognized that the medical marijuana business was thriving, even in a weak economy, and that there should be a way to harness its strength. What is did next was purchase WeedMaps.com as well as develop several other medicinal cannabis related platforms designed to cater to needs of medicinal marijuana companies and users. Operating in the ancillary markets of the industry, General Cannabis is able to use technology to benefit from the growing market without immersing itself in the sale of medical marijuana.
The Southern-California based company has been busy in its pursuits. From new internet properties, developing the Daily Deal (a coupon for pot), launching WeedMaps.TV (a promotional tool for the industry and those who operate within it) and debuting an IPO, General Cannabis has been taking the burgeoning industry by storm and developing the sort of company that doesn’t operate on a single buyer and seller, but a wider Wall Street audience. The company’s websites, WeedMaps.com and CannaCare.com, SafeAccessMD.com serve as an avenue for consumers to find local dispensaries to fulfill their medicinal cannabis needs.
Their demand for their efforts have been reflected in their growing revenues. Total revenue for the first quarter that ended March 31, 2011 was $2.7 million, an increase of 55 percent over revenue of $1.7 million in the first quarter of 2010. The increase in revenue was primarily due to continued strong growth of WeedMaps Media, a probable harbinger of the direction of the market.
In his Culture Magazine article, O’Keffe expressed optimism surrounding the direction Medical cannabis is headed, stating he expects it “will continue to expand and thrive.”
“We have 16 states with compassionate laws on the books and another 11 states with pending marijuana-related ballot measures,” he said. “What this all means is that the industry is thriving on more than supply and demand; it’s fueled also by financial providers, general contractors, scientists, lawyers, tax attorneys, horticulture equipment suppliers—the list goes on and on. These demands for professional services are required to function—and grow—in today’s medical marijuana businesses world.”
