Leafly: The "Yelp of Weed"

[ed.  More relevant than ever. An indispensable resource.]

One of the trends Seattle-based Leafly has noticed is an almost connoisseur-like approach to bud. Just as there are foodies who read Yelp, there are stoners who consult Leafly, a cannabis database made up of more than 50,000 strain reviews and 20,000 dispensary reviews. Leafly provides a resource for 2.6 million visitors each month. In August, the company launched an editorial site covering all the Mary Jane news a toker needs to know, from ongoing legalization efforts to how-to guides for first-time users.

But Leafly isn't just for recreational pot smokers. Leafly prides itself on building a website and mobile apps with medical marijuana patients in mind—the site's polished look deviates from other marijuana-themed sites where flashing ads often border on the epileptic. Such base aesthetics might have been fine for potheads of another generation, but today's medical marijuana patients are more sophisticated, seeking a safe place to learn about their medicine.

The brainchild of three former Kelly Blue Book employees, Leafly began as a side project in 2010, shortly after cofounder Scott Vickers received a doctor's recommendation to use medical marijuana to help with his insomnia. As a white-collar professional, he wanted to build a site for people like him. That meant no overt pot symbolism, no girls clad in bikinis, no flashing ads. Originally based in Newport Beach, California, he and his cofounders, Cy Scott and Brian Wansolich, met on weekends to design and build the site, eventually quitting their jobs at the end of 2011 to work full-time on Leafly. (...)

Before Privateer's acquisition, Leafly had clocked about 15,000 marijuana strain reviews. Today, it boasts more than 50,000 from 80,000 registered users, bringing in $100,000 in revenue each month. With its new editorial site, the company hopes to see revenue light up, blooming to $1 million a month in the next year. Leafly's Android and iOS apps are also seeing success, with 200,000 new iOS downloads a month and 5,000 Android installs each week.

Much of its success on the web can be attributed to Leafly's SEO dominance for strain queries, making it a high destination for people to learn about their herbal refreshment. In addition to reviews that range from the eloquent to the typo-ridden ("F#$%ING KILLL-ERRRR!!!!" one user wrote), people also rate how effective strains are for treating certain ailments, such as pain, stress, depression, and insomnia—as well as the drugs' effects, including euphoria, creativity, dry mouth, and paranoia. Leafly landing pages highlight which dispensaries in a vicinity carry particular strains—and their going rates. Leafly also has a feature called Cannabis Strain Explorer to aid with reefer discovery, organizing more than 500 types in a periodic table of sorts that users can filter by effects and nearby availability.

by Alice Truong, Fast Company |  Read more:

Image: Leafly