Buddy: The Weed Social Media Hub (Startup Pitch)

(In 2017, my freshman year at Harvard, I entered this idea into a startup idea competition. It never went anywhere, because I was 17 and didn’t know what I was doing, and then that summer I fell in love with the idea of the Great American Novel and changed course. However, I still think it was a really good idea, and the last 5 years haven’t changed that. Yes, there are weed apps, but none that are universally beloved, or even really widely used. None feel authentic, and none provide everything one might want. Furthermore, the core cultural problem I wanted to address, the possibility of a disconnect between the longstanding underground weed culture and the official legal industry, has gotten worse than I ever imagined. As corporations turn weed into a profit machine, the people and communities and cultures that kept weed alive for decades underground have been largely ignored and screwed. Furthermore, the unique cultural developments of this underground culture are at risk of being lost, replaced by cookie-cutter weed capitalism. I think this would be a tragedy, given the inherently countercultural, anti-system alignment that historical underground weed culture has cultivated. In many ways, the modern weed industry culture dishonors the culture that got weed to this point; Buddy, were it to ever be pursued with the help of people who know how to code an app and run a startup, would change that, and authentically bridge the gap between the old underground weed culture and the new legal market. If anyone reading this is into startups or knows how to code an app, hit me up!)

Concept Summary

Buddy is the Weed Social Media Hub. It would provide a one-stop platform for everything that the stoner or new user would need in the new legal marijuana environment. Legal marijuana is near a cultural tipping point, and further legalization over the next few years will create an enormous new market that Buddy looks to serve. A strong marijuana community already exists underground— we want to guide the transition to legality by maintaining and catering to the strong existing culture while simultaneously making it easy for curious new users to join the community. 

Group chats are currently the ultimate level of substantial social media interaction among young people. With Buddy, users can group chat with various smoking “circles” of old Buddies and new. There will also be a “spots” program on the app, which would display a map of the area featuring smoke spots (crowd-sourced by the community, with anecdotal reviews from previous users), online Buddies who are set as “open” to meeting and smoking, smoke shops, and dispensaries. The app will also eventually feature an algorithm system to set up new circles of local users to meet and smoke. These features would make Buddy a convenient way to make new smoking friends, communicate with new or old Buddies about smoking, and find places to do so. The app would also feature smaller tabs: Strains, For Beginners, Shops, Tips + Tricks, Culture (articles, news), and Forum. 

Essentially, Buddy boils down to two main ideas: informing users about everything involved in marijuana use and culture, and providing a social platform for smokers to use to connect and interact with each other. This comprehensive approach aims to make Buddy a cultural locus and a master resource for marijuana users by cultivating a positive, appealing, and informed subculture on the app. Thereby, it hopefully will become a regularly used, must-have app for people who smoke. Once a large, growing, regular user base is established, Buddy will become profitable. There are many monetization opportunities that arise from having a big audience, such as ads, deals with local shops, and possibly far more ambitious, market-leveraging profit strategies in the future if the app really takes off.

Raison D’être

The app’s main purposes are to provide a social platform for the marijuana community to connect with each other and also to provide valuable information on the complex world of marijuana, a world that has been largely shrouded in mystery to many people. Over the next decade, all political and cultural indications seem to signal that legal weed is going to take off. Evolving public opinion on weed, as well as support from scientists and social justice activists, is pushing American culture toward embrace of marijuana and away from irrational fears and laws based partially on a flawed justice system, historical mistakes, and popular misconceptions. Many blue states and even some red states are poised to pass legal recreational marijuana measures in upcoming elections, and already about ⅕ of the country has legalized it. This is a market that is about to explode, and it would be smart to get ahead of it. 

I want to use Buddy as a cultural locus for marijuana. It already has a significant subculture around it, as people have been doing it while it was illegal. I want to preserve the positive aspects of underground weed culture, which I believe are in danger of being lost if marijuana becomes just another industry based on profit maximization; I fear that the legal marijuana industry will run counter to the ethos of the underground culture that has existed for years, and destroy valuable parts of it. My goal is to use Buddy’s social platform and informational dissemination to help define the culture of legal marijuana in America. With the right rhetoric, a large recurring user base, and concentrated social media interaction within the community, I believe that this is a very feasible goal. I know the community well, and I know how to curate an authentic company image that appeals to this particular demographic. Buddy will be appealing to classic stoners, but will also facilitate the acclimation process for the inevitably large population who will soon be trying marijuana for the first time, and who will be seeking out an accessible source of weed -related information. The app will try to fuse these two groups, and make the cultural transition from illegality to legality as smooth and productive as possible. I fear that, with legal weed likely set to hit wealthy areas first due to economics, the existing culture that is so important to certain socioeconomic and minority groups will be gentrified with legality. Much of weed culture is actually quite beautiful, and I look to shepherd and tweak this culture in order to lead it into a new era. Furthermore, by making Buddy the ubiquitous weed app, I will be able to grow an enormous user base that will have good reason to use the app frequently. Controlling a huge chunk of the marijuana community would open up many possibilities for monetization, such as ads and deals with shops and dispensaries. If it goes REALLY well, then a pie-in-the-sky type dream would be to leverage Buddy’s market power and userbase to break into the legal marijuana industry in a bigger way, with Buddylivery or Buddy Lounges. However, my main purpose in creating this app is because it is simply an issue that I care a lot about, that I know a lot about, and that right now is at a very interesting crossroads where the culture is malleable and growing. I want to use my knowledge to create a better weed community, more informed users, and connections between people forged by marijuana’s magic ability to bring people together.

While Buddy is a for-profit venture, my zeal for this project is not because of possible monetary gain. I truly believe in marijuana as a social tool. Social connection is a fundamental aspect of human nature, a product of evolution. We innately seek to connect with those around us, but because of many unspoken rules in our society, we often have to contrive reasons to do so; we join clubs, ask people out to dinner, have friends introduce us to their friends. I have seen firsthand the power that marijuana has to remove the need for these pretenses and truly bring people together. Alcohol is also known as a social lubricant, but alcohol has many obvious health and safety downsides. Meanwhile, the marijuana high encourages discussion with those around you, creating bonds far deeper than any bond made on a club dance floor. This ability to bond is strengthened further by the unique rituals of marijuana use. These rituals stem both from practicality (the amount of marijuana needed for effect and the methods by which it is smoked encourage intimate sharing) and also from 50+ years of marijuana use being forced into secret margins in a prohibitionist society. Marginalization has a way of strengthening the bonds of the marginalized, and the illegality of marijuana shaped the practices of its users. For example, it made the “smoke spot” an important part of a smoker’s life, since spots had to be secure and isolated from a society that did not approve. Buddy would leverage marijuana’s social power to do good, as well as increase its user base.

Expanded Summary

My proposed project is a marijuana app called Buddy. Buddy aims to be the must-have app for legal marijuana users in the 21st century. It will provide a plethora of innovative and useful services to casual smokers, hardcore stoners, and curious new users alike. It will be run by experienced users, and we will leverage this insider knowledge to create an app that smokers would want to use often. My motivation is my love for the positive, underground marijuana culture, as well as my belief in the unique social power of marijuana to remove the need for pretense in social interaction and connect people in meaningful ways. Legal marijuana is going to boom in the next few years, and I want to seize this unique opportunity to shape the new legal culture and make the community accessible to newcomers. The two main ideas behind Buddy— connecting the marijuana community via a multi-faceted social media platform and informing users about marijuana, how to use it, and its culture— will hopefully synthesize to curate an expanded, informed, positive, and dynamic marijuana subculture centered around Buddy. It can be monetized through ads, deals with shops and dispensaries, and other strategies that leverage a large user base.

As a social network, the app features a way to add friends, called Buddies. You can directly message Buddies or preferably “circles” of Buddies in group chats, harking back to the old weed tradition of the smoke circle. You can also see Buddies set as “active,” which signals that they’re down to meet up and smoke. Eventually, a program will be added that can match you or your group with other local users to smoke, using a Tinder-esque algorithm based on preferences and questions. Buddy also has a forum for the community, with national and local threads.

Another feature is “Spots,” since smoke spots are a key part of marijuana use and culture. A map will display spots in the area, crowdsourced by the community, and feature fun anecdotes about these spots posted by users. This will inform local users about useful spots as well as build community. The map can also show shops and dispensaries. 

Buddy’s role as an informational resource for everything marijuana-related is key. There is a Beginners tab to teach them the basic things they need to have and need to know in order to start smoking. The Tips & Tricks tab contains advice from experienced marijuana users on more advanced weed topics: blunts vs. joints, what to smoke before a concert, how to make a gravity bong, etc. The Strains tab features a comprehensive library of marijuana strains, but smartly organized by genealogy, accessible, and not overly scientific. There’s also a Shops tab with information on local dispensaries and shops. Finally, there’s a Culture tab featuring articles relevant to marijuana culture, the legalization movement, and emergent scientific research on weed. This tab will also have Buddy’s Greenbook, the guide containing marijuana etiquette and Buddy’s rules governing community interactions.

Target Audience

My target audience is all marijuana users. The app will cater to heavy stoners, first-timers, and everyone in between. However, the key early on will be getting the heavy users into the app first, since they will establish a core user base and contribute greatly to the culture of the app. They will also legitimize the app’s authenticity in the eyes of smokers. I know this constituency intimately, have a lot of experience with it, and have put a lot of intellectual thought into it in a way that not many have. This community is larger than most people think, and younger generations are embracing weed more and more. I believe I know how to strike exactly the right nerve in this community to make the app explode. I do not have any small dreams for this app. There is a huge market need but not a lot filling it— the few weed-related apps existing now are too limited in scope and often not as good as they could be. There is no central, defining weed app yet, because companies struggle to connect with smokers. I can do this, while crafting a multidimensional, reusable, and enjoyable platform.

Buddy as a Social Network

• Buddies
• Circles (Group Chats)
• Forum

Buddy as a Marijuana Educator and Acclimator

• Budding Smokers (For Beginners)
• How To/ Tips & Tricks
• Culture (Articles)
• Strains
• Shops

Spots (Map Feature)

• Smoke Spots
• Shops & Dispensaries
• Active Buddies

Connect

• For meeting local stoners and connecting with them, smoking with them
• Creates Circles
• Blocking Groups
• Preferences
• Quiz

Fostering Community

Culture

PR

Business Plan

• Early Traction
• VIP
• Team
• Securing Seed Money
• Early Development – Intimate Coding Team or Outsource?
• Feature Priority Order- Basic Social & Basic Culture/Education -> Strains/Shops-> Map Features -> Connect? -> Future
• Raising Further Capital
• Legal Issues?
• Major Rollout/Launch- Legal Areas (Boston/West Coast Cities)
• PR Push, Culture Curation, Viral Advertising “authentic” – Building user base is priority
• Marijuana Activism
• Monetization
• Building
• Possible Market Interactions- Acquisition of small rival apps? Leafly?
• Long Term- Buddylivery? Amazon alliance? Buddy Lounges? Brand usage?