Anuj Desai,
The Cannabis Conversation

Who is The Cannabis Conversation and what do you do?

The Cannabis Conversation is a podcast covering the emerging legal cannabis industry. It covers hemp, medical cannabis and CBD from a number of different angles. There are patients’ stories, there are investment angles, there are entrepreneurs starting new businesses, plus regulatory stuff. It’s quite broad in terms of coverage, and the audience tends to be people in the industry or people wanting to get into the industry. I initially set it up hoping to teach the world at large about cannabis, but instead, it’s become a bit more of an industry B2B offering.  

At VIDA, we define Next Generation Media Brands as having one or more of the following characteristics: Being disruptive, having diverse revenue streams, operating across multiple platforms and meeting the needs of an underserved audience/community. How does The Cannabis Conversation fit our definition of what it means to be a Next-Generation Media Brand? 

I initially started the podcast because nobody was doing a [cannabis] podcast in Europe. I thought it would be a good way for me to meet people doing interesting things. I’m hoping to spin the podcast into a wider media asset – basically a website with various resources on it. The podcast will be one of the channels, but I’d like to do video and branch out into multiple platforms. 

Cannabis is quite exciting as it’s a new emerging industry, but with every new emerging industry, there’s a lot of hype and bullshit. What I’ve realised is that the whole area is poorly regulated because the authorities don’t know what to do with it. One thing that’s quite clear is that there’s a real thirst for good quality information. There are lots of people wanting to get into the space, but the level of understanding – even within the industry – is relatively poor. There is lots of scope to educate people and give them good insights. 

What’s your ‘why’?

I am a media lawyer – it’s what I’ve been doing for the last 15 years, and as I was getting close to 40, I realised that I didn’t want to do it for the rest of my life. I was looking for entrepreneurial outlets and discovered that cannabis was a meaningful industry, but more than that, it has huge potential to help people on the medical and wellness side. Hemp, for example, is an incredible, sustainable material. I realised there were huge amounts of potential to do some good stuff and promote it in a balanced way. There’s a lot of people in cannabis who are a bit blinkered – they think it can cure everything, there’s nothing it can’t do, which is not true. Like everything, there are good and bad things. I want to promote balance and real understanding instead of one-sided propaganda. My focus has refined over the past year and now I really want to encourage good quality, balanced information about this sector.

How did you build your brand?

It’s been really DIY. I bought a mic, learnt how to edit and went out recording. I got a friend to help me with a website and just started promoting it via social media. Initially, I was more focused on Instagram and Facebook. Now that I’m moving towards a B2B focus, LinkedIn has become a powerful tool for me. My main challenge at the moment is that The Cannabis Conversation it’s self-funded. One thing about doing these kinds of things is consistency. I’ve been going for over a year with one podcast per week, and so far I’ve only missed one, so it’s getting into that routine of delivering stuff. Now, I’m chomping at the bit to take it to the next level.

How did you develop your audience?

It’s been pretty organic. My following on LinkedIn is growing at around 800 per month, which, considering how young we are in the industry, I think shows that there’s something to build on here. There are acute challenges that cannabis faces, namely that Facebook and Google are anti-cannabis/CBD, so businesses that are selling in the space find it really difficult. I couldn’t do Facebook advertising even if I wanted to, so I guess it’s all been organic so far. I’ve not done any paid marketing yet, but hopefully, that will change over the next few months. 

How have you raised funds?

At the moment, it remains a personal project. However, through the audience and the people I’ve interviewed, I’ve developed a network within the industry. I’m currently sorting out some very good partnerships – both in the UK and abroad - that complement what I’m trying to do. Those will help me to monetise, but the main thing to do right now is grow an audience, which I’m doing. After the audience, hopefully, products and services. 

What’s next?

The first thing will be to launch a new site. The plan is to retain The Cannabis Conversation as the podcast brand, but there also will be a wider brand that will offer different channels within it. There will be educational resources on the site, so I’m hiring some writers to produce blog content. I want to get some infographics and videos going too, to communicate in different ways. I’d also like to offer events. The events sector in the legal cannabis industry in London is quite lively, but I’m hoping to offer something a little bit different. Maybe something smaller and more focused to build on the audience I’ve got from the podcast.