MassRoots, the Instagram Account of the Cannabis Community

You just need to register by creating a user name and a password. Then, you have to select your location. At the moment the app is only available in North American states, however it aims to move into new regions. Nevertheless, if you are in Spain, Germany or any country throughout the world with internet, you can also be one of the 170,000 users of MassRoots, which could be viewed as the (private) Instagram account of the cannabis community – available for iOS and Android. 

The application was dreamt up, between puffs, during spring 2013. The objective was to create an important project, with enough quality to organize the world community made up of people who support the legalization of marijuana. At the end of that year, the founders, Isaac Dietrich and Tyler Knight (aged 22), had managed to find 150,000 dollars of funding in order to launch the application and set up an office in Colorado.

The money was well used, allocated to what some people now view as the cannabis social network dreamt up by two entrepreneurs. Today there are over 42 million interactions thanks to a young and active community, primarily formed of young people between the ages of 18 and 24. 

On one hand, the application has been devised for consumers who prefer to keep marijuana related content away from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, for fear of what their family, work colleagues, employers or friends may think. In fact, Isaac Dietrich states that he would not feel comfortable if his grandmother saw pictures of him smoking marijuana over the course of a long night. Despite the fact that the stigma is being reduced, there are still people who require privacy. That is why it is not necessary to use real details when registering.

On the other hand, the aim of the application is to discover a new community where all of the participants share the same taste in marijuana and where anybody can reveal what type of cannabis they consume and share images of their experiences with it.

The primary objective is as follows: to become a network that is solely dedicated to cannabis. Anybody who enters MassRoots knows exactly what they are going to find. Additionally, the app is used by non-profit organizations and campaigners who generate interest using the app, for support initiatives, petitions, and even rallies in defence of the green stuff.

The promoters believe that, just as LinkedIn has become a tool used to show a person's professional identity, so too must MassRoots become a tool to reveal people's cannabis identity. The app should help people to connect, and create working relationships – and perhaps even sentimental ones too.

On the other hand, MassRoots helps marijuana companies to connect with their clients. These companies use the application to directly promote their products and services. In fact, the platform has succeeded in creating a solid and beneficial marketing channel.

All of this has been done low-cost thanks to the help of technology. There is also the hope that MassRoots will become a marijuana foundation in the future. The developers intend to use MassRoots to invent other applications that will then be integrated into the main app – thanks to data that has been collected and analysed from users: preferences, requests, tastes…Everything can be used for the benefit of the community.

The co-founders state that legalization in Colorado and Washington really helped the community to double in size within the space of a month. "We were aware that we would have government approval at a state level, and we knew that we were doing nothing illegal as we are not producers or owners of greenhouses", they explain. Consequently, they were able to operate from anywhere and to do so in a collaborative, informative and safe manner. 

Therefore, success has been clear to see. The movement has been supported by hundreds of investors and sellers in the United States who have spotted this unique opportunity for the marijuana market. The co-founders have even considered moving to Silicon Valley, although at the moment they prefer to stay somewhere where they know that they will have the support of other marijuana companies. This is a place that – if it is not already- will soon become the Silicon Valley of marijuana. 

The promoters have entrepreneurial minds and state that they did not go to university as it would have been "a waste of time and money", and they believed that they could become businessmen and make a fortune in a different way. They knew that it was just necessary to be passionate about something – marijuana in their case -, and to have an entrepreneurial mind, "you either have it, or you don't", stated Dietrich in an interview with Business Insider.

At present, they have more than 475,000 dollars of investment – those who decide to invest in the company receive a participation stake of 10% thanks to its profitability. "We intend to turn MassRoots into a focal point and an essential component of the daily habits of marijuana users", say Dietrich and Knight. It seems that they are succeeding. Everything is going smoothly for these young entrepreneurs in their twenties who appear to be achieving their dream. The response of the cannabis community has been more than positive.