There’s never been a better time to start up a company that caters to the on-demand attitude people have these days, but I’d like to take that one step further. I’d say there’s never been a better time to be an on-demand, legal cannabis delivery company.
If you’re tired of hearing everybody talking about Peter Thiel entering the cannabis investment world, I’d urge you to reconsider. Long have I been saying that Thiel would open the doors for others to follow and, sure enough, we saw Eaze get a $10 million investment: mind you, they’re a legal cannabis delivery company.
Nugg, an online and mobile ordering platform for medical marijuana, officially opened their doors on 4/20, also known as the holiest of holidays for the cannabis world. Starting today, Nugg will service the Los Angeles and Orange County areas.
Qualified patients can sign up and get verified through the Nugg app in minutes. Those who aren’t patients have the option to schedule a medical evaluation with one of the app’s trusted partner physicians for either an in-home or in-office visit.
Once verified, patients can view the menus of legal cannabis providers near them, access detailed information about each product, and place orders for pickup or delivery with a few taps on their smartphone. The process includes e-signing the patient agreement specific to each collective as well.
“Time and again we see that the majority of services are illegitimate and it makes people uncomfortable to get a delivery. We need a way to vet these cannabis services and show consumers who they can trust and information around what they’re buying,” says Milligan. “We hope that with continued research and consumer education, our service will help thousands of patients throughout California and the nation access the medicine they need.”
Pickup orders are pre-packaged at the storefront dispensary, and Nugg users are notified in-app when they can expect their order to be ready – they also get to skip the line for pickup. According to Milligan though, the platform truly shines when it comes to delivery.
Once an order is placed the user receives an ETA and can even contact the driver or see him move in real-time on a map, much like Uber. The dispensary is provided a simple interface for orders to be assigned, re-assigned, and re-routed based on inventory availability and distance to destination. Incoming calls can also be routed to a dispatcher, or directly to the driver.
“We take a cumbersome, confusing, and even sometimes sketchy process and make it fast, simple, and safe. Our biggest challenge is to understand the needs of those medical marijuana patients who aren’t as vocal about their cannabis use – the 40 to 55 year olds who might not even disclose their cannabis use to their friends and family,” says Nugg cofounder Alex Milligan.
As Milligan says, novice and first-time cannabis users are expected to enter the market and they’re looking for a service that eliminates barriers to entry. Nugg caters to them by making the cannabis experience seamless from start to finish.
Establishing yourself in this industry earlier versus later is how people are going to be majorly successful. And that’s exactly what Nugg is doing with this launch.
Image Credit: Flickr/Brett Levin